Al-Bayan Bilingual School Model
United Nations Program

This was the first year for new director Daniel R. Fruit, MA, MS, MPA, who replaced former director Craig Hurt. It was, in most respects, a good year.

This is the MUN group.

This was BBS's first event after the change in director. Overall, students were relatively well-prepared in knowing their countries. On the other hand, students did not do as well in the formal and informal debate sessions that form an important part of MUN activities.

There were probably a couple of key events that stand out. First, Brazil played an important part in most of the resolutions and discussions concerning the environment. This accurately portrays the position taken by Brazil in recent years. Second, Gambia, a small African country, played a key role in defining and passing a resolution concerning the traffiking in women; in Africa this is an important issue as Africa has a general problem with widespread prostitution.

The real excitement, however, concerned Greece and Cyprus. BBS's delegation, early on, allowed the passage of a new constitution for Cyprus which gave equal representation to both the Turkish and Greek Cypriots. This was a grave error as the majority of Cypriots are Greeks.

Subsequently, a crisis situation arose when the Russians decided to sell missiles to Cyprus (the Greek portion). The Greeks and Turks both rattled sabers. In the end, however, the Greek Ambassador, Dana al Salem, agreed to a treaty whereby the missiles were sold to Greece, not Cyprus. On the one hand, this meant the Greeks still had the weapons. On the other hand, the "Hawally Treaty," did NOT change the previously agreed upon constitutional arrangements. In other words, the Turks effectively gained an equal voice in the future of Cyprus that their numbers did not justify. So Greece bought peace at a very high price. If anything, this shows the importance that ALL members of a delegation hold for a country.

THE GAMBIA:
Manayer al Sharekh, Ambassador
Dhari al Otaibi
Noura al Abdulkareem

GREECE:
Dana al Salem, Ambassador
Farah al Humaidhi
Fatma al Musallam

BBS attended the MUN in the Hague. This is considered the premier event for MUNs. BBS was an average delegation, better than some, worse than others. BBS was one of only four schools to attend from Kuwait. Students made new friends and contacts.

BBS represented Peru. Peru was necessarily involved in some important and interesting world discussions. For example, Peru's ownership of a portion of the rain forest meant that Peru had many things to say about environmental issues. On the other hand, Peru's relative lack of enemies (exception: Equador) meant that the country could speak out as a neutral voice on issues such as disarmanent and nuclear weapons.

The group after arrival in the Hague.

Peru's special interest lay in seeing that rich countries wanting help on problems that involve poor countries took care to take their share of the financial burdens. For example, Peru's drug problems and those of terrorism affect the USA. Peru wanted to make sure that when the USA asked for help, they gave money to poor countries such as Peru which the US expects to do much of the actual work. Peru would be perfectly willing, for instance, to help fight world terrorism, even by violating its own people's "rights" somewhat, but shouldn't be expected to spend all of its hard-earned funds in doing so-especially if their efforts mainly help other, richer countries.

Peru, as a country often ruled by dictatorships, had to make certain that its national sovereignty remained inviolate. Besides carefully looking at how solutions for problems such as terrorism involving that naturally cross borders, Peru needed to make certain that efforts to "restore democracy" did not involve interference with countries' national affairs. Only six years ago, Peru overthrew its civil government for the purpose of fighting terrorism. President Fujimora, the "dictator," made great progress in that fight, so great that democracy could be restored. In Peru's eyes, the evils of terrorism outweighed those of a temporary dictatorship. Peru recognized, however, that other coutries, especially the US, might not see things in this light

It WAS cold."

It was, of course, a great challenge for students from BBS, at times, to understand the way of thinking of Peru. Peru is, after all, a Catholic country with a high level of poverty and problems, such as drugs, terrorism, poverty, etc., relatively alien to the students of BBS. That, however, is a lot of the fun of MUN. A particulary interesting encounter, in this respect, occurred when the students of BBS met students from a Peruvian international school. While, in general, the Peruvians praised BBS's preparation, on a few points they criticized their portrayal of Peru. For example, they thought that Peru would not propose the Falklands' treaty that BBS students proposed (and passed), and the Peruvians seemed a lot more critical of President Fujimora than the literature suggested.

BBS students got a bit of a shock when they met another school which was trying to represent Kuwait. They told our students (much to their surprize..) that all Kuwaiti women needed to wear head-scarves in public had few rights, etc. Overall, though, THIMUN was a fun and entertaining event.

PERU:
Ambassador: Dana Salem
Vice-Ambassador: Manayer al Sharekh
Dalal al Sayer
Dhari al Otaibi
Farah al Humaidhi
Fatma al Musallam
Mohammad Fakhraldeen
Noura al Abdulkareem
Shaheen Attai

This is the formal group picture of the Peru delegation.

BBS's Mun Prep/Debate class held its first annual "Tiny MUN" on May 21st. The Model U.N. Prep class consists of students who want to join Model U.N. the following year. Students in the MUN-Prep class debate the first two months of the semester as BBS' debate team before preparing for the Tiny MUN.

This year's Tiny MUN simulated the U.N. Security Council with each class member acting as ambassador for a country and Mohammad Fakhraldeen, the only student with prior MUN experience, serving as president. The toughest role fell to the five Permanent Members of the Security Council, France, the USA, Great Britain, China, and the Russian Federation. This event took place in front of several classes and teachers who were treated to seeing a Security Council in session.

As it happened, none of the resolutions debated passed. The first, written by France, on the future of Africa, came closed but fell prey to a veto. The same fate befell a proposal by Russia, backed by China, to lift the sanctions against Iraq. Dhari al Otaibi, portraying Iraq, made an eloquent speech condemning scantions, but the proposal was vetoed by the US.

As Mohammad FD explained to the students and audience, however, just because no resolution passes doesn't mean nothing happens. At the very least members protected their countries (and the world) from poor resolutions.

The real excitement, however, concerned the confrontation between China and Taiwan (Click here to read about the emergency). Macedonia had offered to sell arms to Taiwan and recognize it as its own nation. At one point China seemed about to go to a military confrontation which would've involved the US, which was prepared to assist Taiwan. In the end, the countries involved avoided war and China, the US, and Macedonia signed a treated. Taiwan and China, due to their complex relations, ended up signing a "statement of understanding" to settle their disputes.

All students are to be congratulated on their avoiding a war. Particular thanks should go to "guest countries" and to the students who acted as the support staff for the event. Congratulations also go to Mohammad Fakhraldeen who wrote the emergency situation
and guided participants to an agreement.

The MUN Prep class

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Tiny MUN:
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President: Mohammad Fakhraldeen
Click here to read the President's prepartory materials.

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Permament Members of the Security Council:
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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Saad al Ghawas
Click here to read the ambassador's briefing book.
RUSSIAN FEDERATION: Hamad Sultan
Click here to read the ambassador's briefing book.

PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA: Nabil al Khaled
Click here to read the ambassador's briefing book.

GREAT BRITAIN: Yasmeen al Mousa

FRANCE: Mustafa Malaki
Click here to read the ambassador's briefing book.

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Temporary (Rotating) Members of the Security Council:
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SWEDEN: Faye al Tukhaim

COSTA RICA: Alia al Humaidhi
Click here to read the ambassador's briefing book.

KENYA: Hamad al Nouri

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Guest Countries in the Session
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Macedonia: Shahd Deshti
Iraq: Dhari al Otaibi
Taiwan: Najwa al Bisher


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The Support Staff
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Hamad al Mousa
Lulwa al Omani
Shadi al Suweyh

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Issues Under Discussion:
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1. Sanction against Iraq
2. The current war in Southern Africa between DPR Congo and its neighbors
3. The status of the Kurdish people
4. Measures to eliminate the trafficking of technologies/weapons of mass destruction (WOMD).
5. Reform of the SC.

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