Resolutions, Amendments and Debates

Like yesterday, today we ate breakfast at 7:30 then headed to the conference at 8:30. Although today was the second day of the conference, we were all presented with a lot of new material and procedures. Yesterday we only lobbied and talked to other delegates while pitching our ideas and creating joint resolutions based on the topics we studied beforehand. Today, however, we finally began debating the resolutions we made yesterday.

Before actually debating these resolutions however, select nations gave opening speeches to their committees. A few of our own students gave speeches at this time, including Jon Laetch, Sabrina Snowberger, Adam Cohen, and I. These speeches allowed us to give all the other delegates an idea of our position on the topics up for debate as well as a brief background on our countries or organization.

After the opening speeches were finished, we began debating the resolutions we created yesterday. While the resolution my group submitted yesterday was not discussed today, I did get to see the progress other working groups made on the other topics. It was interesting to see how divided the committee was on certain topics and to watch and participate in their arguments in favor or against the resolutions at hand. We debated from 1:00 to 5:00 and only finished one resolution and started on another, so a single resolution can evoke a lot of debate.

Max delivers an argument in favor of a resolution

For dinner we were allowed to choose a spot for dinner on a boulevard near our hotel. Ian, Jon, Arman, Adam, and I decided to go out for pizza and took it back to my room and ate there before going on to our next activity. This evening, there was a screening of a documentary called Sweet Dreams. It was a documentary tied in with the goal of the conference: to improve the current conditions on the African continent. The documentary was about a group of Rwandan women who formed a drumming group to help lighten the hearts of those involved in the genocide. The director of the documentary followed the journey of these women who worked with the owners of an ice cream shop in New York City to start a co-op and open their own ice cream shop in their Rwandan town, something they had never had before. They provided the women with training and equipment to allow them to independently run the shop, as well as open up many other new opportunities for them. The documentary showed the growth of these women and their impact on their community, all while depicting the horrific lasting effects of the tragedy that occurred in 1994.

The day was an extremely productive and we all learned a lot, whether from our committee sessions or the movie afterwards, and I know we are all looking forward to touring Amsterdam tomorrow.

- Kendall