March 14, 2012 1

Belarusian Model United Nations

March14

2012

7sessionedition

First Impressions

Read the feedbacks from our journalists page 6-9 >>

Do you remember your first day of BELAMUN?

Olga Khabibulina@khabibulina Hey #belamun

participants! Don’t forget your sunglasses! There is a real spring both in my heart and outdoors!

Vika@mahatmaaghandi ты можешь

points не написать, но issues изучить обязан! #belamun

Vika@mahatmaaghandi #belamun

молчишь на дебатах? ну так хоть в твиттере не молчи!

Egor Klimovich@alter_Yego Мы стали более

лучше делать #belamunMary@shkodnica а вообще, best del-

egates на #belamun не твитят, а активно учавствуют в дебатах :)

Aliaksei Varavin@alekseymorkva А я побрился

ради #belamun :)Mary@shkodnica Беламун это как

Беламун, только Беламун. #bela-mun

Olga Khabibulina@khabibulina Sometimes i have

a feeling that i’m missing this #be-lamun already)

Chris Cinnamon@ChiChiCinnamon Поймали

за то,что сидела #vk на заседании #belamun и чуть не выгнали,интересно,за твит выгонят?!))

Vika Porechina@happy_currant Эта конфе-

рен ция какая-то самая fruitful из всех #belamun

BELAMUN: Passed So Soon!Really, it seems that this ses-

sion, the 7th one in the history of BELAMUN, passed extremely quickly! Was it better? The best? Funnier? Harder? More fruitful? It depends on you! We tried to fix the greatest impressions of this

conference, hoping you’ll share our point of view. But if you have a word to say – join our interac-tive discussion now or later! BE-LAMUN – Grow With Us!

• BELAMUN Team

U

7sessionedition

March14

2012

BELAMUNTRIBUNE

2 March 14, 2012 BELAMUN officially

Dear friends,That is really a great

challenge for everybody to be here at BELAMUN.

You meet new faces, you face new problems, you probably know how to solve them but some-times solutions are so far away from your mind. It’s far from you mind because you meet new faces, you face…

It’s an unbreakable circle. It’s the circle of the abnormality (if it’s okay to say so here) because having got in MUN once you risk staying at the process forever. Only few peo-ple give up MUN and even fewer treat it seri-ously. The major part of “followers” is here be-

cause they want to be here and they enjoy the process. MUN is a great process. Rarely we have some strong solutions that the real World Community should keep its ears open to. At MUN we prepare for the conference, lobby-ing our country’s inter-est, implement some ideas, and compose fi-nal resolutions. Then you discuss, discuss, discuss...

I envy you some-times. I envy myself sometimes because I had the emotions never compared to something else. That is something like you are discov-ering anything new, making a very careful

Belamun TribuneOfficial Newspaper of the Belarusian Model United Nations. Minsk, 2012Press Team: Hanna Baradzina (Editor-in-Chief), Yury Kascien’ (Design), Nadya Popkova (Photo), Dasha Goga (Photo an d Support), Ann Pintusova (Photo and Text), Dasha Degis' (Audio-Text), Tatiana Pribolovets (PR-Text), Kaciaryna Kohyukh [+ Anton Dudko] (Creative), Olga Likhachiova (Analysis), Katsiaryna Lutskevich (Trollfaces).Contact: belamun2012@gmail.com; +37529-779-28-83.Web-site: http://belamun2011.blogspot.com/

step forward, but at the end of your discov-ery you know there is much must be discov-ered but it’s enough by now. I know at the end of the conference you’ll feel something similar to it… Friendship and fellowship. What do you know about these words? I think you have some kind of a notion to them. But the prac-tical thing is that the real friendship and fel-lowship can be not only felt but can exist and start existing exactly at MUN.

Enjoy BELAMUN!!! Be with us! Be as you are!!!

Yours,Olga Khabibulina

The deadline for appli-cation is 20 of March. If you are 14-20 years old and are dreaming of a really hot MUN in sum-mer (25 June- 2 July) in Germany, hurry to ap-ply!

When:25/06-02/07/2012Application Deadline:

20/03/2012Where:Oldenburg, GermanyHow:bus to Vilnius, plane

to Bremen, train to Old-enburg (the same back)

In programme:4 days’ conference

(living in German fami-lies)

1 day free in Olden-burg

2 days in Bremen (liv-ing in a hostel)

Contact person: Hanna Baradzina+37529 7792883,hanna.baradzina@

gmail.com

Let’s go to a MUN inOldenburg, Germany!

March 14, 2012 3 Topic

Sustainable development: the way forward

The main topic for the Students BELAMUN Conference in March is Sustainable Develop-ment. What does that mean? How do you understand that? Let’s think it over.

Sustainable develop-ment is an essential re-quirement of our time. This notion means the development that meets the needs of the present, but without compromis-ing the ability of future generations to satisfy their needs. In other words, humanity must learn to “live within our means,” to use natu-ral resources without undermining them, in-vest money, figuratively speaking, in “insurance” - to fund programs aimed at preventing the catastrophic conse-quences of our own ac-tivities. A sustainable development of society provide for a rational combination of trends in the development of all spheres of human ac-tivity - social, economic and environmental, tak-ing into account their long-term impact. It is based on social intelli-gence. The unity of cul-ture, science, education and public awareness means the ability of ef-fective governance in the future.

Social instability is combined with special conditions of the histori-cal development of each country, its traditions and mentality. For most people, the instability of society is taken primarily as an absolute ambiguity

of the situ-ation and, consequent ly , the impossibility to predict the com-ing evens of his fate, career, elementary deci-sions on specific issues.

The current situation in the economy has dif-ficulties due to the con-sequences of the global economic crisis. There is a necessity to accept the acceleration of en-ergy resources costs, as well as overproduction of goods in the markets and the problems of do-mestic products sales in other countries. At present, the success of economic development is evaluated mainly by the money supply it brings. However, the account-ing system of national wealth must also take into account the full cost of environmental degra-dation.

The researchers con-cluded that a significant part of our work for the progress destroys the ecological balance. It be-

came obvi-ous that we

can’t afford using the energy, forest, land, plant and ani-

mal resources, to con-tain urban growth and to produce industrial prod-ucts like we had done it before. The implementa-tion of sustainable de-velopment requires new forms of financial coop-eration and new ways of financing projects. Indi-viduals, banks, compa-nies and governments should invest more ra-tionally, thinking not only about short-term profits, but also about positive and sustainable results in the field of en-vironmental protection in the future. Environ-mental protection is not just a matter of profes-sionals. Probably there is no man who would not be connected with nature. Therefore, the responsibility for its con-dition for present and future generations has not only those who ex-ploit natural resources,

but we all, citizens of the Earth. Thus, the protec-tion of nature is a center in which we must focus all our efforts, as individ-uals, citizens and inhab-itants of the Earth.

Thus, the UN needs a more effective coordina-tion at the global scale, individual countries and regions to solve such ur-gent issues as the pre-vention of war, the fight against the devastation, hunger, epidemics, child mortality and others. It is necessary to develop and implement science-based international standards, new clean technologies, programs for prevention of ap-proach to the threshold of irreversible change. To cope with environ-mental problems is very difficult without more ef-fective international ed-ucation system, where a world in which we live would be the subject of education. The system of research and train-ing should carry out the functions of education, upbringing, training and retraining of person-nel of all possible envi-ronmental levels. The coming environmental catastrophe must be prevented - and this is a common issue of all people in the world. We must revive the towns and villages, which ap-peared in a black list of Ecology. Only a new environmental aware-ness of nature can save humanity from extinc-tion, restore the blue sky, green meadows and woods, to return a for-gotten freshness of our cities.

● Olga Likhachiova

4 March 14, 2012 In Person

● Darya Goga

4 March 14, 2012

Founding Mothers of BELAMUNWhile cakes and cookies after March 8th are still in the fridges, BELAMUN has started… This

MUN is remarkable because real ladies rule it: Olga Khabibulina, Angelica Belanovskaya, Lena Viktorchyk, Olga Chebrovskaya and Hanna Baradzina. Aiming to prove that not all women-exec-utives are so “grand and terrible”: 5 facts about 5 major «mothers» of BELAMUN-2012.

About a long way: «I was a delegate, a best delegate, a Chairperson at OLMUN (Oldenburg, Germany) and SPIMUN (St.Petersburg, Russia), an MUN Director for out-going conferences and now I’m a BELAMUN Director. The most chal-lengeable is to be the MUN Director at the out-going conference since you are responsible for delegates’ preparation, their behavior, represen-tation of your Organiza-tion, delegates’ and your own health, security and financial stability... I do like being BELAMUN Di-rector. Oh yes, I do!»

About MUN as a pet:

«The responsibility in BELAMUN is like the responsibility for a pet you’ve decided to have. You can’t leave it and you can’t live without it».

About male competi-tors: «Who will be better? It’s not the question of a gender. It’s a question of a character and percep-tion of life. I know some women who wouldn’t cope with the respon-sibilities I have here. At the same time I know some men who would be the greatest BELAMUN Directors ever».

Not a victim of stere-otypes: «The tendency of women as leaders is the following: they are un-

reasonably strict, over-serious, with bad sense of humor and a great wish to sleep more than 4 hours… Ah, yes, they do not believe both in men and people around them. They believe only in themselves. Still they are not believing but trusting themselves. Oh, year, I do know that la-dies who rule BELAMUN are not the ones I de-scribed above!».

About breathtaking moments: «The voice can be trembling if you have been running for about 30 minutes because many things haven’t been fulfilled».

About a MUN career: «Well, actually my MUN-career started from one of the conferences abroad in 2009, which took place in Rostock, Germany. I participated as a delegate there. I de-cided to continue this kind of activity. After my successful beginning as a Chairperson in BELA-MUN and several confer-ences in the Netherlands and Germany I applied for a position of a Chair-person in Oldenburg, Germany. Having been a Chairperson, I applied and was elected for a po-sition of the President of the General Assembly in BELAMUN. And, finally, I was elected as Sec-retary General. As you can see, I have made all kind of steps up the lad-

der as a participant in BELAMUN».

About similarity with agriculture: «As the proverb says, one must reap as one has sown. I can compare the responsibility in BELA-MUN with the cultiva-tion that depends on me and the whole team».

About parental in-stinct: «Who am I to participants? Mother, definitely! Only warmth and care may create mutual understanding and respect, which will result in success. Nev-ertheless, it is also nec-essary to give everyone a carrot and stick mo-tivation due to the fact that too much softness may cause dismissive attitude towards the preparation. Our key to

success is the ability to combine business with pleasure».

About big changes on high positions: «Judging by the person-al experience, I haven’t changed my character holding a high position in BELAMUN. Of course, I have changed my du-ties and responsibilities, but my approach and attitude to the work and people around me is the same. You will definite-ly make progress if you work flat out».

About a real lady: «She has a strong per-sonality, is never de-pressed and always stays intelligent, elegant and caring no matter what obstacles she may faced».

Olga Khabibulina, BELAMUN Director

AngelicaBelanovskaya,

BELAMUN Secretary General

March 14, 2012 5 In Person March 14, 2012 5

Being a delegate VS being a Chairper-son: «My MUN experi-ence started from BELA-MUN-2009, where I was a delegate. Since then I worked as a Chairper-son here for 3 times. Also I took part in GeMUN (Genoa, Italy) as a del-egate. I like MUN. It’s al-ways great joy and chal-lenge for me. I tried myself in different positons. You can understand features of rules and procedures better, trying different roles».

About conflicts: «I sincerely believe that all the conflicts come from misunderstanding. In

this case you should re-lax and try to hear the views of your opponent and find out in which moment everything tan-gled».

About iron self-con-trolling: «I think every-one who took part in any MUN conference, start-ing from being delegate, don’t have any problem in public speaking. You have to prepare every-thing before the open-ing ceremony, and then the only thing you need to do is speaking. And the more you can tell the more they listen to you».

About DIY principles: «Sometimes you can

have bad mood. But it’s your problem, and BE-LAMUN is not the cause, the cause is you lazi-ness. And the only possi-bility to make your mood better is to do something you need. Or if there is no chance to work try to relax. Because all the problems come out of your brain».

About pleasure: «I don’t feel myself niether mother no Suvorov in the Alps during BELAMUN. In our team we are part-ners first of all.And being Suvorov is someting very heroic... But BELAMUN is a great pleasure, don’t you think?»

Olga Chebrovskaya, BELAMUN Head of

Administrative Staff

About an enviable constancy: «I’m a Head of Admin Staff since 2008. Once I tried my-self being a delegate, but I didn’t like it at all. So when Olga Khabibulina asked if I wanted to be a Head of Admin Staff, I agreed».

About women’s su-perskills: «I think that a girl does my work bet-ter than man. Because I don’t think that a man

can remember so much information and tasks for the team and him-self. Anyway, a guy nev-er tried to be the Head of Admin Staff in BELA-MUN.».

About singing: «I don’t worry about public speaking. That’s mainly because we don’t speak – we just work. The only moment when my voice can tremble is when we’re singing an Anthem

at the closing ceremo-ny».

About top ladies fashion: «Top ladies are always strict, beautiful and on their hills! But an obligatory quality is willingness to do all the work by yourself».

Dreaming about spe-cial effects: «Sometimes I wanna be a spiderman to move as quickly as he is and defeat someone very annoying».

Hanna Baradzina, BELAMUN

Head of Press Staff

About the passion for cooking:

«Before that I was a delegate, then a Chair-person. And last year when I tried to be a Head of Press Staff I realized that it’s the job in BELA-MUN that I really want to do! Here I feel myself like a mother of a very big family who is cook-ing a soup: that every-one will like and nobody gets poisoned with».

About a hidden tal-ent:

«At all times only girls worked in Press Staff. But I myself can be a

real guy, if necessary».No third option:

«Top girls are either very smart or very beauti-ful. Of course, it doesn’t concern BELAMUN top ladies))».

About secret heroes: «No, I don’t worry about being on public. But to be honest we, Press Staff, take the floor very rarely».

About deep feelings: «Being Head of Press Staff sometimes I feel myself like a head of a circus».

About similarity to sea animals:

“I think that an ideal Press Staff memeber looks like an octopus: with a hand for a note-book, a pencil, a laptop, a camera, a mobile, a dictophone, and a hand of help to anybody on BELAMUN. This year the Staff are just like these - do you agree with me?)”

About a strange hobby:

“I like to collect funny photos at each BELA-MUN. Every time I feel depressed or just miss the model - I open the secret folder...)”

Lena Viktorchyk, BELAMUN President of the General Assembly

6 March 14, 2012 On the Spot6

Human Rights CouncilThe first day of the conference turned to be very rich and intense. Immediately after the open-

ing speech of the OrgTeam, as well as the presentation of the Chairmen, all participants went to their committees. The Human Rights Council was attended by 11 delegates.

On the agenda was posed the following is-sue: the children of in-carcerated parents. From the very beginning of the meeting the atmosphere seemed rather tense, and it is not surprising: a lot of new people, foreign guests and the first par-ticipation. However, the chairpersons affirmed their professionalism by organizing a fascinating and at the same time a useful exercise to get ac-quainted with delegates. Participants were re-quired to give their names and show some motion, but before it, they should have remembered the names and the motions of the previous partici-

pants. This was a good task to remember all the delegates, especially for foreign visitors, for whom it was really very hard not only to remember, but to pronounce the names of the participants.

The debate took the form of viewpoints and voting for the decisions. The proposals were put forward mainly on chang-es of legislation, in rela-tion both to the children of prisoners and their parents. Most agreed on the establishment of nec-essary committees for the rehabilitation, special areas for education and healthy development of the children. However, there were suggestions

which hadn’t received ad-equate support. “Some of the facts are almost im-possible to implement” - Tsumi notes, the delegate of the conference. “Most of the solutions are really comfortable and efficient, but they still require fur-ther discussion and im-provement.”

So what really brought the participants to choose the Human Rights Com-mittee?

Helen: “It’s a great op-portunity to express your initiative and knowledge of human rights, to give your own view on the is-sue, to know the points of others while practicing language skills. It’s worth trying! Don’t be afraid! “

Hami: “Human Rights are in need of some pro-motion today. They pro-vide for freedom of choice, which I used by selecting this particular commit-tee. “

Tsumi: “Human rights are discussed today all over the world. Crime, violence and other viola-tions increase from year to year. It is really impor-tant and worth discuss-ing. “

So, the first day of the conference was very fruitful and interesting. All delegates are satisfied with their participation and look forward to the next day, which will bring them new ideas and im-pressions.

● Olga Likhachiova

6 March 14, 2012

March 14, 2012 7 On the Spot 7

EnvironmentalCommission

Enthusiastic shouts of greeting and shy ac-quaintances, confident movements in a well-known atmosphere and confused looks of inex-perienced participants – this all could be seen by everyone in the hall of the Linguistic University

10 minutes before the opening ceremony of the 7th session of the BELA-MUN conference.

After solving the puz-zle of the MSLU labyrinth the next task for 14 del-egates was to introduce themselves and name the most important thing in their bags. Notebooks,

mp3-players, keys, pass-ports, mobile phones, pens and memory cards – this all turned out to be dear for the participants. The morning passed in a quiet, friendly and peaceful atmosphere and the young people dis-cussed open questions point by point. The issue of the first day was Es-tablishing Guidelines for Abatement of Pollution from Mining Operations. And honourable dele-gates were unanimous in their points of view and acted like a big harmoni-ous family. Anyhow, 10 amendments were made before lunch. And as usual, the most difficult rule to remember was “I is out of order”. Never-theless, in a few hours “we” became a habit and didn’t cause any trou-bles anymore.

The situation with calmness changed af-ter the lunch break. The male part of the house shared their enthusiastic reviews about tasty food.

By the way, everyone came in time after the first short break, but in the second one a group of delegates who were late provided us with an unforgettable show. The inventive chairper-sons thought up a pun-ishment in the form of a Birthday song in honour of the delegate of Hunga-ry who became one year older that day.

In general, thanks to our smiling and support-ing chairpersons, vivid and intelligent delegates and obliging administra-tion staff the first day left us all the best expecta-tions for tomorrow!

GA1: Special Political andDecolonization Committee

The BELAMUN Work-ing Session in Special Political and Decoloni-zation Committee start-ed early in the Monday morning. Chairs Nata-lia Kotikova and Vadim Bayanadin opened it and created a strong work-ing atmosphere. The in-troduction speech was cheerful, but it also gave

a keynote on correct and productive work. Chairs introduced themselves, got acquainted the del-egates with the sched-ule and added some very important tips like about losing badges. So, from the very beginning delegates could feel the conference mood. Lots of English and countries instead of the names – a

rather tensemode. But the challenge was ac-cepted.

The first task easily clarified the situation. The participants had the introduction floor. They should tell some words about themselves, de-scribe their hobbies, pas-time activities, likes and dislikes. And… it was the highly warm emo-tional moment. Under the suits were sociable people, open to new life experience and search-ing for new emotions. During the introduction floor honorable delegates of Belgium, China and Poland avowed that they are keen on parties and actually fond of Bela-mun! For the most of the delegates it wasn’t the first conference. «Mod-est» Pakistan mentioned his ambitions willing, charming Switzerland hinted at her being de-

termined and splendid Japan couldn’t hide spe-cial bag-pipes love…

The introduction in-stilled the team spirit into the audience and made the atmosphere ready to the coopera-tion and fruitful work. Even such ambiguous questions as separatism movements and blue helmets were the points open to discussion and prepossessing to coop-eration. The group di-vided into 2 parts and started… Points, ideas, suggestions… The dis-cussion was vivified and each of the participants could express their own ideas. The tasty nutri-tious dinner was the last victorious drop in the challenge. Of course the results will be seen tomorrow, but the basis is ready: basis for lively conversation and satu-rated debates…

● Ann Pintusova

● Darya Degis’

March 14, 2012 7

8 March 14, 2012 On the Spot8

Security Council

Ready to get to know how Security Council spent the first day of BE-LAMUN 2012? Do not miss a word!

It was an early and promising morning when the delegates from differ-ent countries gathered in MSLU to discuss issues of tremendous importance. Very soon they began to exercise their power and voted which of two topics was to be the first. That is how the run of ardent discussions started. And the first victory: the topic “Safety Intervention Policy Standards” won!

Then, oops!...the del-egate of the USA (Chris-tina Letetskaya) came late. Everybody was so excited preparing to enjoy a song or a poem delivered by her. Suddenly, it turned out she was actually not

late. Amused, everybody had to accept they were so queer for official debate, that accidentally started it before 10 a.m.!

The first policy state-ment came from the USA beginning with a quotation of Franklin D. Roosevelt and, surprisingly, the Russian Federation (An-ton Vtyurin) had no point of order. Why was it a sur-prise? Before that moment the Russian Federation was excellent at making up various points and mo-tions. We tried to get to the heart of the mystery. According to the official statement of the RF, there were just “some techni-cal problems”, but some people believed the reason was much deeper. Maybe, even as deep as surfing in the Internet, while the use of all such devices as his black iPad was strictly

prohibited, who knows?Meantime, Colombia

(Ivan Velentey) came, and came late. You can im-agine how delighted the delegates were, because he was sure to perform something for his being late. But the chairs were so kind to give Colombia one more day for rehears-ing his magnificent per-formance. Now everybody is looking forward to it and preparing their hands for clapping.

Finally, hard and inter-esting work began. The delegates were ready to ask provocative questions and to give sharp answers. Sometimes, too provoca-tive and too sharp… As the result, the first opera-tive clause did not pass. Clapping was out of order and it felt a bit sad, taking into account that a second clause did not pass…and

a third one… But there is justice in the world! The chairs encouraged the del-egates not to fail the whole clause, but to improve them with amendments. After their words that “nothing is perfect” the atmosphere of peace, har-mony and understanding filled the House. Finally, clauses began to pass one by one. The first one passed with 7 votes out of 9 at 12.08 a.m. That was a victory! The house was filled with clapping and shining smiles. I could swear I even saw a few tear-drops.

And…Bingo! Colombia proposed the first amend-ment to amendment. The fact that later it appeared to be just a single amend-ment did not lessen its importance. The ice was broken!

After a break there happened something re-ally outstanding. The del-egates used all the pos-sible motions and points. And sensation! Motion to Split the House! As far as we knew, it was used for the first time in the his-tory of BELAMUN. Every delegate was supposed to give irresistible reasons for or against the Operative Clause. Finally, we got a wonderful opportunity to hear the voices of the del-egates of India and Portu-gal.

Everybody was so per-suasive that I wanted to vote as well, but I utterly forgot that I did not have a placard to raise as high as I wanted.

The chairs were top-notch and mesmerized the House by their gorgeous speeches. Being in the only council ruled by two male-chairs, our delegates felt really comfortable and secured. Could it be an-other way, when you are in Security Council?

“Security is, I would say, our top priority because for all the exciting things you will be able to do with computers - organizing your lives, staying in touch with people, being creative - if we don’t solve these se-curity problems, then people will hold back.” Bill Gates

● Tatiana Pribolovets

8 March 14, 2012

March 14, 2012 9 On the Spot 9

GA2: Economic And Financial Committee“My grandfather is always repeating how he can change the world for the better!”

At 10 o’clock in the morning GA2 started its session with a roll-call and a tricky question: “What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done?” It’s funny to know what ex-traordinary events hap-pened to the participants before actually being ac-quainted with them, and the atmosphere that was a bit strained at first, im-mediately melted.

For someone the Stu-dent Conference 2012 turned out to be the first exciting experience of UN modeling, for others it’s the most pleasant yearly tradition not to be missed for anything in the world and some of the partici-pants use this chance to view BELAMUN from a new angle.

“It’s exciting here! Eve-ry minute I feel that I’m broadening my horizons! It’s great! It’s my first ex-perience!”- exclaims the delegate of China during the break.

Emotions are every-where in the room of

ECOFIN. Someone is a bit nervous about the Eng-lish language which all the participants should stick to. The delegate of Cuba is sleepy, but will-ing to joke. The delegate of Guatemala works thoughtfully on his lap-top, elaborating a brand-new method of desalting water from the World Ocean. The delegates of the USA and Russian Federation are vividly discussing the future of scientists. “We don’t have clever scientists! They are not stupid, they are bad-ly educated!” – protests the delegate of the USA. But all in all, economic and financial commit-tee remains friendly and peaceful with delegates circulating around tables and diplomatically ex-changing their points of view on the issues of the agenda.

“I expected more ag-gressive debates, as eve-ryone wants to become the best delegate and submit the best resolu-tion! But everyone ap-

pears to be friendly! And the surroundings are re-ally comfortable here”, - expresses his impres-sions the delegate of Guatemala.

During lobbying staff members are attentively watching the process. They like when the com-mittee works actively and are glad to trans-mit the first messages of the session between the delegates. Diana, staff-member, is also curious about how it all works in BELAMUN, so that she can become a skillful del-egate in the future.

In some two-three hours the inquisitive del-egates of ECOFIN cre-ated a variety of tools aimed at financial assist-ance to science and tech-nology for development and achieving integrated sustainable manage-ment of natural resourc-es. Their clean sheets became filled with letters and symbols, depicting some energy-efficient techniques in engineer-ing construction (houses

turning towards the sun to accumulate energy!). It was also proposed to organize a meeting where citizens can ad-dress governments with their genial ideas month-ly. “My grandfather is al-ways repeating how he can change the world for the better!” – proved the delegate of Poland.

Being one of the larg-est committees, ECOFIN coped with the resolu-tions quickly and fruit-fully. Though the coali-tion around the USA was lacking in co-submitters in the first instance, the USA were confident to use special economic sanctions to make the less developed countries support their resolution. In fact, the delegates were lobbying so hard, that honorable chairs even had to beg them to stop working and have dinner at last.

The work in ECOFIN was cooperative and dy-namic and couldn’t but leave everyone pleased with the results!

● Kaciaryna Konyukh

March 14, 2012 9

10 March 14, 2012 Useful Tips

Crisis + Opportunity = CrisitunitySustainable Development: the Way Forward! The general topic of the BELAMUN Student Con-

ference 2012 sounds impressive and solemn. The issues of Agenda for delegates are all hard nuts to crack. How to come up with effective solutions, when the word “crisis” is so universally urgent? Honorable delegates, watch “The Simpsons”, as they know the formula!

In Chinese, the word “crisis” (pinyin: wēijī) similarly consists of two symbols: wēi stands for “danger, fear, jeopardy”, while jī stands for “crucial point, key, chance, opportunity”.

Today, the world faces what the first Chinese symbol means - the danger of collapsing economies, the jeopardy of revolutionary move-ments, the fear of new ecological dis-asters, the dread of what tomorrow is about to bring.

Yet is this the first time when mankind has to withstand a crisis?

The researchers enumerate nearly 20 economic crises in 19th and 20th centuries, not taking into account political, social, environmental cri-ses that have stricken the world up to now. So humanity has always en-countered critical points in its history and continues to go through them.

In economics, crisis is regarded as an inevitable stage of an economic cycle, which is preceded by a boom phase and followed by a recovery phase and repeats with a certain pe-riodicity. The same principle can be applied to other spheres. That’s how forest fires can revive the ecosystem, removing garbage and hazardous waste, giving space for the seeds of trees and making woodlands strong-er and healthier.

The question is how to treat a criti-cal situation.

In the midst of an economic crisis to protect yourself against the decay-ing currency you can convert most of your cash into gold, keep it in the basement and buy food and clothes to stay alive while the world is crash-ing down... and, of course, being a perfect target with all that gold and supplies, arm yourself properly!

Well, panicking is easy. Panic makes you paralyzed about taking constructive decisions and finding a dignified way out. When a rock climber gets stuck somewhere in the mountains, he knows that those

who panic die there. For saving his life he shouldn’t just sit and wait to get smashed. He should either go up or go down. If he goes down and survives, then he can come back an-other day.

It occurs that treating a situation with fear allows us to recognize a challenge, but not to handle it. In that case, opportunity remains in-visible in the shade of anxiety and in order to discern it one should be not only courageous, but also cre-ative! While governments are try-ing hard to cope with the burning issues, it’s high time we switched on to an effective “crisis as oppor-tunity” mindset and saw that eve-rything is in our hands heads.

It is impossible to develop a sus-tainable world unless those who af-fect the world hold a sustainable integrated worldview. Creativity ena-bles us able to change ourselves and to make the world change with us both in the way that the world is in-fluenced by our changed actions and in the changed way that we experi-ence the world. In everyday thought people often spontaneously imag-ine alternatives to reality when they think “if only…”. On a larger scale, the keys to creative problem solving do not differ too much. The 4 crucial creative profiles “Incubate, Imagine, Improve and Invest” are available to every individual on Earth.

Creative problem solving becomes an even more significant tool when practiced by a group of people. Team creativity ensures diversity and dif-ference of ideas and helps to evolve through exchanges of newly born concepts. But the most significant thing is that creativity simply makes the world a smaller place with vast interactions and creativity-friendly, imagination-fostering environment, where a crisis has no longer such a dire effect on the minds of people and turns into what the second Chinese symbol means – a chance!

Here is the “Six Thinking Hats” technique by Edward de Bono, designed to develop creative solutions to prob-lems during sessions.

Try it out in BELAMUN!

Look at the situation objectively. Focus on the data available. What are the facts?

Look at the situation emotionally. Try to walk in your oppo-nent’s shoes as well.

Think creatively!What are some al-ternative ideas?

And this one is for chairs! Do delegates cope with problem-atic issues?

Use a negative per-spective. Which ele-ments of the solution won’t work and why?

Use a positive per-spective. Which ele-ments of the solution will obviously work?

What are special traits of a creative BELAMUNer?

C – curiosityR – risk-takingE – experiment & experienceA – aesthetic orientationT – toleranceI – independence of judge-

mentV – varietyI – illuminationT – team spiritY – youth

● Kaciaryna Kohyukh

March 14, 2012 11 BELAMUN Fun Art

BELA MemesDo you like trollfaces, demotivators and other memes? Maybe

you’re the author of these about BELAMUN? Whatever, just… laugh!) Special thanks to @heywazzupguys

BELA Memes

12 March 14, 2012 Farewell BELAMUN

Check

Yourself:

Wh

o Are You

on B

ELAM

UN

?

by Kaciaryna K

ohyukh A

nton Dudko