The event took place in the “Vasile Alecsandri” National Theatre and has been very well received by the young audience, thus eliminating the fears of the Secretary General, Madalina Sacareanu regarding the aggressiveness of both the message conveyed and the language used.

“The alternative would have been a play conducted entirely by only one actor who would have impersonated six different characters. I found tonight’s play more appropriate in the MUN context as it refers to bribery and high level corruption.”

The hallmark of the play was represented by the obsessive repetition of the chorus:
Don’t you see where we’re going?
Don’t you see what we’re heading towards?
Don’t you see that we’re going to hell?
Don’t you see that we’re already there?”

Let’s listen to the audience’s reaction at the end of the play:
“From what I understood, I thought it was a very powerful representation of Romania’s present situation”, stated Chase Doyle Peace Corps Volunteer and School Advisor for IASIMUN.

“It was tough but realistic and also well balanced because in today’s drama we either see plays that are too soft and relate to easy-going matters or, on the contrary, plays that are too aggressive, too violent and fail to reach their goal”, commented the Environment Co-chair Catalin Toma.

“I think the play was awesome and very realistic, entertaining and the perfect choice for a Sunday night. It is mainly for teenagers because it draws attention to some of the current issues that young people are undergoing right now”, claimed Alexandra Constantinescu, IASIMUN delegate.

The play is based on a true story and was set in Chişinău, the city from which the producer, Constantin Chelaru originates. In the center of the plot there is the Şaptefraţi family made up of a married couple with two children, a boy, Vlad, who was a Law student and a girl, Cristina, a 12th grade high-school student. Even though they recreated the image of the ideal family in the eyes of the other people, each of them had dedicated their life to gaining as much money as possible, by the use of unlawful methods.

This finally led to the gradual disintegration of the family and the tragic death of the main character, Vlad Şaptefraţi. The play’s hero was assuredly portrayed by the magnificient acting of the young actor, Cosmin Maxim.
The play’s message goes hand in hand with the principles that MUN stand for: it is the responsibility of each and every one of us to make a change in the society we live in.

The first IASIMUN conference has been held at the “Emil Racoviţă” National College (CNER) due to school’s past experience in debating competitions. The school hosted an academic debating club since the beginning of its development as one of the best in Iaşi.

“Emil Racovita” National College it’s not one of the oldest or the biggest school in Iasi. Though, we all can agree that this is the most respectable and well-known college from our city. This year we celebrated the 45th anniversary. Established in 1964 under the name of „Şcoala Medie nr. 9”, the college started to evolve and, in 1966 took the name of the great biologist Emil Racoviţă. It was only after 38 years when the school received the status of a National College.

During the last years, the students are educated how to evolve properly, to understand and express their beliefs, in order to visualize at the end of the school how the picture of their future looks like. “Emil Racoviţă” National College’s students are used to participate in different activities, as the school encourages them to try and organize themselves different projects. In this way we are capable to learn today about the requirements of tomorrow.

CDAIS is the local academic debating club, addressed to students, designed to provide them with a framework for training and exercising reasoning skills, elocution and rhetoric. The coordinator teacher is Genoveva Paiu, Literature master at the “Emil Racoviţă” National College. Students from all around Iaşi gather every Sunday at CNER and prepare for local, national or even international competitions. Therefore, students from the “Emil Racoviţă” National College participated at the national debating contest, where they gained the first place. They have also taken part at the Europeans, in Slovenia, where Radu Văleanu defeated all the other competitors. Another debating project developed at the “Emil Racoviţă” National College is Wiki IDEA, in which students from our school involved and proposed their debating topics. Offering and promoting intercultural cooperation of world youth, Wiki IDEA provides various articles on the history, terminology and tools for those who want to excel in areas of critical thinking, talking and debating.

The idea of setting up a Model United Nations conference at Iaşi started this year, on March. “This is an incredible experience and opportunity for students and we are honored to host this conference,” declared the headmaster of the “Emil Racoviţă” National College, Seryl Talpalaru, who arranged the event. The project has begun to be planned in this autumn, by students from CNER, while the logistics and the organization have been settled by the hosting school. Teachers have also been very helpful since they prepared the students’ language skills. Asked about the development of the whole event, David Pi answered: “Everyone was very helpful. It is absolutely incredible and competitive around the world.” What is his advice? “Always be inspired in everything, it doesn’t matter if it is skateboard or your job.”

Written by: Claudia Bejan and Ioana Roxana Popescu

For example, did you know that for George, IASIMUN is the first MUN conference he is attending but for Madalina it is the third, after SPIMUN [Sankt Petersburg Model United Nations] and GALMUN [Galati Model United Nations?
They both had big expectations, considering the world-wide character of the conferences and both felt their expectations had been exceeded, George mentioning the fact that the thing that struck him the most was “the willingness, commitment and the debating skills of the participants.”
Madalina was part of the Human Rights committee at the other MUN conferences as well and she justified her choice of committee by mentioning her interest in this sort of subjects, her being a volunteer at the “Save the Children” Organization.

A chair’s work involves a lot of responsibility but it is also very rewarding since it gives them a chance to evolve by observing and learning from the delegates and maybe getting the participants to learn new things, too.
By participating in IASIMUN as a chair, George hopes to get better leadership and coaching skills while Madalina enjoys sharing, helping the other delegates in writing and choosing their resolutions from her position as a chair, hoping to be inspired by the delegates as well as to be an inspiration for them.
Even though Madalina did not give us her choice of career she assured us that regardless of her future career option, the experience she has gained in IASIMUN will definitely empower her with key skills like intellectual commitment, good debating skills, communication, diplomatic and English skills.

George Oprea is involved in an organization called SYNERGY Romania concerned with the development of teenagers and he also enumerated some skills he has gained from taking part in the IASIMUN and that he can later on implement in his organization, skills like self-confidence, responsibility and a better attention to the whole picture but also to the minor details.
Madalina Secareanu believes that participating in this kind of conferences is an experience that “totally changes your outlook on the world, that makes you more courageous, makes you take the first step.”
George Oprea advices the delegates to “keep on the good work, their commitment and, most of all, keep on shining.”
“IASIMUN means an attitude” as Madalina uttered.

Story and photo by Otilia Dobos

Although they were extremely busy, they spared a few minutes from their time to answer to our questions. That’s how we found out what motivated them to become chairpersons in the ECOSOC Committee: “At Sankt Petersburg I had the opportunity to discover the real taste for MUN, because there I got an insight view of some world-wide importance subjects. While the other committees focused only on some areas, ECOSOC involved everyone equally.” Ştefana confessed.

The most significant moment of the conference was, in Ştefana’s opinion, the meeting with the Ambassador, while Liviu believes that Mr. Ken Goodson, the President of Peace Corps Romania motivated the participants, establishing a bound between him and them. The weak point was the vetting session, when delegates had to modify their resolutions sometimes 4, 5 and even 6 times: “It was a real headache for them”, Liviu stated.

They have big expectations from this conference, and, in spite of the disappointment from the first day, they believe that this was just the warm up, the 1st day’s nervousness. “They no longer   have to be so shy. We had to make them speak”, Liviu Damian declared.

Their main goal is to get as many people as possible interested in the problems the world’s facing, people who want to bring a change, to find solutions. That’s why Ştefana was so impressed with the large number of delegates, who are willing to participate, to get united and cooperate, not as individuals, but as a whole community, a community willing to create a better tomorrow.
When we asked them to describe the conference, they depicted it as being unexpected, full of communication, fun and fruitful. They expressed their pleasure in hosting this conference, in waking up the civic spirit in the youths, and in making them aware of the dangers from all around the globe.
“I hope to achieve to get more people interested in our work, to make them aware of their condition in the world, of their importance, and to establish a tradition in MUN at Racoviţă” Ştefana Covalciuc ended.

Written by: Dan Dulvac, Elena Creanga
Photo by: Otilia Dobos

Asked about the conference Madalina Secareanu told us: “I hope that they liked it as much as I did. It was a brilliant conference and not just a conference, but a dream come true.”

One of the most important things regarding the conference is the fact that during its 3 days we not only worked together, but we also had a lot of fun.  In fact, moments like the “hora” at the welcome dinner, or the funny notes changed between the delegates helped us form lifelong friendships. Moreover, funny messages like: “If I want to go to the bathroom, I just go?” or “Nu mai face fite-fite” relieved the tension the delegates felt during the debates. As Maria Astefanoaei , co-chair of the environment committee told us: “ Fun, but informed and involved people really made a difference”

Each and every one of us learned something during the conference. If Grecea Teofana representing South Korea told us that she improved her public speaking abilities and gained self-confidence, one delegate representing Zambia confessed that at the start of this conference he didn’t even know that Zambia exist and the training process determined him to learn a lot about world countries and other cultures.

The chairs were all impressed by the quality of the delegates and how they resolved all problems during the conference, fact that determined Catalin Toma, the environment chair, to say: “When something exceeds your expectations, it ignites in you the spark of cooperation.”

One of the most heated moments of the conference took place at the General Assembly Debate where delegates met to discuss final resolutions under the careful surveillance of the General Secretary, Madalina Secareanu, and Deputy Secretary General, Stefana Covalciuc. . The tension was really intense during the entire debate and some delegates even got frustrated when their points of information were considered irrelevant or the chairs decided that there is not enough time for them.  In spite of their tender age, the members of the junior administrative staff really did a good job and took their responsibilities seriously.

The entire event ended successfully with an awarding ceremony, after which we all regretted that the conference ended so fast, but we will always keep in our minds the valuable moments we share and the things we learned.

Written by: Mihaela Voicescu

And it was a big committee, I can still remember now, about 120 people and I was so sure, that I wanted to be a main submitter or a co-submitter,  I gathered people around me I expected to have a resolution, and in the end it turned out not to be like this because, well I didn’t have enough experience to do this, but indeed I had great expectations and some of them were fulfilled, other not.

Maria Cotofan: This being my first MUN I must say that the delegates in this conference quite exceeded my expectations, because I didn’t expected that so many people in one committee, are so committed and it’s amazing their willingness to be main submitter, and even if they’re not main submitter, as I’ve seen today they still want to cooperate, communicate and express their point of view, so I’m really excited about it.

Observer: What stroke you at your first MUN Conference?
Cotofan: Conceptually speaking I think it is amazing that all these young people actually get a chance to speak their own point of view, and their personal opinion and say it out loud and I think it’s really empowering for them to be able to say this in front of many other youth, and that they have a lot of things to learn from each other, and maybe they can change their view on the  world that they live in.

Observer: What makes MUN different from other events of the same type, in your opinion?
Darabana: Well, first of all it gives the young people an opportunity to discuss adult problems, this empowers them a lot and gives them responsibility and it educates them in such a manner that they become responsible citizens, first of all. Secondly I think that dealing with such an event all the research that they had to do before, also makes them responsible and makes them in a way realize that not everything is for granted, and that they have to work in order to obtain something.

Observer: Why does the ECOSOC/ Human Rights/ Political/ Environment appeal to you?
Darabana: My first experience in an MUN conference was in the political committee, and that’s why I continued choosing the same committee, but I chose it in the first place because the problems that this committee tackles are more close to me.
Cotofan: I also like this committee because the topics that are debated are of very high and I’m not saying that the other topics in the other committees are not as important as this one, it’s just that I am more attracted to this one and maybe have more knowledge in it, and I’m very interested in the topics of the debate

Observer: What do you hope to achieve in IASIMUN?
Cotofan: Well personally I hope to have much more experience and to gain more experience and to gain all the necessary experience, so that in the future I can participate in more MUN conferences and as a general overview I hope that the delegates enjoy this conference as much as I do, and speak up everything they have in mind and that the debates will continue to be as fruitful as today.

Observer: How do you intend to use the experience achieved in MUN in your future career?
Darabana: I have to say that my experience in MUN has opened some gates for me, and some possibilities, because I have never thought of going political or anything like that before. Well I’m sure that besides  having some general knowledge from the research and the topics we had discussed, I will consider probably continuing a career in law or political, but I’m not sure yet.
Cotofan: I don’t know If I would like to consider in politics but I must say that I would like to have a future job in working with people, and empowering, especially young people, doing more personal development training and also I would like to use this knowledge for further MUN conferences, and maybe one day organize MUN conferences

Interview by: Mihai Salavastru

The dinner started at about 8 p.m., when the participants arrived eager to relieve the tensions gained during the opening speeches and schmoozing. The atmosphere was entertained by live music and hosts dressed in medieval costumes. The band was provided by the restaurant and the range of music styles varied from traditional Romanian music to well known hits, engaging everyone in a relieving dance. Also, as delegate Raluca Popescu declared, the food was excellent and it mostly consisted of traditional Romanian food.

Chase Doyle described the dinner as a”really wonderful way to end a stressful day,” declaring he had a lot of fun and also got to know the other delegates and advisors better. Moreover, he confessed he was surprised to see not only the chairs, but also the delegates dancing in such a relaxed way when he was used to seeing them dressed formally and following a certain discipline. Students also had a lot of fun; they enjoyed the music and had the chance to build relationships with the other delegates.

To prove how much they enjoyed the welcoming dinner, Loredana Gavril said “I would like to have another night like this one”.

Story and photo by: Otilia Dobos

We asked the same question again, but now it was addressed to Russia’s delegate, and her answer was: “This is just a simulation, however I found his speech a little bit inappropriate and I didn’t get his point.”

The second topic was about producing and using synthetic drugs. One of the delegates said, “Many countries live from making drugs and we need something alternative.” The delegate of China supported the idea that the traffic of illegal drugs should be stopped by introducing new legislation.

On the other hand, the delegate of Somalia said that drugs should be allowed, like coffee is. The question is: Can synthetic drugs be replaced? Some delegates support the idea that people can become addicted to drugs from the very first use. This topic had an amendment, proposed by the United States, that urges scientists and doctors “to find [a] replacement for synthetic drugs and to receive a reward afterwards.” After the US delegate finished speaking, the United Arab Emirates proposed an amendment that the US providing the funding required for the US-sponsored amendment.

Written by: Ioana Ruxandra Popescu, Roxana Udrea
Photo by: Andreea Oltean

Chase Doyle, Liz Cabbage, Rachel Johnson, Sarah Hunt, Kevin Peck, Liz Ogden, Taylor Green, David Pritchard, Jake Walters, Natalie Dall’Olmo and Zack Baddorf have all come here with great pleasure, looking forward to making a difference at the IASIMUN Conference.

Apart from supervising the students during the conference, most of them have also helped with the resolution editing during the vetting process.

Although most of them have never been involved in a real MUN conference, all the Peace Corps volunteers were enthusiastic to learn together with their students during the training process. Zack, who worked for the Press Corps of the MUN conference, founds the level of the delegates of the IASMUN conference very high since they come from top high schools from all over Romania.

Liz brought five of her students whom she has prepared before the conference for more than two months. Doyle, who had also initiated an intensive training program with his seven students at his high school, thinks that an important benefit of this process is the ability to logically reason about complex issues and, most importantly, develop the skills to do the appropriate research.

Both Liz and Kevin think that Model United Nations is very effective because it gives students an idea about what is happening in the world while putting an emphasis on working together, finding solutions and thinking through the perspective of someone from a different society.

The Peace Corps volunteers have been impressed by how serious and competent the students are.

In fact, they found remarkable the fact that the level of preparation resulted in a productive tension between students.  Doyle also told us that the ability to stand up and speak without fear in front of so many people and find enough evidence to prove arguments is fascinating.

All the volunteers gave their best during the vetting process, but some of the students got frustrated since the process took too long. “One of the problems consisted in the fact that the same resolution was not edited during the process by the same person,” Zack Baddorf stated. Regardless of these small inconveniences, the process ended up successfully.

One of the notable characteristics of this conference is the fact that for both participants and volunteers the event was not only educational but also enjoyable. Some of the volunteers even had fun at the welcome dinner or during the group photo and none of them regrets helping here because they came willingly and the event exceeded their expectations.

Written by: Mihaela Andreea Voicescu
Photo by: Otilia Dobos

With all these situations and conflicts on our planet, people should show that there’s humanity inside us by helping each other. In this case, countries well built, founded on good bases, and which don’t face something similar to human crisis should make a difference. Well, there are countries like that, and there really is a difference too. Countries like the US, North Korea and Iceland manage to do that.

For example, the refugees and internally displaced people in Sri Lanka where the population has been gravely concerned by violations of human rights and international humanitarian law committed during the armed conflict. The impact on the civilian population, especially woman, children and vulnerable groups has been massive.

Deeply concerned that even though the war against the Tamil Tigers was won by the Sri Lankan government, peace in Sri Lanka has not yet been achieved. A military solution is not the final solution.

In addition, we have the humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe. Who’s making a difference? Who helps them? Well, there’s Iceland. Zimbabwe has some critical human rights problems, too. The maternal mortality rates there have tripled since the mid-90s. Cholera, a disease that appears due to lack of water, killed about 2,000 people and infected approximately 60,000, as it is still spreading due to migrating people. In Zimbabwe, 80 percent of the population lives on less than one dollar a day, without basic commodities such as food and water.

Who has heard about contemporary forms of slavery in Czech Republic? Article 4 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that no one shall be held in slavery or servitude and that slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.  According to the Free the Slaves Organization: “There are more people in slavery now than at any other time in human history.” Who would’ve thought it would get to this?

There are solutions. But which are the most efficient? Well this is the debate right now. One delegate said, “Life doesn’t mean playing a game with people’s lives”. We need to take measures. Now! The delegates think that the crisis is major, and at the age of 30, living in Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka or Czech Republic, it just cannot be called “living” anymore.

Some of the solutions include encouraging US volunteers to go and teach in other countries and increase their tourism to help their economy. Encourage media to do reports about those people and countries. As a delegate said: “If people are hungry, let’s feed them. If somebody is sick, let’s provide him medicines.”

Improving the links between countries, and reminding ourselves to act human. It’s a big planet, but the shout for help is loud. Ignorance will just bring us in the need of help too.

Written by: Bogdan Conea, Andreea Buteata
Photo by: Gabriel Criveanu