for human rights and free-doms.

These proposals for civil liberties created tension between the Soviet Union and its citizens, leading to the creation of watchdog

MMUN World News & ReportVOLUME VIII ISSUE 1 MMUN.ORG Thursday, Feb. 20, 2014

Notices Ambassador: Civil rights, national stability linked

The United States did not support the Conference for Security when it was first proposed.

The only reason the U.S. jumped on board was to keep peaceful ties among their allies, Ambassador Ian Kelly said at the open-ing ceremony of the 54th Midwest Model United Na-tions Conference.

“It was acknowledged that [a] state’s fundamen-tal national interests de-pended upon respecting human rights,” Kelly said. “Security and stability among states depended on respect for human rights within states.”

The Soviet Union pro-posed the creation of the Conference for Security, an intergovernmental organi-zation that even today tries to create better relations among its members, im-prove human rights condi-tions and ensure cross-bor-der and domestic security.

By sitting down and dis-cussing new political is-sues, Soviet representa-tives saw the opportunity to have their expansion into Eastern Europe recog-

ITAR-TASS

Recent unrest in Russia and Ukraine highlight the tie between national security and civil liberties, Ambassador Ian Kelly said in the keynote address of the 54th Midwest Model Nations Conference.

nized by the West in exchange for recognizing the importance of civil liberties.

The conference adopted the Hel-sinki Accords, which aimed to achieve sovereign equal-ity, the reassurance that countries’ individual se-curity would be safe from attack and seizure of their land and finally respect

groups that tracked the Soviet Union’s human rights viola-tions and played a role in the govern-ment’s eventual collapse.

Despite the conference’s ultimate success, Kelly said, U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and then-President Richard Nixon called the s e c u r i t y

Survey shows differing priorities

Protection against crime and violence, affordable and nutritious food, and a good education are three of the main concerns in both the developed and developing world, as indi-cated by the results of the MY World survey.

Average citizens complet-ed the MY World priorities survey, the results of which were released after the post-2015 development agenda for the United Na-tions and other organiza-tions to use in creating their priority lists. Of the 16 issues proposed, partici-pants selected their top six and the results were aggre-gated by development sta-tus and geographic region.

This is the first time the survey has been conduct-

BBC

Proposed peacekeeping reforms include training

The delegate from Saudi Arabia argues the importance of cultural awareness among peacekeepers. // New York Times

By bolstering peace-keep-ing efforts the delegates of General Assembly’s Fourth Committee argued that governance would be im-proved.

A serious look at reforms has been taken to stream-line effective peace-

building worldwide. The majority of delegates agreed that training, hin-dering measures and high-er levels of communication are the pathway to efficien-

cy.“Preventative measures

are the best. You’ve got to have a solid base,” the del-egate from Uruguay said.

The representative from Syria stressed that cultural awareness must be inte-grated into the peacekeep-ers culture.

“Peacekeepers need to stay culturally sensitive,” she said.

Increased funding was also discussed to promote a healthy peacekeeping force.

NEW YORK TIMES

Delegates can email questions to Ambassador Ian Kelly at

dirmidwest@state.gov.

The funding would be funneled into training pro-grams and strength build-ing initiatives.

“It’s not just more fund-ing,” representative from Syria said. “This funding will be targeted.”

Although some countries view the U.N.’s blue-hel-meted troops as a neces-sary evil, they were willing to discuss improvements rather than removal.

“Reformation is currently necessary in order to cause change,” the representa-tive from Brazil said.

A report issued by com-mittee staff belied the hopes that some delegates had that the presence of peacekeepers would lead to good governance.

Peacekeeping operations have had a mixed record on their effectiveness, in terms of minimizing vio-lence and promoting good governance, the report said.

The fact that the two are not aligned has created waste because countries have left a heavy portion of their nation’s success to the U.N.’s forces, according to committee documents.

Conference photographsA photographer will be

available 5 to 10 p.m. Friday.

A sign-up sheet is in Conference Services.

Photos are $5.

Lines, hours at Einstein’sStarting this year,

Einstein’s Bagels has said they will have two lines, one for bagels and coffee and another for full orders.

The shop will also open earlier than normal.

The change is designed to speed up service.

Conference swagT-shirts and lanyards

are for sale in Conference Services.

This year’s shirts are $15, and shirts from previous years are on clearance.

Lanyards are $3.

Delegate danceTickets for the delegate

dance are now on sale in Conference Services for $5.

The dance will 9 p.m. to midnight Friday in Regency Ballrooms A and B, which the General Assembly’s Second Commitee currently meets.

Music will be provided by DJ Disarmament.

Staff opportunitiesMMUN is still taking staff

applications, which are available in Conference Services.

Staff opportunities are available both this year and next.

Printing, computersDocuments can be

printed in Conference Services for 10 cents a side.

Computers are also available for use. Internet can be accessed by logging on to GlobalSuiteWireless and using the password 1820.

Conference appThe Midwest Model U.N.

conference is trying a new app this year.

By downloading Guidebook and searching for “Midwest Model United Nations,” delegates can access the schedule, a map of the hotel, the delegate handbook and other resources.

Conference staff is looking for feedback on the app to see if this is something that will be pursued in the future.

Only 200 downloads are available. The quota has not yet been reached.

KEYNOTE, 2

SURVEY, 2

2A l Thursday, Feb. 20, 2014 l MMUN World News & Report

c o n f e r e n c e “useless,” only

joining the conference at the request of its allies and to keep NATO together.

Ford was much more sup-portive of the conference.

While the creation of the Helsinki Accords played out on a very different global

ed.The Midwest

Model U.N. Secretariat passed on the MY World survey to delegates to pro-vide a framework around which to form policy and serve as a tool to assist in crafting negotiations, Under Secretary-General of Operations Matthew Kitzman said.

While developing nations focused on fundamental concerns, including ac-cess to clean water and sanitation, better health-care and job opportunities, developed countries gave greater weight to items like

North Korea invited to SC talksCouncil aims to reboot six-party negotiations

Efforts to restart talks with North Korea broke down during a Thursday morning meeting of the United Nations Security Council North.

Without a delegation from North Korea, the 15-member panel couldn’t reach an agreement on the parameters of the proposed six-party talks, and so council members agreed to bring in the del-egation.

A delegate from North Korea had been contacted and was en route Thurs-day morning, the Security Council was informed , but an estimated time for when he could arrive was not available.

In the meantime, the discussion has been put

After decades of military standoff and skirmishes along Indo-Pakistani bor-der, South Africa will serve as a mediator as the two countries negotiate.

The conflict was front and center as the General Assembly’s First Commit-tee discussed nuclear non-proliferation and bringing India and Pakistan on as signatories to the 1970 treaty.

“Obviously, India and Pakistan have historically been at odds in their se-curity and political ambi-tions,” the delegate from Pakistan said. “However, we are working towards more transparency and open dialogue so we can reduce tension and in-crease peaceful sharing of technologies and thus practices in the realm of nuclear security and non-proliferation.”

While many of the coun-tries agree there needs

AL JAZEERA on hold.This move “would give us

something to work with,” Russian delegate said.

“What we can get out of this discussion [with North Korea] will determine what we can do here,” the del-egate from Argentina said.

Several nations hoped that the six- party talks, which in the past have in-cluded North Korea, South Korea, Japan, China, Rus-sia and the U.S., could be restarted but possibly in a different form this time.

Russia proposed adding a seventh nation of North Korea’s choice to bring North Korea to the table.

“North Korea is a difficult nation since they refuse to cooperate,” the delegate from Pakistan said.

South Korea is “look-ing to see some forward

progress in this area and establish better relations,” its delegate said, adding that past talks had not been fruitful but bringing North Korea in as a non-voting member would be a step in the right direction.

As the council waits for the North Korean delegate to arrive, the council has decided to move on to oth-er business, but a consen-sus has not been reached on what to discuss.

The delegate from Paki-stan was in favor of dis-cussing the international drug war.

The drug trade is the financing apparatus for the other topic up for consid-eration, emerging nuclear threats that endanger the safety and security of international peace and diplomacy, she said.

Ambassador Ian Kelly took delegate questions after his keynote address Wednesday evening and has made his email address, dirmidwest@state.gov, available for further questions.

stage, the underlying con-nection between national stability and civil liberties is still relevant today, Kelly said, pointing to the pro-tests in Ukraine and the ar-rest of dissidents in Russia.

The conference had an-other important character-istic that seems particu-

larly apropos as Ukraine faces “a false choice” of having to pick between the Russia-centric intergovern-mental organization and the European Union, Kelly said. Membership in the conference did not mean countries could not belong to other organizations.

KEYNOTE

honest and responsive gov-ernments, in addition to political freedoms and cli-mate change.

The survey revealed that regionally, Africa and Asia were most concerned about access to clean wa-ter and sanitation. Europe-an and other Western na-tions prioritized honest and responsive governments, while Latin America ranked protection against crime and violence highest. The top issue facing the Middle East was that of affordable and nutritious food.

SURVEY

Developing

1. Access to clean water and sanitation

2. Protection against crime and violence

3. Better job opportunities4. Better healthcare

5. Affordable and nutritious food6. A good education

Developed

1. An honest and responsive government

2. Political freedoms3. Protection against crime and

violence4. A good education

5. Affordable and nutritious food6. Action taken on climate change

THE RANKINGSWhile both developing and developed countries ranked protection against crime and violence highly, developed nations placed a greater emphasis on a strong and open political system.

India, Pakistan agree on mediator for negotiations

Members of Security Council North discuss the logistics of how to restart talks with North Korea. // BBC

Timeline, scope of new nuclear non-proliferation treaty discussed

ITAR-TASS to be a peaceful resolu-tion to nuclear weaponry, disagreement arose over how to go about disarm-ing, whether complete disbarment is the goal and what kind of timeline there should be.

Several proposals tack-ling the issue are in the works.

Indonesia proposed re-structuring the Internation-al Atomic Energy Agency’s budget, re-appropriating unspent money.

The delegate from Germany discussed safe-guard agreements and international peace and security by nuclear disar-mament.

Ghana would like to incorporate disarmament checkpoints where coun-tries would have to meet certain requirements in order to be in cooperation with the treaty. This would ultimately hold countries liable for their actions when it comes to nuclear weaponry.