CIMUN 2020
1-3 October 2020
Ethics and Morals
Collection of Letters from the Secretariat
Letter from the Secretary General Braden Bitner
It is my great honor, on behalf of the MUN Community of Copenhagen International School, to invite, and welcome you all to our Third Annual Copenhagen International Model United Nations (CIMUN). Having welcomed near to 100 participants in 2019, we hope to expand our conference, help encourage much-needed dialogue, help participants find their voices and grow as both speakers and thinkers, and to widen the view of students, forming a more open, intercommunal, point of view.
In a conference that follows THIMUN debate procedures, we sincerely hope that the debates that transpire during the conference will cause debates outside the conference to ensue, to bring about a more just, sustainable, and moral world.
Thus brings us to our Conference Theme of 2020: Ethics and Morals. Ethics and morals are, in essence, what dictates what is right or wrong, from a standpoint of society (ethics) and oneself (morals).
Around the world, and even from person to person in the same country, town, or household, interpretations and beliefs regarding ethics and morals vary incredibly, which makes what is right or wrong incredibly difficult to define from an objective standpoint.
It is this subjectivity that makes international politics what it is, and is a huge part of what MUN is about - understanding that ethics and morals are considered to be different by different people, and working to overcome those differences to strive for a better world.
From former-Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 2005 to current-Secretary-General António Guterres this year, it has been stated again and again that a “moral imperative”, or “moral obligation”, exists when addressing conflict, especially in regards to “prevent[ing] [...] suffering”, in the words of Kofi Annan. Therefore, what each participant should consider during and after this conference is: what is the moral imperative; what is the obligation of each IGO, each government, and each individual in securing a better future and fighting for it.
With this in mind, good luck on your preparation; I sincerely hope that you will join us in October.
Best Regards,
Braden Bitner
Secretary General
CIMUN 2020 Team
Secretary General: Braden Bitner
Deputy Secretary Generals: Euan Davies & Ema Guryčová
Head of Administration: Vindhya Kathuria • Head of Finance: Shruti Anand • Head of Logistics: Samyukta Varanasi •
Head of Staff: Samantha Jones • Deputy Head of Staff: Jakob Jensen
General Planner: Nour Makhlof • Liaison: Ayça Zal • Head of Press: Clodagh Cunningham •
MUN Director: Stephen McIlroy
Committees
General Assembly
GA3 - Social, Cultural, and Humanitarian
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Ensuring the eradication of life threatening viruses through global cooperation.
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Promoting the development of and access to biological sex change technologies.
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The question of protecting world cultural heritage sites in regions of armed conflict.
GA4 - Special Political and Decolonization
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Restructuring national voting systems to ensure access for all.
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The question of neocolonialism committed by governments and non-state organizations.
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Ensuring universal respect for referendums in regard to the autonomous status of territories.
GA6 - Legal
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Restricting the use of harmful weapons by Riot Police.
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Reevaluating the Geneva Conventions and Protocols.
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The issue of political nominations of diplomats and judicial bodies.
Commission on the Status of Women (CSW)
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The issue of gender selective abortion.
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Protecting transgender women from targeted crimes.
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Preventing the use of Date-Rape drugs and other paralytic drugs for non-medical purposes.
Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ)
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The issue of adequately protecting whistle-blowers and witnesses in order to guarantee the carrying out of justice.
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The question of the rise of nationalist extremism.
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Preventing the trafficking of human organs.
Economic and Social Council
Special Ad Hoc
Security Council
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The question of reforming the Security Council.
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Encouraging State Secularism.
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Ensuring the fair investigation, prosecution, and judicial accountability of all parties under the ICC.
World Health Organization (WHO)
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Controlling the use of gene-editing technology such as CRISPR.
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Establishing a universal code of conduct for behavior in the case of an epidemic/pandemic.
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Promoting Universal Vaccination.
President of the General Assembly: Euan Davies
Chairs of GA3: Krish Bhatia & Katja van der Laan
Chairs of GA4: Arielle Bhargava & Sophia Bitner
Chairs of GA6: Ayça Zal & Viktoriia Martianova
President of the ECOSOC: Ema Guryčová
Chairs of CSW: Selin Bogers & Jasleen Kaur
Chairs of CCPCJ: Maria Lalanda Bolado & Aarefa Gittham
Secretary General: Braden Bitner
President of the Security Council: Clara Brown
Vice President of the Security Council: Ella Hedberg
President of the WHO: Megan A. Widjaja
Vice President of the WHO: Samyukta Varanasi
With Thanks To: Martin Alexander Søndergaard-Jensen