POSMUN
The newspaper
Monday, 18th of April 2022
Opening Ceremony
During the opening ceremony of POSMUN 2022, many important matters were presented. In the beginning, after a delay from the heads of ceremony (Laura Koutaka and Ian Meyer) a fun behind the scenes video was shown to the audience. Then, the director of Colegio Visconde de Porto Seguro’s B Curriculum, Thomas Duque Mand, talked about how happy he was with the fact that this year’s POSMUN is being held in person and the school is receiving students from other schools. He also discussed the importance of debating topics such as the ones in POSMUN.
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This year’s Secretary General, Florin Yara Neuhaus, also presented the importance of POSMUN and discussing such topics, and how through that we can project a better future. She also pointed out the influence of events like POSMUN on creating global citizens and presenting new perspectives of important topics. The President of the General Assembly, Pedro Lobianco, came on to show the complicated side of being a delegate at POSMUN, such as creating agendas, working papers, discussing draft resolutions, and preparing research for the event. He also talked about how uncomfortable some situations at POSMUN can be, but how important they are for personal growth, a topic thoroughly discussed by the Deputy Secretary General, Gabriela Baez, in her speech. “If you put your mind to it, you can get anywhere you want in life”, she says. Gabriela also catched this opportunity to talk about how important it is to celebrate the growth and effort people put in their futures, and how important it is to make changes. All of them also presented their personal experiences at POSMUN.
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Amidst the Organizers speeches, the student band Wonder of You presented their version of the song “Highway to Hell”, from AC/DC. Then, one of the commi
creators of POSMUN, Alessandro Faria, talked about how proud he was of where POSMUN had gotten, and his thankfulness regarding the fact that POSMUN is still here. He also mentioned this year’s addition to POSMUN, the social project “United for doNations”, which was further presented by its Head, Gabriel Fernandes. The intention of this project is to collect menstrual products, such as tampons, pads, and menstrual cups, to donate to women living in lower-income communities.
By the end, some delegations had the chance to present their opening speeches, in which they showed some facts and information about their countries, and their intentions at POSMUN. The Heads of Ceremony then ended the Opening Ceremony by wishing all a great MUN.
by João Gabriel Frick
The first day of discussions at Human Rights Committee:
A complete insight in all what was discussed concerning the topic: “Forced Labor in Asia-Pacific Countries” at the Human Rights Committee in the Porto Seguro Model United Nations (POSMUN).
The first committee session at POSMUN started off with an icebreaker, in which the delegates got to know special facts about each other. The chairs Camila Siqueira and Lucas Haola then presented to the delegates all the rules of procedure of POSMUN, and fastly opened the debate. The delegations got to start off presenting their opening speeches, in which their delegations’ positions on forced labor were presented. Some opening speeches that can be considered controversial were the ones from United States of America, the Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea, Peoples Republic of China, and Socialist Republic of Vietnam, who were thoroughly discussed during the debate. After that, the Delegates then initiated the speakers list, in which they presented more information about their countries, ideas of topics for the agenda and ways of solving the problem involving forced labor. This helped them to better direct the debate and to elaborate the agenda. Delegations then agreed on an unmoderated caucus to discuss the agenda until the end of the session.
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After the procedural roll call at the beginning of the second debate session, the delegates proceeded with their unmoderated caucus to discuss the agenda. Unfortunately, the delegation of Germany couldn’t participate for the rest of the day. Even though, the delegates were able to elaborate and vote on an agenda in the forethought time. It includes the discussion of important topics, such as the origins and causes of forced labor,
human trafficking and how countries should cooperate with each other to end modern slavery.
Some other aspects were discussed in a form of a speakers list, such as how changing the legislation can slowly help ending forced labor. This idea was presented by the delegate of the United States, together with other topics such as economic freedom. For many delegations, such as China and Russia, Economic freedom is too difficult to reach, and poverty in America is not in discussion. The delegations of Qatar and Australia agreed on new ways of ending poverty, such as the union of some countries through the United Nations. The delegation of Eritrea presented the power of Education in this topic. For the delegate, it would help victims of forced labor to recognize the situation they are in, and on finding a way out. Although it is a long-term measure, it would be very helpful on solving this problem. Economic measures were also presented, such as investing on Eritrean companies to bring a promising result in the financial aspect of the debates topic. Then, the delegate of Russia attempted to present the New Deal as a form of reestablishing the economic problems of some countries. The New Deal, created by the former president of the United States Franklin Roosevelt, was a series of economic measures implemented in response to the Great Depression of 1933, with the intention of recovering the American economy. Many measures shall be implemented so that the New Deal can be included nowadays, but the influence of the State in the economy should be maintained. The committee then entered in an unmoderated caucus to discuss the first topic of the agenda, regarding the origins and causes of forced labor. Topics such as poverty, legislation, education, and child labor were thoroughly discussed by the delegates. The unmoderated caucus proceeded until the end of the session, and in the beginning of the third session.
Unfortunately, the delegates couldn’t finish their working paper, so they had to enter a debate in the mode of speakers list to discuss specific topics of it. One example of topic that was thoroughly discussed was child labor, and if it should be legal or not. While some delegations agreed on legalizing child labor under specific conditions, others were completely against it. Other themes such as what should happen with companies who use forced labor and the creation of new laws to reinforce existent ones were also discussed. The inclusion of ideas and measures to solve forced labor at Asia-Pacific Countries was done many times by many delegations. The topic of helping developing countries was assiduously discussed throughout the day’s last session, focusing on how the system should change to help people in the situation of extreme poverty. Though changing the whole system is practically impossible, many delegations like Vietnam stood the argument that it is possible and should be done as soon as possible. The session was then adjourned, and the discussion shall be discussed tomorrow, in a faster motion (as recommended by the chairs.
by João Gabriel Frick
UNODC Day 1:
A summary of what happened on the opening day of POSMUN:
Human trafficking is a very serious problem that a large amount of countries face. It can be used for slavery, sexual exploration, organ extraction and many other horrible purposes. The somewhat recent rise of technology has presented many positive aspects, but, unfortunately it can be used as a tool to help human traffickers. Throughout the entirety of POSMUN, the United Nations Drugs and Crime committee will discuss Good Use and Abuse: The Role of Technology in Human Trafficking.
The day started off with the opening ceremony, which included many speeches and a music presentation. After a small coffee break, there were ice breakers in each council, so that the delegates could get to know each other better. The council started with a couple of opening speeches shared by the delegates, in which they briefly presented their respective country’s point of view on the topic. A semi moderated caucus was proposed, and several alternatives came to light, which lead to a discussion about the schedule. There was a vote and the majority choose to follow through with the unmoderated caucus.
After lunch the delegates voted on clauses and sub-clauses and when that was concluded, the agenda was passed. The debate began with the delegate of Venezuela proposing the question “what is considered human trafficking?” to the other delegates. The reflection caused by the answers brought up many other topics such as consequences that human traffickers face, measures the governments can take, the trafficking rates in Russia and border control in Brazil, for example. Before the second coffee break a new factor was introduced: the pandemic. Delegates shared how COVID-19 affected the human trafficking in their countries.
In the last part of the day, the delegates got together to write the working paper and at the end, the chair passed it. In the last 8 minutes of the session there was a moderated caucus to discuss technological assets and how they impacted trafficking. Overall it was a great first day and even though there were many first time debaters, the sessions were very dynamic. Although some delegates mentioned or questioned other countries in their arguments, it was overall a pretty civilized and friendly debate. As the day went on, several delegates lost their shyness, which made the last council session the most interesting one.
by Allegra Ho
The first day of debate
UNEP - Green legislation: International effects of Amazonian deforestation.
Amazonia is the largest tropical forest in the world and therefore it holds on its possession a really considerable amount of biodiversity. The location of this significant biome is on the north of South America and it involves many countries in its area, such as Peru, Brasil, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana. This year's Posmun includes the international effects of Amazonian deforestation as one of the prime topics to be discussed, in view of the fact that Amazonia is vital for many life forms, due to its wide biodiversity, capacity of preventing diseases from proliferate, oportunities of involving local comunities that may develop economic activities of low income or even positive impact to the forest, in addition to storing carbon and regulating the climate.
This year's UNEP theme to be discussed during three intence days of debate embraces the participation of a grand number of countries for the presence of international transcendence in this topic.
On the first day and section of the debate each of the delegates presented an entrance speech in order to present their country's vision and position in relation to their effects, proposals and solutions on behalf of the Amazonian deforestation. Delegates were questioned about their ideas and researches, making it possible for the really mindfull delegations to stand out. In this first section of the conference the Russian Federation (represented by Heloisa Ziolkowski) , United States of America (represented by Henrique Santos) and the Kingdom of Netherlands (represented by Matheus Donner) were countries that really stood out for their complete speeches and well elaborated questions.
On the second section of the debate the delegates arranged an agenda in order to decide the subjects to be discussed on the council.
As the first subjects to be discussed, the forms of rewarding small farmers who would do their work properly and don't damage the forest, as well as stablishing a certain amount of carbon dioxid to be alowed for each country to possess were debated.
Although the debate was quite long, not much has been settled and there's were some misunderstandments and complains during the discussion. Apart from that it was possible to notice some prodigy towards the actions of some delegates such as Laura Dinhani from People's Republic of China and Thomas Novaes from Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
Hopefully in the next debate there will be a bigger progress so that the countries menage to get a few steps closer to a conclusion that will help the comite solve the Amazonia current situation, but meanwhile lets just be tankfull for their compromise and hard work towards this significant project.
Thank you to all distinguished guests who took part in this conference, we really apreciate your commitment and hard work towards the influent cause that is the international effects of Amazonian deforestation.
by Mariana Villela
Security Council: Day 1
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It all started with the arrival of the delegates and honorable chairs. After the presence call, the chairs suggested a little game to warm up the environment and for everyone to get to know each other a bit. The delegates had to first introduce themselves and tell what type of music, TV show, and food they would choose if they were on a desert island. To cause some argument, the heads started asking what controversial opinion the delegates had. Not surprisingly the soccer topic came up, as well as food and series. Soccer was discussed as the icebreaker subject to cause some drama, and many delegations did defend soccer as the most important sport of all. The Republic of Iraq even gave the example that during the Nigerian Civil War, there was a game against Santos, a Brazilian team that paused for 48 hours the internal war. The two sides ceased their weapons and allowed each other to watch the great Pele play. The debate must have at least lasted 30 minutes and would be still taking place if it weren’t for our honorable chairs who needed to talk some business.
Afterward, some rules of procedure were told on how to refer to each delegation and how to behave, maintaining an organized debate. What interested the delegates the most was the possibility they have of winning an award, depending on their development during the debate. One hour had passed and the speeches began, the Iraq Republic was the first one to talk and the Russian Federation followed. Both of them choose to give the floor back to the chairs after only using half of the time they had with their speeches.
After many excellent speeches given by the delegates, being more accurate twelve, the delegation of China ended the introduction by saying they always had a low profile regarding terrorist attacks and that they would help countries by using their economic and military power if needed.
Then the delegates debated about where the topics and subtopics of their agenda should go and why, and with the blink of an eye it was already 12 o’clock and lunch had already been served in the beautiful foyer. After an hour and a half, the German delegation asked for 10 min to discuss again about the agenda and the majority agreed and went with it. This request came up at least six more times not only by the German delegate but by many others. After a long while, you could notice some little groups also called alliances being formed. The most entertaining part is still to come.
At the end of the day, everyone was exhausted and had had at least a cup of coffee brought by the marvelous ushers. The agenda and the first of many working papers were finished just in time.
Last but not least, I will finish this first edition with the best sentence of the entire day from our great Russian Federation: “Why are you attacking me saying that I contribute with the distribution of weapons when you are one of my most important allies, do we have a problem?” Referring to China.
by Letícia Amaral
ECOSOC Day 1
Dealing with the post-pandemic economic crisis
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The day one of POSMUN started with the opening ceremony, where those that made the event possible talked about their experience and their expectations for the following days. Porto Rock (also known as Porto Seguro's band) made an exceptional performance. Then, after the first coffee break, everyone headed to their committees. In the ECOSOC room, the game to break the ice was: the chair, vice-chair and delegates spoke a little bit about things that bring them joy, making all more comfortable and less pressed.
The topic of ECOSOC this year is: "Dealing with the post-pandemic economic crisis". A scenario where most countries have been through after the pandemic and need to be discussed in an economic and social aspect.
In the first council the delegates started with their opening speeches, telling the others their intentions on to participating in the debate. Argentina was the first one and was before long asked by Australia how they could help other nations in this subject, the Latin country's mainly answer was by selling natural products. Australia continued their speech saying that was hoping to help the less fortunate countries and was looking forward to a smooth debate. The delegation of Singapore questioned how they would help other countries and Australia responded that they are willing to deliver money and give commodities. After Brazil's speech, the WBG asked about how the inflation is going, and how they would deal with it. The answer was by increasing taxes, which did not seem to please the World Bank nor Sweeden. Germany, Sweeden, Australia and most of the other delegations would like to help and not be the helped ones, including Russia. Which made WBG indagate Russia, pointing out that their vaccination numbers are one of the lowest, the question was how they could be helpers and not be the helped. The delegate representing USA said its country handled well the pandemic, but the delegation of Singapore contested that. The Australia delegation pointed out that the UK didn’t help Canada nor Australia with the pandemic even though they asked for it. The delegate representing the UK replied to it saying that they chose to help countries that needed more, for example, the ones located in Africa
In the session two the agenda was open and so was the speakers list. One of the topics discussed was how they would help the less fortunate countries without raising the inflation, suggested by the World Bank's delegate. Sweeden implied that it's clear that more liberal measures have worked the best.
In the third council, a motion on using the rest of the council to do the working paper was voted. Before that, they all agreed that the most imported topics and their decisions were that they are all willing to help financially countries that are fighting the crisis after COVID-19. But also assuring that this support will be organized by the countries apart of the EU, UK, USA, Argentine Republic and Republic of Madagascar. The first day of the Porto Seguro Model United Nations ended, and so did the third council session, all in a pacific mood.
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by Gabriella Aprile
UN Women
First day
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The UN WOMEN committee was ready to begin the discussion after the chairs presented themselves. An icebreaker activity started the debate, so delegates could get to know each other better. The activity that was proposed by the chair Jordana and vice chair Victória was to send a photo to the committee WhatsApp group and say your name and which school the delegate is from and the reason for the chosen photo. The chairs begun the activity and the delegates proceed. After this icebreaker a new one was proposed by the United States of America, as there was still time. The activity proposed was two truths and one lie.
Before starting the debate, the chair and vice chair made the rollcall to check if everyone was present and voting. All delegates declared themselves present and voting, except for the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and the Federative Republic of Brazil, that declared themselves as just present and The Swiss Confederation, Republic of Japan and Republic of France that were absent.
The delegation of New Zealand raised a motion to start the debate, but the motion didn’t pass, so the chairs decided to start the opening speeches by following the list of countries. Each country, with the exception of those who did not attempt the debate, made their opening speech with a duration of 60 seconds maximum. During the opening speeches, the chair Jordana and the vice chair Vitoria recalled that after the end of any speech, it is necessary for the delegate to say the following sentence "I yield the floor back to the chair/another country".
Before any motion or speech, the chairs recalled the rules and aspects that need to be followed in these next three days of POSMUN.
Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela proposed that there be a vote regarding the choice of agenda to represent the committee of UN WOMEN. In addition, the delegate of Venezuela presented the agenda that she organized together with New Zealand. A motion was raised by the United States of America to open an unmoderated caucus to discuss the new agenda presented and whether it would better represent the council than the first agenda made by the delegate from the United States. This motion passed but was not extended when it came to an end, however a moderated caucus was initiated. The discussion over which agenda best represents the UN WOMEN committee stretched on for a long time. The two agendas were presented and speeches in favor and against were also presented by the countries that wrote the agendas under discussion. In conclusion, a vote was established and agenda 2, made by Venezuela and New Zealand, won with all votes with exception of the vote of the United States of America.
A motion was requested by New Zealand to start the speakers list. This motion passed and thus the speaker list, which followed the topics of the agenda chosen by the committee. The topic "The taboo of menstruation around the world" was discussed. During the discussion, several solutions were proposed among the countries. Venezuela proposed a solution to stimulate realization of projects to understand that there is no reason to be ashamed for menstruating. India has proposed that they teach and explain not only to the girls but also to the parent's what
what tampons and other menstrual things work for and their importance for those who use them. Other solutions such as the introduction of this topic in schools, speeches and newspapers or campaigns with information's about menstruation were also presented during the debate. As a barrier to the effectiveness of these solutions, problems of religion appeared, where countries with a very strong religion, cannot implement the dissemination in schools. A motion was called by New Zealand to end the discussion so that the committee could have lunch. The motion passed.
After the lunch the roll call was made again. As before, all countries claimed present and voting with the exception of Ethiopia and Brazil who claimed only present, and Japan, France and the Swiss Confederation, which were not present in the debate.
The discussion with the speaker list that started before the lunch followed, regarding the topic "The taboo of menstruation around the world". Problems such as religion and discussion about menstrual education with parents prevailed during the debate. A motion was declared by the People's Republic of China for an unmoderated caucus to discuss final solutions on this topic. The motion passed. As final conclusions, the committee decided to encourage the promotion of campaigns that teach the general population about menstruation, ending the taboos.
A semi moderated caucus began with the suggestion of the chairs to take a vote to either continue the debate in an unmoderated caucus for more than 10 minutes or move to a semi moderated caucus. Switching to a semi moderated caucus won by all votes. Before that could begin, Deputy Secretary General Gabriela Baez entered the room and was greeted with everyone standing up at her entrance. New Zealand started the discussion with the idea of including, for under develop countries, workshops that are the ideal for countries that don't have the financial state to support their program. Some countries, such as Iran, Venezuela and Ethiopia, claimed to be against the workshops, as they do not have sufficient funds or infrastructure to promote this medium. In the meantime, China claimed to be available to discuss financial collaboration to help to solve this financial problem, in relation to the workshops. Venezuela replied New Zealand with other solutions, as promoting projects such as the workshop could not be carried out. As a final solution, it was decided that the workshops should only be encourage.
A motion suggested by New Zealand to present the working paper 1 was accepted and followed by a vote for or against the working paper - all countries voted in favor.
A motion was suggested by the United States of America, with the purpose of opening an unmoderated caucus to discuss the second topic on the agenda, namely, the impacts menstrual poverty has on society. The motion was accepted. A motion was suggested by Venezuela to continue the discussion in a moderated caucus. The motion was accepted. The impact of education, health and equality in relation to menstrual poverty was heavily discussed across countries. A motion was suggested by New Zealand to postpone the discussion until after the coffee break. The motion was accepted.
After the coffee break the roll call was made again. All countries declared themselves present and voting except for Brazil and Ethiopia, and Japan, France and the Swiss Confederation, which were not present in the debate.
A motion was suggested by New Zealand, with the aim of opening an unmoderated caucus, to provide a solution to health, equality and education problems for poverty countries. This motion got denied, and the chairs ordered the speakers list to follow where it left off. As a solution for the impacts of menstrual poverty on education, health and equality the committee decided to encourage the distribution of menstrual products sponsored by the government in public places such as Schools, Health station, and others. Other solutions established were to reinforce the need of countries with unstable economies to accept external help, to encourage governments to promote donation boxes for the purpose of donating of menstrual products in public spaces - which generated a great deal of discussion, as not all countries were in favor of this solution - and encourage development governments to send financial help to underdeveloped countries. The New Zealand delegate even proposed moving the sponsors from the USA to China, but the session ended up being postponed through an accepted motion suggested by New Zealand itself to postpone the debate to the Council Session 4, which will be held on the 2nd day of POSMUN.