Contact: pc[at]bermun.de

Political Committee

Welcome to the BERMUN 2008 Political Committee!

We, Victor Boadum and Katy Schaper from the John F. Kennedy School in Berlin will have the honor of serving as this year's Chairs of the Political Committee. To ensure that your preparation for the conference goes smoothly, we will briefly elaborate on this year’s topics and provide some suggestions for research.

As your chairs, we will gladly assist you should questions arise during your research. If that should be the case, please do not hesitate to contact us via e-mail at pc[at]bermun.de. We further encourage you to make use of the BERMUN forum. It is a great forum for delegates to discuss different facets of a topic and exchange their policies on certain topics. Furthermore the forum helps you gain direct contact between you and your fellow delegates ensuring a more productive debate at the actual BERMUN conference in November.

Promoting Strategies for the Reintegration of Former Political Refugees Back Into Society

The problem of reintegrating former political refugees back into society is one of the major struggles the global community is currently facing. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has official tallies of 21 018 589 people being under their constant supervision as a cause of warfare or other catastrophes which lead to their displacement (1.January 2007).

The term political refugee in accordance to international law refers to a person fleeing from oppressive or dangerous conditions such as political persecution and seeking refuge in a foreign country. International law recognizes the right of the persecuted to seek asylum but does not oblige states to provide it.

There are no clear international guidelines dictating a clear manner which countries must abide by when dealing with political refugees which strongly endangers the aforementioned group as they are not necessarily granted a safety haven. Therefore it is of the utmost importance that there is set amount of guidelines outlining the manner in which political refugees should be treated.

When speaking about the reintegration of political refugees, integration is referring to the manner in which they can proceed with their education, abilities and profession, taking their cultural background into consideration and it will be up to forum to come up with proposals to solve the problem at hand and find a successful way to reintegrate political refugees back into society.

Useful research links:

• http://www.unhcr.org/statistics.html
• http://www.theirc.org/?gclid=CJrthKvgvpUCFQJRtAodAnCxXA
• http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/07/04/Report_Mugabe_plans_more_violence/UPI-27321215179932/
• http://www.orwelltoday.com/zimbabwegenocide.shtml
• https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/zi.html
• http://www.squidoo.com/political-refugees
• http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/0/2/6/4/8/p26481_index.html
• http://encyclopedia.farlex.com/Political+refugees

Gender Disparity within the United Nations

Gender Disparity within the United Nations is a topic that deserves more attention than it has been given. Looking at the numerous pressing issues in the world today, it is easy to neglect this issue and move on to, seemingly, more important ones. Once one focuses on this problem, however, gender equality inside the United Nations itself can be examined as well.

The UN Millennium Development Goals, to be achieved by 2015, address the strive for a gender-fair government. The official definition of gender equality states for it to be “A social order in which women and men share the same opportunities and the same constraints on full participation in both the economic and the domestic realm." Women have a unique perspective on society, the world, politics and towards solutions to global problems. Unless their voices are heard at the highest levels first, their voices, ideas, and role-models, cannot affect the discrimination that influences developed and developing countries alike.

The issue has been addressed in the UN, its success, however, is left for you to decide. Especially organisations such as UNIFEM have contributed to furthering gender equality. Strong clauses such as, from a resolution on the UN Reform on Gender Disparity: „3. Urges the Secretary-General to appoint more women as special representatives and envoys to pursue good offices on his behalf, and in this regard calls on Member States to provide candidates to the Secretary-General, for inclusion in a regularly updated centralized roster” and “4. Further urges the Secretary-General to seek to expand the role and contribution of women in United Nations field-based operations, and especially among military observers, civilian police, human rights and humanitarian personnel,” state a good example for what you should strive to achieve when creating resolutions. Evidently, this issue cannot be resolved within a short period of time.

The UN is a very powerful operation. Giving females more opportunity to rise and take on positions such as The Secretary General, which has never been held by a female, is essential in shaping a better tomorrow. Gender inequality is an issue that transcends borders, cultures and systems. For an impetus of change to happen, the UN should stand as a role model to governments and cultures around the world.

• http://www.glow-boell.de/
• http://www.iwtc.org/2116.html
• http://www.womenink.org/
• http://www.thecommonwealth.org/Internal/38300/37058/eliminating_gender_disparities_in_education/
• http://news.balita.ph/2008/09/24/un-bound-world-leaders-told-to-provide-more-aid-tackle-gender-disparity/

Good Luck with you research!

Looking forward to meeting you all in November,
Victor Boadum & Katy Schaper
Your Chairs of the 2008 BERMUN Political Committee