Reconsidering the right to protect

Despite having slept for ten hours last night, I am still exhausted from Model UN.  One a.m. bedtimes and six o'clock alarms tend to do that to a person, I guess.

All and all, Model UN was amazing.  I was extremely unsure of what to do in our first session, but seeing everyone else passing notes to the pages, I decided just jumping in and going with it outweighed the risk of messing up.  And it really did.  During the opening speeches, I sent notes to Egypt, South Africa, and the Ukraine, three countries that had stances similar on the issue to mine, and I got replies from all saying they'd like to discuss our positions further during the unmoderated caucus.  I also got a note from Togo, who agreed with Tanzania's stance and was impressed with my opening speech.  When a moderated caucus was motioned for later on, I immediately went over and talked to Ukraine.  While we did share similar views on the employment of peacekeeping troops, she was not interested in aligning herself too strongly with the African nations, so we went our separate ways.  I then met up with South Africa, and our two countries agreed strongly on the issue.

Later on, Ethiopia invited us to join an alliance between her, Egypt, Togo, Russia, China, and Myanmar, which we accepted.  Soon we found our committee polarized between two groups:  the western countries such as Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States, who believed that the R2P doctrine should entitle them to "help" states suffering conflict by using military force, and the other countries who feared Western intervention.  In the case of Tanzania, both America's war against Iraq in 2003 and the fact that NATO had abused their authorization to invoke R2P in the 2011 situation in Libya to conduct over 7000 airstrikes and arm the civilian rebellion caused a distrust of the motives of Western powers in such conflicts, and a desire to pursue resolutions in which it is regional powers who are providing aid in such situations.

Later on, our group splintered again, with Russia, Sudan, China, and Myanmar splitting off to create their own draft paper based around their desire to never have any outside intervention ever, be it from Western or regional powers.  Our ideas began to take shape, with our alliance headed by Egypt, and Brazil taking the lead on the drafting of our working paper.  Two of the clauses that ended up included in our final resolution were written by me, which also was kind of cool, and I had a hand in the editing and revising process as well.

Within our group, a bloc formed between myself, Ethiopia, Togo, Rwanda, and South Africa, as we as African nations were in a very similar situation and shared the same reservations about the possibility of our interests being ignored when the rest of our alliance attempted to garner the support of other countries.  This fear intensified when it came time to sign on as sponsors, and none of the five of us were allowed a position.  Instead, Brazil and Egypt sponsored, as well as Saudi Arabia, who had just joined on to the working paper.  Why should the five of us, who had been there since the beginning and had no small part in shaping the clauses and preamble of the working paper, be refused sponsorship?  Add to the fact that the three sponsors were male and the five of us were female, and we understandably felt that the situation was a bit unfair.

Despite this and the fact that the three sponsors continually met and discussed the paper behind our backs, we managed to talk our sponsors out of the majority of proposed amendments that did not suit the interests of our countries by using the unspoken suggestion of aligning ourselves with the Western alliance.  At the end of the day, our finished paper was a strong resolution that well reflected the interests of us African countries, and in the final vote it won out over the West's paper.  I spoke more than a few times during moderated caucuses, supporting our paper and pointing out the shortcomings of our opponents', and while my oral graces were by no means extraordinary, I think all in all my performance was supportive of our cause.  Afterwards, our committee had an award ceremony, and I won the category of "Most Enthusiastic."  There's something to be said in trying one's best, I suppose.

I also had a blast hanging out with my friends (including my roommate, Harini-of-jade-plant-fame), and both the car ride there and back was thoroughly enjoyable, despite its length and the fact that we were all exhausted on the return trip.  Supposedly the organizers will be sending our school our passed resolutions sometime in the indiscriminate future, so whenever that event arrives rest assured I will be uploading our magnum opus, as well as any pictures I deem not too horrible to be seen by the human race.

I yield the remainder of my time to the moderator.

The road so far

Tomorrow the rest of the school delegation and I leave for Model UN.  I'm pretty excited; first for the five hour car ride with some of my good friends, and secondly for Model United Nations itself.  I've learned quite a bit about Tanzania over the course of my preparation, and about the issue of R2P, although I'm sure this weekend will be filled with hectic research between sessions to try and learn more about whatever topics my fellow committee members bring to the floor.  In any case, here is what I have written for my two-minute opening speech:

Mr. Moderator, Madame Director, Honourable Delegates, it is my honour to partake in the SOCHUM committee debate regarding the right to protect on behalf of the United Republic of Tanzania.

It is one of the utmost priorities of the URT to both safeguard the sovereignty, integrity, and independence of our nation, while also defending human rights, freedom, democracy, justice, and equality, both within our borders and throughout the world. We attest that the promotion of good neighbourliness, African Unity, and the support of the UN in its endeavour for peace, economic development, and international security are of the greatest importance.

It is critical that the United Nations carefully reconsider its current stance on the issue of the right to protect. In 2009, the URT, and many other honourable delegates, sponsored resolution A/RES/63/308 at the sixty-third session of the United Nations, deciding to continue consideration on the responsibility to protect, and the time for that consideration to turn to action is now.

Since that resolution, the international community's commitment on the right to protect was put to the test with the 2011 situation in Libya, after thousands of civilians were killed and countless more deaths were possible. The decision of the UN Security Council on this matter was to authorize NATO to protect Libyan civilians by any means necessary. In this crisis, NATO armed the rebellion and carried out over 7000 airstrikes, both actions that put the civilian population at risk.

This must not be considered the right to protect; like the US's war against Iraq beginning in 2003, these actions are not condoned by the URT. It is the undeniable duty of the international community to ensure the safety of the peoples of the world, but that safety should be ensured by peaceful means, and with those peoples as the primary priority, not the economic interests of NATO or the West.

The URT is proud to have over a thousand peacekeeping troops serving in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast, Lebanon and Sudan, and hundreds more engaged in peacekeeping efforts in the current situation in Syria. The United Republic of Tanzania believes that such peacekeeping efforts are key towards achieving the proper balance of national sovereignty and the protection of human rights on the international scale.

Thank you, I yield the remainder of my time to the Moderator.

I'm sure I'll have more to say about Model UN later in the weekend!

We start as fools

Today we received our country and committee assignments for Model UN!  I managed to get my first country choice of Tanzania, although I didn't end up on the ECOSOC committee.  Still, as I mentioned earlier, I'm sure that the Social, Humanitarian, and Cultural Committee on the reconsideration of the responsibility to protect is going to be fascinating.  I don't really know much on the topic or on my country as a whole, so I suppose it is a good thing that we have a month or two to get ready.  As the Tanzanian proverb goes, we start as fools and become wise through experience (see, I'm learning stuff about Tanzania already).  Tonight I'm working on reading the background paper on the SOCHUM committee, which is quite interesting.  It alludes to many historical events, some of which I'm familiar with and others I'm going to have to research a bit about, but truly, it is fascinating.  Another perk about this committee, even though it is not my first choice, is that this is also the committee that Jessica will be serving on, so at least I will know someone.  On the other hand, she is representing Somalia, and I somehow doubt that Somalian foreign policy is one that any country is going to see eye to eye with, but who knows?  I'm still a fool when it comes to Tanzania's political stances, so maybe they and Somalia have more in common than one might figure.  I'm going to be away much of this weekend for a house ringette tournament, but I hope to still be able to find time to do some preliminary research on my country and on the issue.  I feel like I don't really know as much about world events as I would like, and so I think that Model UN is going to be an interesting and eye-opening experience.

Our new spring lineup

This CAS season features some old favourites as well as new and exciting premieres.  Classics return such as newspaper and yearbook, and we'll also be seeing the swan songs of 750 Words and provincial ringette, both reaching their crescendos in April.  Now, what's new on the horizon?

First off, there is Model UN, which will run from May 3rd to May 5th and entail much preparation prior to the actual event.  I have been accepted into the school delegation of twelve students, although we have yet to hear back with regards to which country everyone will be representing and on which committee they'll be.  My first choice was Tanzania, and I somehow doubt that will be a popular selection, so I hope I will end up receiving that option, although I am sure no matter with what country I end up I'll learn some fascinating things about both it, the world, and the issues that affect the two.  My first choice of committee was ECOSOC, and its topic this year is "Commission on Sustainable Development", so I think I would learn a lot about both the current critical situation with the environment and also how developing countries regard this issue.  Recently we had a guest speaker into our school to talk about climate change, and while what is going on in our world today is undeniably terrifying, I think it is definitely something about which we are better off being informed than remaining blissfully ignorant.  My second committee choice is "A Reconsideration of the Responsibility to Protect", which is an ethical issue that I find fascinating and would love to learn more about.  It's something that is so hard to wrap your head around, and I'm not sure where I stand.  I'm reminded of all those sci fi programs and futuristic novels where the most important rule of everything is that you shouldn't interfere (think Star Trek's prime directive), yet when one is talking about things like genocides and mass killings, how is it ethical to remain uninvolved?  All in all, it would be a fascinating thing to learn more about, and while I'd still rather be accepted to ECOSOC, being part of either committee would be a great experience.  The school delegation will be meeting sometime in the near future to learn about our country and committee assignments, and I can't wait!

Secondly, we have what is going to be my major CAS group project, fitting into the realms of service and creativity:  something we've been calling alternately the "gardening club" and the "school beautification project".  It has a number of components (only befitting of a major group project), and I suppose it would be most logical if I told them in the order in which we developed them.  First of all, our chemistry teacher used to teach botany, although this year there wasn't enough student interest and the botany class wasn't offered.  Despite not having a class, it's her responsibility to tend to the sad-looking indoor garden we have in the lobby, although with all the other important things she has to do, fixing it up isn't something she has either the time or energy to do on her own.  That's why a group of us decided to start a gardening club under her leadership:  we'd have access to the school greenhouse, we'd water the three nearly-dead trees and the sad looking cactus, we'd learn which plants grow best under our school's conditions, we'd clean all the trash out of the bed as it is currently being used like one big garbage can, and we'd use our newly gained knowledge of plants to grow flowers and the like in the garden.  That sounds like a nice CAS activity in itself, but what really propelled it into the big group project level was what happened when we went to go check out the bed.  It was a mess -- even more so than we had thought.  The paint on the wall was peeling all the way back to concrete due to water damage, chocolate milk containers and muffin wrappers abounded, and one of the trees was no more than a few sticks surrounded by dead leaves.  But the garden layout was interesting:  on the bottom level of the school, there is a wall in front of the garden and you are standing below soil level, and then there is also a wall behind the bed above your head on the lower level but under you if you're standing on the school's main floor.  Looking at this, we were struck by how perfect it would be for a mural.  So, that's our plan.  We'll do all the gardening things previously mentioned, but we're also going to learn how to plaster and repair the wall, do it, and then paint two murals.  The one behind the bed will be a foliage or a jungle theme, creating a sort of 3D effect with the real plants that will jump out in front of it, and on the lower wall we'll create an underground scene, with things like tree roots and dinosaur bones and stuff like that.  It's going to be a lot of work, but we have a great team of people (we'll also be opening the gardening club up to anyone else in the school who is interested, although we'll be spearheading the project), and I'm excited to help make the school just a bit more beautiful.  Currently, Adrian is composing a proposal to send to the principal to get official approval of our idea, although she already expressed interest earlier and I strongly believe that she'll give us the go ahead.

 My third new activity is more of a summer preview than an entry to my spring lineup, but it's something that I'm too excited about not to mention.  I've been accepted to Shad Valley, which is a pretty prestigious summer program for high school students focusing on the sciences, leadership, business, teamwork, and innovation; I've already gone through an extremely intense application process just to be accepted.  That in itself was a good learning experience, particularly as it is quite similar with what one might expect to see when applying for universities in grade twelve, but the actual Shad Valley program is going to be a thousandfold more extraordinary.  For one, they're big proponents of the IB program, and they particularly cater to the IB core, including, yes, CAS!  As they write on their website:

Through their active participation in the design/entrepreneurship project that’s a key element of Shad Valley, IB diploma students fully satisfy the Creativity and Action aspects of CAS. Through their involvement in this entrepreneurial endeavor, they build their knowledge, skills and understanding; explore the ethical responsibilities that surround innovation; experience the excitement of inquiry and discovery; build confidence in their ability to initiate change, both as an individual and as a member of a team; practice autonomy and self-reliance; and develop a strong appreciation for their own, and others’ talents. Many schools acknowledge participation in Shad Valley as fully satisfying the Creativity and Action requirements; others allocate partial hours. Because CAS focuses on in-depth experiences, the month-long, residential nature of the Shad Valley program makes it strongly aligned in helping satisfy this requirement.

So that's what's on the docket for summer CAS.  I'm going to be gone all of July for Shad Valley, living on campus and engaging in so many cool activities and learning experiences.  I won't know which campus I will be attending until early April, but my A choices were Waterloo, Queen's, Saskatchewan, and Calgary, so I'm hoping to end up with one of those.

That's what to expect from me over the next few months.  I do have a couple of other activities in mind that are either still in the planning stages or are yet to be approved, but for the most part this is what I'll be looking at in terms of CAS as I enter the home stretch of my grade eleven year.  I'm looking forward to continuing with what I'm already doing, starting these new projects, and getting that satisfied yet melancholic feeling of wrapping up a long running activity.  While school is definitely going to be keeping me busy over the next few months, I'll be sure to make time for all these exciting opportunities!