Day 4
Opening session of the General Assembly. We represent South Africa which means we have had plenty of resources but also plenty of potential critics. The actual debate sessions kicked off today with a discussion of security issues resulting from climate change. The setting inside the City Council Chamber lent a great deal of prestige to the proceedings. The students had microphones at their tables they could switch on and off to respond to other delegates. The South African Model UN rules of debate are very different from those in the U.S. Each team has a 4 minute opening statement. The order for the statements is drawn at random. At the conclusion of the opening session the chair calls for a speakers’ list. Each country is expected to appear once and speak for 1 minute, during which they may clarify their opening position and/or make comments on the opening statements of others. After the first speech, delegates may leave the chamber to caucus informally, though each team must keep at least 2 delegates in the chamber. Next follows a second round of formal caucus with a second speakers’ list. When this is all over the informal caucus session begins. This is the time when resolutions are crafted, arms are twisted and deals are made. Today’s caucus produced 5 resolutions. By rule, only 3 were presented for voting. The first and last were passed but the second one, which our delegation had signed did not garner enough votes – but such is life for the African delegations. The final round of debate was a closing statement of 2 minutes following the original order of the first round. It is here where delegates must defend the positions they took on the resolutions. The opening statement is the only one given from the floor of the chamber. The others are given from behind the delegates’ tables. Today Colin delivered our opening statement, Chelsea and Jody represented us in the formal caucus and Diandra closed down the entire debate as the South African delegation had been chosen to speak last. They all gave solid performances. The judges’ impressions will be revealed at the awards ceremony on Monday. Tomorrow is a full day of debating where the UN will consider Discrimination based on AIDS/HIV status and Child Labour. Both are topics that provide greater opportunity for South Africa to be a major player and our students are looking forward to playing a more central role in the debates.
Opening session of the General Assembly. We represent South Africa which means we have had plenty of resources but also plenty of potential critics. The actual debate sessions kicked off today with a discussion of security issues resulting from climate change. The setting inside the City Council Chamber lent a great deal of prestige to the proceedings. The students had microphones at their tables they could switch on and off to respond to other delegates. The South African Model UN rules of debate are very different from those in the U.S. Each team has a 4 minute opening statement. The order for the statements is drawn at random. At the conclusion of the opening session the chair calls for a speakers’ list. Each country is expected to appear once and speak for 1 minute, during which they may clarify their opening position and/or make comments on the opening statements of others. After the first speech, delegates may leave the chamber to caucus informally, though each team must keep at least 2 delegates in the chamber. Next follows a second round of formal caucus with a second speakers’ list. When this is all over the informal caucus session begins. This is the time when resolutions are crafted, arms are twisted and deals are made. Today’s caucus produced 5 resolutions. By rule, only 3 were presented for voting. The first and last were passed but the second one, which our delegation had signed did not garner enough votes – but such is life for the African delegations. The final round of debate was a closing statement of 2 minutes following the original order of the first round. It is here where delegates must defend the positions they took on the resolutions. The opening statement is the only one given from the floor of the chamber. The others are given from behind the delegates’ tables. Today Colin delivered our opening statement, Chelsea and Jody represented us in the formal caucus and Diandra closed down the entire debate as the South African delegation had been chosen to speak last. They all gave solid performances. The judges’ impressions will be revealed at the awards ceremony on Monday. Tomorrow is a full day of debating where the UN will consider Discrimination based on AIDS/HIV status and Child Labour. Both are topics that provide greater opportunity for South Africa to be a major player and our students are looking forward to playing a more central role in the debates.
5 comments:
Way to go Team BBA!
You look strong and confident for your first debate. Good Luck tomorrow for your next 2 topics. These are the days you've all been working so hard for!
We look forward to your updates. Enjoy,
Kris
Make us proud!
-Senor
This is all so formal and impressive and it sounds like everyone did a great job today.
Good luck tomorrow!
Once again, thanks for sharing :-)
Tracy
It seems that you have done a very good job.so congratulations!
but i'm a lot more concern about tomorrow is debate about HIV/AIDS, because i and my partner on positivesingles.com are undertaking a survey, so hope you also could supply some informations about your debate tomorrow.
Good luck!
Good work MUN! I hope you like the esteem and formality of this style of debate, it sure seems like you are prepared for it - thanks Dave. I'm eager to hear how the next few days go. Thanks for the postings.
Jillian Joyce
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