The MUN Human Rights Council 2024

The IBGMUN Human Rights Council 2024

Establishing International Standards for the Protection of LGBTQ+ Rights

Is freedom of sexuality a human right? Are members of the LGBTQ+ community still at risk today? These and other questions were answered in the IBGMUN Human Rights Council from the perspective of various nations. Since its inception, the Human Rights Council has been concerned with the universal protection of human rights and thus embodies the values of the United Nations.

The debate began with powerful opening speeches and quickly led to the first resolution, which was presented by the main submitter France and the United Kingdom, Australia and Denmark as co-submitters.

France: “The criminalization of individuals based on their sexual orientation and gender identity violates fundamental human rights.“

After France had called for an international legal framework that ensures full equality and protection for LGBTQ+ members, the United Kingdom, Denmark and Australia made strong speeches in favour of the resolution. Each delegation argued that members of the LGBTQ+ community must be considered equal and should therefore enjoy the same rights with regards to marriage, family foundation and enhanced protections guaranteed by law. However, the resolution was not only met with approval: Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the representative of the Catholic Church and Morocco sharply criticized the proposed solution.

Egypt: “Religious laws and the set of beliefs that shape many national identities show us that there is no need for such a framework.“

While the committee was in time against the resolution as a whole, the discussion became heated. Poland, the representative of the Catholic Church and Egypt disagreed with many of the statements made by the submitters of the proposed resolution. The delegations argued that the proposed framework for the protection and equality of LGBTQ+ people was not in line with the religious beliefs and morals of the respective countries. Several amendments were tabled, and initially it looked as if both sides would not be able to agree on a compromise. After some amendments had been passed, they were withdrawn again by second-degree amendments.

Due to the ambivalent positions of some countries, the debate remained fruitful and tense until the end. As the debate drew to a close, the original French resolution was officially adopted. Even though not all sides came to an agreement, the majority decided for the resolution. After the resolution had been debated in the General Assembly on the last day, all proposers were happy when the resolution was also adopted by a simple majority in the General Assembly. The conference thus gave us hope that change is possible even in a world in which there is no common agreement about the words “freedom”, “tolerance” and “human rights”.

Sophie & Mieke, Year 12 (Press Team)

The MUN ECOSOC 2024

IBGMUN in Ikast 2025: Tackling Tourism and its Effects on Biodiversity

The Economic and Social Council was presided by Pauline Schepke, a former student from Goetheschule. In her function as chair of the Model UN committee, Pauline was faced right from the start with passionate debates on how to mitigate the impact of tourism on biodiversity:

ECOSOC chair Pauline, together with the delegate of Brazil.

Our delegates took part in a heated ECOSOC debate focused on balancing tourism and biodiversity. The session kicked off with Brazil’s strong objection to what they deemed an “unfair vote,” setting a tense tone for the discussion.  

Canada proposed a resolution to regulate tourism in sensitive areas, but it faced immediate criticism from China and Saudi Arabia. Both countries argued the proposal was too vague and financially driven. China, pushing for more practical solutions, accepted the resolution but introduced several amendments to reshape it to their vision, effectively transforming the document into a new plan. 

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Key changes included traveler taxes (with exemptions for volunteer work), penalties for high CO2 emitters, and a ban on night flights in tourist-heavy regions. Despite progress, the debate underscored how challenging it is to find common ground on such complex issues. 

Beyond the debates, the conference was a great opportunity to build friendships and work through challenges together, highlighting MUN’s role in fostering both international cooperation and lasting connections.

Pauline Schepke

The MUN Security Council 2024

The Security Council: A Global Debate on Al Weapons 

MUN is about tackling real-world challenges and making tough decisions. The Model United Nations’s Security Council meetings in Ikast, Denmark, were anything but dull, as countries debated the role of Artificial Intelligence (Al) in warfare. Should Al be allowed to make decisions in battle? Can humans trust machines to take over such huge responsibilities? These were the kinds of questions that had to be taken into consideration.

Each delegate had to convincingly represent the political views of the country they were acting as a representative for, regardless of whether their own beliefs aligned with the official political doctrines. Here is a glimpse on how the students worked in the MUN Security Council:

Russia: “The World is More Complicated than ever”

Russia kicked off the MUN debate by stating that due to the introduction of AI systems, modern conflicts are more complicated now than ever. The Russian delegate argued that while Al could be useful in defence systems, humans need to remain in control. Russia emphasized that they were strongly in favour of using Al to protect their country but made it clear that human supervision should be essential. Decisions about life and death should not be left to a machine!

North Korea: “The Future is Al, and We Need to Invest in its Growth”

North Korea’s view was even more radical: They demanded to invest globally in Al-powered autonomous weapons. The delegate argued that Al is faster, better, and more efficient than humans. For them, the future of warfare is Al, and countries that don’t develop AI weapons will be left behind. North Korea even called for weapons that can make decisions on their own —no need for a human to be there constantly monitoring.

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But could Al really be trusted to handle offensive operations? Is it safe and ethical?

Germany: “Can AI Really Be Trusted?”

Not every delegation was ready to give that much control to machines. Germany proposed an amendment that would require all Al military systems to have a human operator who could step in at any time and stop an attack if necessary. And what – Germany asked – if an AI system got hacked or malfunctioned?

The United States agreed that humans need to stay in control, especially when lives are at stake. They argued that while Al can be extremely efficient, it lacks the ability to make ethical decisions in conflicts.

However, North Korea strongly opposed human AI supervision as it would slow down progress. To North Korea it is crucial to foster Al development until the algorithms are even better than humans at handling threats.

Tensions Rise: a Russian Veto & a North Korean Proposal

Just when it looked like Germany’s proposal might be accepted as an amendment, Russia stepped in with a veto, which can only be done in the Security Council. They now argued that requiring constant human control would weaken the potential that Al defence systems promise. For Russia, the focus needs to be on using Al to enhance security, not hold it back. This Russian veto caused a lot of dissatisfaction among the delegates.

Next, North Korea proposed another amendment, a suggestion to reject any centralized control over Al research and funding. They argued that no single country or person should have the power to control Al development!

If you think MUN is simply young people talking in circles, think again. This Security Council meeting was a battle of ideas, and the stakes were high. Who knows what decisions might be made tomorrow? But one thing is for sure: MUN is way more exciting and thought-provoking than it might seem from the outside.

Sophie & Mieke, Year 12, Members of the Press Team

Thailand-Austausch 2024

Our Exchange with Thailand

Our Thailand project was a wonderful experience and a chance to learn about the differences between our cultures and traditions. It started with a visit from Suraporn Suriyamonton, an inspiring person, who brought her culture and traditions into our classroom. She showed us a calendar of the traditions the Karen, her community, celebrate around the year. Additionally, she made us aware of the political problems they have in Thailand. We loved talking to her and questioning her about her community and the similarities and differences we noticed.

After this, we started to read a graphic novel titled “Let’s Go Back Home”, which had been sent to us by the Karen. In this graphic novel we learned about a young man who went to a big city to pursue his dream of studying and then came back to his community to relearn his people’s traditions. The comic also introduced us to traditional rotational farming that the Karen use to sustain themselves. Even though many Western people think that the Karen harm the rainforest when they use fire clearing, this actually improves the health of the forest when letting it regenerate for 7-12 years.

We also watched a documentary by Dr Prasert Trakansuphakon to further our knowledge about the Karen way of living. This helped us to interview the scientist and his son, who experienced a similar life as the main character in the graphic novel “Let’s Go Back Home”. In the videoconferences with them, we learned about their goal to save their traditions and culture despite the government accusing the Karen of destroying the forest and making laws to forbid them to cultivate land in the forest.

With all this information we talked to the students of the Khunmaeyod School. In this videoconference we learned about the daily lives of teenagers in indigenous communities. The students were really energetic, lively and great to talk to. This made the experience even better. We loved to learn about their interest in social media, because this is a similarity that we share.

Our last conference was with the musician Chi Suwichan, who talked about his experience when leaving his community to pursue his career. In this interview we learned that his main goal is to share the knowledge indigenous people have and that he wants to be their messenger. He is a very sweet person and talked about his adventures and how he balanced city life and his life in his indigenous community.

This was the end of our adventure of learning about the Karen and the different aspects of their daily life, culture and traditions. Our favourite moment was the videoconference with the musician Chi Suwichan, because he not only shared his journey of becoming a musician with us but also his childhood memories.

Ella & Zarah, Year 9

Wanna know what else we think about the exchange?

“When we were first introduced to the idea of an exchange with students in Thailand, we were rather surprised as this didn’t cover the normal topics that we had worked on in the past.”

Lea, Year 9

 

“We noticed that even though we had thought of ourselves as unbiased, there were many things that we didn’t know or understand about the Karen.”

Pia, Year 9

 

“We got more and more excited about finally getting to meet different and impressive people, such as students from the Mae Yod School, Dr Prasert Trakansuphakon or a popular musician called Dr Chi Suwichan. Asking them questions in the video conferences resulted in some misunderstandings, for example due to different definitions of “pets”: Dr Trakansuphakon, for example, proudly told us about their elephants.”

Carlotta, Year 9

Und jetzt auf DEUTSCH:

In den letzten Wochen durften wir im Bilingual-Unterricht die Kultur, Werte und Traditionen der „Karen Community“ kennenlernen und haben uns mit einer thailändischen Schule ausgetauscht. Die Karen sind ein indigenes Volk und leben im Norden von Thailand. Zuerst lernten wir ein Mitglied der Karen kennen, Suraporn Suriyamonton. Durch sie bekamen wir erste Eindrücke ihrer Kultur.

Außerdem hatten wir eine sehr lebendige und offene Videokonferenz mit den Schülern der Khunmaeyod School. Nach einer kurzen Kennlernphase, in der wir alle noch etwas schüchtern waren, ergab sich eine lockere und fröhliche Stimmung. Wir unterhielten uns über sehr einfache Themen, wie Freizeitaktivitäten, Lieblingsessen oder Musik, die wir gerne hören.

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Am besten hat uns jedoch die Videokonferenz mit dem Musiker Chi Suwichan gefallen. Chi ist ein Musiker aus Thailand. Er wuchs im indigenen Volk der Karen auf und ging, um zu studieren, in die Stadt. Heute macht er traditionelle Musik und lebt von dem Geld, welches er durch seine Musik und seine Arbeit an der Universität verdient. Besonders dankbar sind wir für seine Ehrlichkeit und Offenheit. Chi hat uns tiefe Einblicke in sein privates Leben gegeben. Zum Beispiel hat er uns erzählt, dass er mit der Musik angefangen hat, um den Leuten seine Kultur nahzubringen. Zudem haben wir erfahren, auf welche Probleme Chi traf, als er zum Studieren in die Stadt zog und wie schwierig es war, sich an all die großen Veränderungen zu gewöhnen. Zusammenfassend war es ein sehr spanendes Projekt mit einzigartigen Möglichkeiten, die Karen kennenzulernen.

Jonna & Luise, Klasse 9

Das denken wir über den Online-Austausch:

“Obwohl wir nicht nach Thailand geflogen sind, haben wir viel über Kultur, Werte, Gewohnheiten und Religion gelernt. Die Pagenyaw (Karen) sehen sich als Teil der Natur, was sich auch in ihrem Glauben widerspiegelt. Unter den Indigenen findet man Christen, Buddhisten und Animisten. Animisten glauben an die Geister der Vorfahren und die des Landes sowie an Wassergötter.”

Kimiya, Klasse 9

 

“Unser Austausch mit den thailändischen Schülern war eine bereichernde Erfahrung. Trotz der räumlichen Distanz haben wir einen tiefen Einblick in die Kultur und das Leben der Pagenyaw (Karen) erhalten. Besonders beeindruckt hat uns ihr respektvoller Umgang mit der Natur und ihr reiches Wissen über traditionelle Lebensweisen. Diese Erfahrungen haben unser Verständnis für kulturelle Vielfalt erweitert und uns gezeigt, wie wertvoll und einzigartig jede Kultur ist.”

Lena, Klasse 9

Wir bedanken uns sehr herzlich beim Institut für Ökologie und Aktions-Ethnologie (INFOE), das diesen Austausch ermöglicht hat.

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Fotos:

K. Heup, Karen-Projekt © 2024

Foto von Z auf Unsplash. Lizensiert zur freien Verwendung.