This March, SAS Pudong hosted its first-ever SHASMUNito, an inter-division conference for both middle and high school delegates from the school. Due to the event’s small size (in compliance with pandemic regulations), the “-ito” version had only three committees: General Assembly, Human Rights, and Security Councils. Mentors from high school MUN led younger delegates in the GA and HRC, while the SC was high school-only. Despite the unusual circumstances of SHASMUNito, however, the event proved to be a success and a learning opportunity for everyone involved.
General Assembly
Benjamin Liang, President; Chris Li and Yuxuan Xu, Deputy Presidents
In his first report on “ensuring international peace and security in the cyberspace”, General Assembly President Benjamin Liang addresses the “growing concern for countries to preserve the security of the cyberspace”, which “plays a crucial role in national and international security systems, trade networks, communications, data storage, and emergency services”. Placing particular emphasis on the threat posed by the increase in cyber attacks conducted by state and non-state actors alike and acknowledging the potentially differing interests of more and less economically developed countries on this issue, Liang stresses the need for consensus and cooperation from member states in establishing “the most effective solution to this issue”.
Liang’s second report is dedicated to “addressing the illegal stockpiling of chemical weapons”. Opening with a contextual overview of the history of the military use of chemical weapons from WWI to the present, including international agreements such as the 1925 Geneva Convention and 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) which respectively prohibit the use and proliferation of chemical weapons, while also outlining the differences between toxins, severe irritants, and herbicides. Liang stresses the importance of addressing the threefold problems of an observed lack of transparency and trust among CWC signatory states, the possession and use of chemical weapons by non-CWC signatories, and the “certain level of ambiguity” of existing definitions of what constitutes a chemical weapon.
Human Rights Council
Galen Gibb, President; Estelle Denker and Emma Zhou, Deputy Presidents
Accessibility for children’s education, a perennial issue among less economically developed countries, have only been exacerbated since the beginning of the Covid_19 pandemic. Despite member nations’ efforts to uphold the right to education, as established by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, however, this “learning crisis” persists. Today, 124 million children between 6 and 14 years old do not go to school.
“The problem extends beyond mere attendance; even if all children in developing countries went to school, the current quality of teaching fails to facilitate meaningful learning,” wrote Galen Gibb, president of the Human Rights Council. Gibb suggests that, with increasing internet access in areas of sub-Saharan Africa, online resources can be helpful in assisting government-led literacy and maths programs.
Security Council
Claire Yin, President; Jasmine Huang and Bradley Xu, Deputy Presidents
In a series of three reports, Security Council President Claire Yin and Student Officers Jasmine Huang and Bradley Xu address the ongoing conflicts and civil unrest in Myanmar, the Central African Republic, and Belarus.
In her report on the situation on Myanmar, Huang outlines the process of transition from military dictatorship to a short-lived civilian government that was toppled in a military coup by General Min Aung Hlaing on February 1st, 2021, which would see members of the elected NLD party, including President Aung Sang Suu Kyi. She further documents the civil unrest that has emerged in response to the coup, which has led to the imposition of a curfew, restrictions on the right to assembly, and provoked violent response by security forces against civilian protesters, noting that “the military has had a long history of brutal crackdowns and threats of live ammunition against protestors”.
Addressing the civil war in the Central African Republic, Xu outlines several sectarian and ethnic tensions which contributed to the outbreak of political violence in 2012, as well as the failure of Seleka insurgent forces associated with the Muslim minority to “conglomerate into a unified force” or otherwise consolidate around a central leadership following their seizure of the capital of Bangui in 2013. Xu also documents the persisting violence comprised not only of attacks and reprisals conducted by “ex-Seleka militias” and “the Christian Anti-balaka”, but also the “daily hate crime and lynching” which occurs even under the auspices of international forces in Bangui, further noted that “attempts to disarm one party have only led to increased violence by the other party”.
Yin, as President, writes on the disputed 2020 presidential election and resulting civil unrest in Belarus. Providing an overview of Alexander Lukashenko’s 26-year tenure as President of Belarus, she highlights how Lukashenko, who has refused to exit office “despite calls for a recount of the votes and reports of ballot stuffing”, now faces public protests and labor strikes. “Amnesty International has reported that protestors are facing a ‘campaign of widespread torture and other ill-treatment’”, with such reports of state brutality inviting condemnation of the Lukashenko government by the US and the EU and public support for protestors by exiled opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, even as long-time Lukashenko ally Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, reaffirms his support for the leader, whose “authoritarian style of rule” has led him being “referred to as ‘Europe’s last dictator’”.
Special thanks to the SHASMUNito organizing committee and teachers involved.
Article written by John Chen and Shelley Yang.
Photographs by Paige Wu and Shelley Yang.