C'MUN SPECIAL MEETING 2011 INSIDE THE 8th EDITION OF CASA ASIA EAST-WEST
DIALOGUE
FINAL CONCLUSIONS
-Thinking
a New UN Group
-Thinking
a New World Group
You can also read Casa Asia's Rapporteur
of the East-West Dialogue 2011
C'MUN Special meeting 2011 facebook Group and Photo
album
PROGRAMME
When: 7th, 8th and 9th November 2011
Where: Casa Asia’s Headquarters (7th, 8th in the
morning and 9th)
Saló de Cent. Barcelona’s Town Hall (8th in the afternoon)
THE ROLE OF UNA-SPAIN – Due to the
successful participation obtained by UNA-Spain in the last five editions of
the Casa Asia East-West dialogue, and because of the link that the UNA-Spain
creates between their young C’MUN participants and the Dialogue; it
is an honour to participate in this year’s edition. So, about 40 university
students selected by UNA-Spain from their solid youth network, the majority
of them participants of C’MUN, coming from all over the world, mentioning
specially the ones coming from Asian countries, will take part in the Dialogue.
The students will debate the previous days and at the same time that the event
is taking place about the same themes of the Dialogue. Then, they will contribute,ending
up their conclusions that will be presented in the last round table of the
Casa Asia Dialogue.
Click
here to download the C'MUN Special Meeting 2011 draft programme
Click
here to download the 8th Casa asia East-West Dialogue draft programme
Download the map with the
location of Casa Asia Headquarters, the Youth Hostel and the City Hall.
FOR A NEW GLOBAL GOVERNANCE AGENDA
2011 will be irreversibly marked in the archives of history. To say that the world is in turmoil today is obvious. No doubt it is, and, in fact, on several intertwined fronts:
The economic front, with a rampant global crisis to which no solution peers and to which world politics only seems to have one answer.
The political front, which is overwhelmed with the crisis and it is showing its weakness and dependence, sometimes difficult to explain, to the economic agents. And also, it is overtaken by the events of the "Arab spring" and the social upheavals of the "outraged" that surround the planet and that are clamouring for a different model/system.
The social front, exemplified in the aforementioned "Arab spring", but extended to different forms and expressions, in almost every part of the world, that can be summarized in the raise of an emerging civic consciousness that tries to oppose a political model -democratic or dictatorial- they consider unjust, exclusive and / or degraded. Along with this major movement, there is also an increase of events, speeches and attitudes that are xenophobic, violent or extreme right-wing, in areas ranging from politics, the media or even sport.
The question is no longer which country or countries will assume world leadership (economic, political, social, military) in the coming years, because it is increasingly clear that the interdependence in the globalized world we live means that any solution must be adopted globally. Therefore, what matters is not who, but how.
Consequently, speaking of global governance, we understand the debates, proposals
and models should move to international forums. And being the United Nations
Association of Spain, our first question mark is why don't we raise these
issues to the UN, the global forum that we already have. But it should be
to a very different United Nations than the current one. An international
forum that could be the actual platform, where the necessary transformations
could be canalized and articulated.
With this will, ANUE raises a debate with young people around the world, divided into two groups:
The first group, in charge of reflecting whether the UN is able to lead the new agenda of global governance and/or how can it be reformulated to achieve it.
The second group, responsible of channelling the demands that, as youth (the
social group most affected by the current situation), should be addressed
to the new United Nations.
Click on GROUPS OF DEBATE for more
info about them
REGISTRATION
Participation is open to university students or interested people AGED
BETWEEN 18 AND 30 YEARS OLD .
If you are interested, please fill the
Call
for Applications form) and send it to this address (
cmun@anue.org
). Add a brief curriculum vitae of yourself. Please confirm your participation
as soon as you can in order to facilitate the necessary arrangements and allow
other participants to attend, as this is a
restricted number
meeting. More info will be available on the website soon
Deadline for applications: October 7th EXTENDED
TO OCTOBER 17th
Lunches (from the 7th to the 9th) are covered by UNA-Spain for the days
of the meeting.
Accommodation, if needed, in a youth hostel (4 nights, from the 6th to the
9th of November, are included)
Organized by: United Nations Association of Spain (ANUE) and
Casa Asia
Partnership institutions: Alliance of Civilizations, UNESCO, UN Women.
C'MUN SPECIAL MEETING 2011 INSIDE THE 8th EDITION OF CASA ASIA EAST-WEST
DIALOGUE
GROUPS OF DEBATE
Group 1: Thinking a New UN
Group 2: Thinking a New World
GROUP 1: THINKING A NEW UN
The United Nations of the twenty-first century are at a complex crossroads. In front of the turbulent world situation, there are several voices within the organization that have risen up claiming a substantial change, more in line with the demands of social movements. The General Assembly president, Joseph Deiss, called for an ECOSOC with an essential role in the creation of a global economic governance, representative, with the aim of finding a balance between economic growth and a more sustainable world. The independent expert on human rights and extreme poverty, Magdalena Sepúlveda, said that social cutbacks, as fiscal involutive measures adopted against the crisis, jeopardize the economic, social and cultural rights. The Department of Economic and Social Affairs went further, defending the need to preserve the economic and social investments. The Human Rights Council called to protect the right to peaceful protest. And Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is calling for the responsibility to protect civilians when are threatened, no matter the particularities of each case.
As ANUE we are certain it is urgent that the UN can move from words to actions, something that requires profound changes in the Organization. This group should discuss what should be these changes, analyzing issues such as:
- If there is a widespread feeling that governments do not represent us, or that economic decisions are made by supranational institutions (EU, ASEAN, IMF), banks and private rating agencies; has the time to rethink about who should be leading the sovereignty, both politically and economically, arrived?
- Going further with the lack of representation, how can we involve citizens in these international organizations? Does it make any sense to maintain the exclusive representation of nation-states in these organisms when reality is much more fragmented?
- Who should be responsible of determinating the economic capacity of countries?
- Should the UN defend and promote a particular social and political model? (That is clear from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights) and how?
- Should the Responsibility to Protect be enforced? How to achieve consistency of the international community (case of Libya vs. case of Syria) in its implementation?
GROUP 2: THINKING A NEW WORLD
The global financial crisis has caused that citizens, organized in an unprecedented way in the movement called the "Outraged", but also the political leaders, media and institutions are challenging the main foundations of the current political, economic and social system.
Virtually, all countries have signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; but not all countries comply with them.
The human rights situation has worsened as a result of the current crisis. On one hand, there are states that do attempt to abide by these principles for building a democratic and just society, but now they seem, in practice, to be willing to bet on a cut of these rights as a possible solution to the crisis. On the other hand, there are other countries where these rights are not respected, and so, the current situation of precariousness and poverty has led people to their limits. They require not only the end of that insecurity, but also that all the rights and freedoms that are been deprived of, are finally established.
As young people, the group most affected by the crisis, we can not be left out of decisions affecting our future in short and long term. This group will discuss all measures that are being raised today, and propose their own, addressing issues such as:
- Are welfare cuts inevitable to overcome the crisis? In all sectors (social benefits, education, economy…)? Are there social benefits that should be reviewed? What are inalienable?
- How to get and use the necessary resources to ensure sustainability of these benefits? Should we rethink the resources redistribution system?
- What is the best way to tackle unemployment?
- Is it necessary to rethink the role of education?
- What would be the best way of expressing dissent, disagreement or rejection against a government, whether legitimate or not?
- Should democracy be limited to hold elections every few years?
- How should the system ensure greater participation and political representation?
- Who represents the citizens in the economic sphere?
- What should be the role of the media and social networks in global governance?
The so-called global governance requires global responses. Our intention in proposing this debate is whether, first, there is a common vision of youth, despite their different origins, about the world situation and in particular the crisis. And secondly, to try to, once we have unified the voices as the youth, enumerate, agree and describe the measures / proposals, as priorities / essential / basic, to achieve a truly universal governance, inclusive and fair to all.
Bear in mind that you won't represent a country, but your own opinion.