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Spring 1998 (6.1) Reader's Forum I'm extremely exhausted. I just got back from Washington, D. C. after attending the North American Model United Nations (NAMUN) conference from February 15-18. I attend Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart, an all-girls' school in Princeton, New Jersey. Even though I'm a freshman and usually only juniors and seniors are selected, I worked so hard that I was also chosen among the 12 delegates from my school. All in all, there were about 2,300 high school students attending the conference, which was organized by Georgetown University. Since our school is relatively small, they made us represent a small country-Azerbaijan. Larger schools prepped for the larger countries like the U.S., Japan, Germany, etc. Before we went to the conference, we had to do extensive research and write several papers. Our goal was to know the position of Azerbaijan government so well that we could accurately portray its interests and concerns. When we arrived in Washington, we met with our committees and set our agendas. This year, the main topics were "The Law of the Sea," "The Human Genome Project" and the question of "Secession and Self-Determination." After discussing the Human Genome Project for over 12 hours, we moved on to the topic of secession. Our group tried to limit the power that the UN has with separatist movements inside a given country, but at the same time, we wanted them to get involved when human rights were violated, or a country's land was seized. In regard to the Nagorno-Karabakh situation, at our Model UN, most of the Western countries didn't really care that there were a million Azerbaijanis living as refugees. It was very disappointing and disturbing. I was hoping the resolutions of the United States, which were not very favorable for Azerbaijan, would fail. I don't know how Azerbaijan's interests were met in the other committees, but I did try my best. At first, I was very nervous, but gradually gained confidence and really tried to represent Azerbaijan's interests to the best of my ability. Only two delegates from my school spoke up. All in all, I had lots of fun and learned a lot-not only about Azerbaijan but about so many other countries as well. Thanks for all Azerbaijan International magazines that helped me prepare for this conference. Who knows? Maybe one day I'll become a UN representative! Annemarie Grandke From Azerbaijan International (6.1) Spring 1998. |
