GEMUN COUNTRIES: Sri Lanka, Colombia, Philippines, and Mexico

We have been assigned our countries for the conference in Dallas! Now we need to decide who wants to be in which committee based on the topics. Check out the different topics to see which ones interest you the most:

General Assembly (Topics in GA: 1. Measures to combat international terrorism, 2. Alternative energy sources, 3. Biotechnology and genetic engineering, 4. Nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament, 5. Poverty eradication and 6. Open agenda)

Economic and Social Council (Topics in ECOSOC: 1. Sustainable Development, 2. Human Settlements, 3. Extreme Poverty and Hunger, 4. Globalization and 5. Open Agenda)

United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP Topics: 1. Global warming, 2. Biodiversity, 3. Deforestation, 4. Sustainable Agriculture/Consumption, 5. Freshwater Quality, 6. Persistant Pollutants/Chemicals in the Environment and 7. Open Agenda)

World Health Organization (WHO Topics: 1. World Hunger, 2. Water Sanitation, 3. HIV/AIDS, 4. Immunization, 5. Tobacco and Drug Abuse, 6. International Spread of Disease, 7. Health Education and 8. Open Agenda)

United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF Topics: 1. Child Soldiers, 2. Children in Darfur, 3. Children of the Natural Disasters, 4. Achieving Universal Primary Education and 5. Open Agenda)

Commission on the Status of Women (CSW Topics: 1. Education and training of women, 2. Violence against women, 3. Women's literacy and development, 4. Discrimination against women, 5. Empowerment of women and 6. Open Agenda)

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA Topics: 1. Disposal of radioactive wastes, 2. Management of live radioactive materials, 3. Water resources, 4. Nuclear technology and 5. Open agenda)

You can find more information at http://www.gemun.org/gemun/topics.html

Child Soldiers Debate

How did you all feel about our debate today? Did you enjoy it? Was the debating language difficult? This is a place to post ideas/questions/suggestions about our debate. Don't forget we will continue the debate during our next MUN meeting the Thursday after Thanksgiving break!

Other Opportunities

Central Texas Model United NationsJanuary 11-12, 2008"A Climate of Peace"
http://www.ctmun.org/

The Central Texas MUN is a high school conference that happens in Austin. They have invited us to take part as either associate delegates (we would be partners with a high school student in the debate) OR as a scribe (we would deliver messages to delegates and the president of the committee- we wouldn't take part in the debate but we would get to see what a real debate looks and sounds like!).

We can try to organize and go as a group or small amounts of students can go. Please let me know if you are interested.

Global Elementary Conference in Dallas

I HAVE GREAT NEWS ABOUT THE CONFERENCE... they can offer us housing! We will be able to stay with local delegates who live in Dallas. This will save us a lot of money! Now we will only have to fund raise for the price of the bus! I am so excited. I hope this will allow for more of you to be able to attend.

http://www.unol.org/gemun/

** We need to decide SOON if we want to go to the GEMUN conference in Dallas. If you would like to go, please bring a check for $27 made out to GEMUN.

Fund Raising Ideas

hola! (hello!) this is alex (the fundraiser) sharing my ideas for different ways to raise money for the upcoming dallas stimulation
all of these are first draft ideas, this is your club, not mine, so if you utterly detest all of these ideas, we can think of some new ones, any way, here we go
- before we get to deep into anything i think it would be good thing to know if there is any kind of food packaging rules. i think it would be bad if we were shut down/fined by the health department
- it might be cool to sell crystal light and water bottles, we could get all of that at sam's for very very cheap
- school supplies would be a pretty cool thing to sell, i think it makes sense selling school stuff, in a school
-i know a lot of kids don't eat breakfast so we could have some kind of breakfast deal
- and as we are so rapidly coming up on the winter season we could have some kind of secret santa deal were you purchase a card, write on it, and we could deliver it to the correct GSG the cards could also have candy canes and make them look really sweet
again, you make think that these are the worst fundraising ideas in the world and if so we can think of some more or modify these so they better serve our club in the way we need them to. i'm really sorry i can't be at MUN today, if you have any questions please fill my inbox ruthlessly at alexlonghorn@sbcglobal.net i'd love to hear your imput

Happy Pictures

I remeber someone asking me to do this so I'm going to put some cute pictures up just to make everyone feel good and have a happy day!!!! ^_^

http://www.cynical-c.com/archives/bloggraphics/44334153_3e9114058d.jpg
http://www.amy2kyo.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/12/chococat.jpg
http://www.pinkcakebox.com/images/cake208.jpg

Click the links to make your day happier!

Bloggalicous Blog

Hello everybody!! I was just wonderin gif you liked the current layout of the blog. If you do plz tell me and if you don't... well ummm.... tell me too!! If you would like us to add anything (pics, problem posts, etc.) just ask! This is a blog totally up to you and if you don't like it, were not happy. Also if you are not reciving ANY emails from me or Mrs.Terry, post it and we'll add you.

P.S. I'm sorry I haven't sent out this weeks email, but we did the same stuff as last week and all the forms are on this blog.

Have a totally tubular week!

Weapons of MASS DESTRUCTION!!!

Hi everybody! This is the offical post 2 tlk about weapons of mass destruction! Yay Enjoy!!

Global Classrooms: Houston Model United Nations Conference

Would you like to participate in the MUN conference here in Houston this spring? Check it out and let me know!
http://www.unausa.org/site/pp.asp?c=fvKRI8MPJpF&b=1284763

There is also a conference in Dallas on May 9&10. Please check it out and let me know if you would like to participate. It will take a lot of planning and fund-raising so we should start the prep now!
http://www.unol.org/gemun/
** We need to decide SOON if we want to go to the GEMUN conference in Dallas. If you would like to go, please bring a check for $27 made out to GEMUN and the signed permission slip from you parents to next Thursday's meeting.
***We also need to start fundraising to be able to afford the bus and hotel. The sooner we start making money, the less you will have to pay in May!

U.N. questions Syria nuke claims

VIENNA, Austria (AP) -- The U.N. nuclear watchdog said Monday it has no information to support a recent media report that Syria may be building a nuclear reactor, but said it expects any country that has details to share them with the agency.
"We would obviously investigate any relevant information coming our way," said Melissa Fleming, spokeswoman for the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA.
In what appeared to be an indirect rebuke to the U.S., Fleming said in a statement that the nuclear agency "expects any country having information about nuclear-related activities in another country to provide that information to the IAEA."
The New York Times, citing U.S. and foreign officials, reported Sunday that an Israeli airstrike on Syria last month targeted a partially built nuclear reactor that was years away from completion.
It said the nuclear reactor was modeled on one North Korea had used to create its stockpile of nuclear weapons fuel, though the role of any North Korean assistance in building it remained unclear. North Korea has denied involvement in any such activities in Syria.
Satellite photographs detected the partly constructed Syrian reactor earlier this year, the Times said, citing American officials.

The Syrian reactor was years away from being able to produce spent nuclear fuel that could be reprocessed into weapons-grade plutonium, the newspaper said.
Syria's nuclear program has long been considered minimal, and the country is known to have only a small research reactor.
"The IAEA has no information about any undeclared nuclear facility in Syria and no information about recent reports," Fleming said.
She said the agency was in contact with Syrian authorities to verify the authenticity of the report.

Myanmar recruiting child soldiers

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- Myanmar's military government, already under criticism for abuses, is recruiting children as young as 10 into its armed forces, a U.S. rights group charged in a report released Wednesday.

The ethnic Karen's guerrilla army was cited in the report for improving its record on child recruits.

Government recruiters target children because of "continued army expansion, high desertion rates and a lack of willing volunteers," the 135-page report by New York-based Human Rights Watch said.
"Military recruiters and civilian brokers receive cash payments and other incentives for each new recruit, even if the recruit clearly violates minimum age or health standards," it said.
Ye Htut, deputy director general of Myanmar's Information Ministry, said the charges were "another example of biased reporting by this organization, which based its report on the baseless accusations and exaggerated lies of insurgent groups on the border."
Allegations against both the government and the ethnic groups for using child soldiers are long-standing, and have been acknowledged by both sides in recent years as the United Nations has highlighted the issue.
The newest accusations come as at least 70 Buddhist monks marched in northern Myanmar for nearly an hour Wednesday, chanting prayers for the first time since a crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations, two monks confirmed.
They marched without incident, two monks said in telephone interviews, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
Myanmar's ruling junta faces international criticism for its violent crackdown on peaceful pro-democracy demonstrations last month. Thousands were arrested, and the government acknowledges 10 deaths among the protesters, though critics say the real number might be closer to 200.
The junta has long been accused of other abuses, including brutal treatment of ethnic minority villagers caught up in counterinsurgency campaigns, and the use of forced labor in Myanmar, also known as Burma.
The report "Sold to Be Soldiers: The Recruitment and Use of Child Soldiers in Burma" also charged that ethnic guerrilla groups in Myanmar use child soldiers, though on a much smaller scale than the government. Ethnic minorities along the country's borders have been fighting for autonomy for decades.
Human Rights Watch said recruiters routinely falsify enlistment records to list children as 18, the minimum legal age for service. It cited the case of a boy who said he was forcibly recruited at age 11, though he was only 4 feet, 3 inches tall and weighed less than 70 pounds.
According to the report, child soldiers are typically given 18 weeks of military training and some are then sent to combat zones.
"Child soldiers are sometimes forced to participate in human rights abuses, such as burning villages and using civilians for forced labor," said Human Rights Watch. "Those who attempt to escape or desert are beaten, forcibly re-recruited, or imprisoned."
Myanmar's armed forces have had regulations in place since 1973 forbidding the recruitment of minors as well as others forced to enlist against their will, said the Information Ministry's Ye Htut, responding to a summary of the new report.
Enforcement of the regulations was strengthened in 2004 with the establishment of a Committee for the Prevention of Recruiting Underaged Children from Military Recruitment, he wrote in an e-mail to The Associated Press.
"If the authorities find out that a recruit was recruited against his will or he is under 18 years, the responsible personnel will be tried according to the military law," he said.
Between 2004 and August 2007, some 141 minors were dismissed from the military and returned to their parents, and disciplinary action was taken against nearly 30 military personnel for violating recruitment rules, Ye Htut added.
Human Rights Watch said the government committee has failed to effectively address the problem, and devoted most of its efforts to denouncing outside reports of child recruitment.
The report agreed with U.N. assessments that ethnic guerrilla armies, both allied with and against the government, also use child soldiers, though several have taken measures to curb the practice.
The Karen National Union, whose military arm, the Karen National Liberation Army, was cited by Human Rights Watch for improving its record, said it punishes officers who use child soldiers.

Child Soilders

OKEY DOKEY everyone! This is the offical post to talk about the child soilders topic!!^_^ If you have club questions for the whole club to view reply to this post. Any personal questions, email the officers or Mrs. Terry. Any helpful links you have you can but in a response post. Tnx!

This is a GREAT website to find information http://www.child-soldiers.org/ scroll down and at the bottom on the right side there is a link called regions and country information. LOOK AT IT

Topics

Topic One: Child Soldiers

Topic Two: Nuclear Weapons

Officer Emails

President: Jennifer K JKnesbach@aol.com
Vice President: Michelle Mknesbach@aol.com
Secretary: Julia cutiekid400@gmail.com
Treasurer: Patrick girardet@sbcglobal.net
Fund Raiser: Alex alexlonghorn@sbcglobal.net

Advisor: Ms. Terry aterry@houstonisd.org

Country Assignments

Afghanistan- Sara
Angola- Daniel
Argentina- Anna
Australia- Ben
Austria- Angela
Canada- Joshua
Chad-
China- Alex L
Colombia- Kathryn
Costa Rica- Eloisa
Ivory Coast-
Cuba- Alyssa P
Democratic Republic of Congo-
Egypt- Mason
France- Justin
Germany- Patrick
India- Raena
Japan- Dylan
Indonesia-
Iran- Sinead
Iraq- Michelle
Israel- Caroline
Italy- Lily
Lebanon- Adam
Liberia-
Mexico- Amy
Myanmar- Morgan
Nepal- Anna
North Korea- Grant
Pakistan- Maya
Palestine- Andres
Philipines- Nikki
Poland- Ryan
Russia- Jennifer
Rwanda-
Saudi Arabia- Samuel
Sierra Leone-
Somalia- Laura
South Africa- Brenda
South Korea- Rachel
Spain- Josue
Sri Lanka- Fernando
Sudan- Mrinal
Thailand- Maddy
Turkey- Brandon
Uganda-
United Kingdom- Julia
United States- Steven
Venezuela- Vi
Vietnam- Alex N-F
Yemen- Emma