The third annual Budapest International Model United Nations (BIMUN) opened its doors to 400 delegates from 25 countries for a five-day long conference in beautiful Budapest, the capital of Hungary. High school and university students from every corner of the world gathered at the Eötvös József Secondary School, one of the most prestigious secondary schools in Hungary, where the committee sessions took place.
As Iván Bába, the State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Hungary said in his opening speech, participating in the BIMUN would provide an opportunity to gain experience of how international forums operate, the complexity of the global agenda and the interrelated nature of national interests. At the opening ceremony the Deputy Mayor of Budapest Miklós Csomós, warmly welcomed all participants to the city, and emphasized the importance of BIMUN and education in general talking proudly of great Hungarians who were once enrolled in Eötvös József Secondary School.
Then János Tisovszky, the Director of the United Nations Information Service UNIS Vienna inspired the audience with his address to the opening. The Director highlighted that every year 100,000 students take part in Model UNs who are not just leaders of tomorrow but leaders of today. He said that this generation is at home in a world of diversity and able to understand how to transcend cross-cultural differences. Mr. Tisovszky mentioned that working for and with youth is one of the five key priorities of the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon demonstrated by his recent appointment of the first-ever United Nations Envoy for Youth, Ahmad Alhendawi from Jordan and by the deepening of the focus on youth by existing UN programmes on employment, political inclusion, protection of rights and education. He added that besides recognising the general importance of education, the UN aims to ensure that children are enroled in schools and also get quality education.
This year the topics under negotiations during the BIMUN 2013 ranged from possible measures to resolve the long-term and complex dispute between Pakistan and India; achievement of complete transparency on military expenditures,; the economic and financial effects of trade embargos; finding an effective solution to reach the Millennium Development Goal no. 6. on combating HIV/AIDS, Malarai and other diseases without using anti-homosexuality legislation; assessment of the relevance of the 2005 General Assembly resolution on the Responsibility to Protect; the future and possible resolution of the World Trade Organization Doha round; moral aspects of genetic engineering and cloning; to the question of euthanasia, giving the participants the change to understand negotiations, conflict, compromises and work towards peaceful solutions of our global challenges.
