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• Editorial • UN news center headlines • Reception at the City Hall • Committee reports • Party Time at ThessisMUN social events • ThessisMUN educating people • Have an Espresso with us!!! • Newspaper Headlines • Important decisions can make you a Leader, good

taste in men can make you a “Grace Kelly”

Editorial Honorable MUNers… Hi there?! Did you have lots of fun yester-day in social events?! Did you really enjoyed it?!...Well, whatever you did yesterday…be sure that next days’ conferences and social events will be way far better!!! So, it’s the 2nd day of ThessisMUN …position papers, debates, conflicts, alliances, moderated and unmoderated caucuses, speaker lists, and (every kind of) motions take place in sessions and we’ve got so much work to do! But keep up…you’re all great! According to my beloved Spies, your par-ticipation to the sessions is unique and quite interesting….SO just get prepared that the 2nd Edition of ThessisMUN Daily News is mainly dedicated to you guys..! Thank you… See you around, Alexandra..

Journalist Team • Mary Basdeki:1st Committee • Vangelis Oikonomidis: Co-

Editor • Stamatis Zachariadis: NAC • Christina Chelioti: 3rd Committee • Maria Oproglidou: ECOSOC • Theodora Karakechai-

dou:Security Council • Ziaka Alexandra: 2nd Committee • Eleanna Psomiadou: Le Comité

contre la Torture • Viktoria Kanata: Council of

Europe • Rafaella Tsertsidou:Human Rights

Council • Alexandra Chatzopoulou: Editor • Fotis Telloglou: our beloved Papa-

razzi and the Co-Co-Editor!!!

Victoria Kanata is studying the Law in Ar-istotle’s University of Thessaloniki. It’s her first participation in MUN and she hopes not the last one!

Eleanna Psomiadou: is studying in the De-partment of International and European Stud-ies at the University of Piraeus and she your journalist in the French Committee. Bonne chance a tout le monde!!

It’s happening today: UN news centre • Yemen: UN chief appeals for restraint amid further violent

clashes • Palestinian unity deal must promote peace, says UN’s Middle

East envoy • Libya faces potential food crisis unless stocks are replenished

soon, UN warns • UN concerned over plight of hundreds displaced by violence

in western Colombia

It’s happening today: the world’s headlines RUSSIA The Moscow Times: Petroleum exports banned as fuel crisis deepens MOROCCO La Vie éco: Attack in the heart of Marrakech CHINA South China Morning Post: Wen Jiabao attends a conference of ambiguity UK The Daily Mail: Kate Middleton marries her prince SOUTH AMERICA El Comercio: Four countries give birth to the Alliance of the Pacific LEBANON L'Orient-Le Jour: Syrian refugees are crossing the border USA The New York Times: After storms kill hundreds, South tries to regroup GERMANY Berliner Zeitung: Reforming Schengen, an absurd gesture

1st Committee “Think before you speak” This was the quote that the Delegate of the Russian Federation kept repeating during the first day's sessions in the 1st Committee of the General Assembly, where the 2010 Non-Proliferation Treaty review conference topic started being discussed. The matter of nuclear weapons was specified, so Iran's nuclear programme, the accession of certain member States in the Non-Proliferation Treaty and the issue of Middle East nuclear weapon free zone were brought forward. The Russian Federation emphasised the difference between completely removing and limit-ing a nuclear programme, while there was a conversation about Iran. Whereas Iraq insisted on the creation of a nuclear weapon free zone in the Middle East, also supported by Tunisia and Libya.

During the session lots of progress was made. Two working papers were introduced: the first one by Brazil and Turkey and the second one by Poland, Switzerland, Austria, Romania, Belgium, Germany and the Neth-erlands. Although the Delegation of the U.S. is active, it has not introduced a working pa-per yet, but stated that they are willing to co-operate with the submitters of the second working paper. However, the Delegate of the Republic of Korea disillusioned the rest of the delegates, reminding all of them that they have to stick to international law and not to approach the topic in such a romantic way. As a matter of fact though, the People's Re-public of China is pleased with the outcome of the 2010 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and with the consensual adoption of its final document. China will continue to work with all sides respectfully and play a constructive role in this process. The non-disappointing expression of China's position is expected to be presented by its Delegation in the present Committee. No matter how much progress was made, still the Delegates were urged by the Chair-persons to come up with a draft resolution because time is short. By Mary Basdeki,

2nd Committee: aspian Sea: Sea or Lake? Delegates of the second committee, which was the first one that had working papers, gathered exactly at 9. As the actual work began, delegates went on a voting procedure (some of them double-voted) and decided to start with the topic area b: the division of the Caspian Sea between the five littoral countries (Russian Federation, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iran, and Azerbaijan). The topic was very specific and mostly referred to the five aforementioned countries, as well as USA, which plays an influen-tial role. EU and other countries seemed to be the mediators. So, the majority of the other delegates only said that they wish for a peaceful solu-tion. Delegates of Russian Federation, Iran and USA were the most participating. Afterwards, dele-gates were divided into two groups. The first group (USA, EU, China, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Ka-zakhstan) stated that they consider Caspian Sea to be a sea and so its legal status should apply to UN-CLO. They also proposed that the division of the Caspian Sea should be proportional to the coastline of each littoral country. The second group (Russian Federation, Iran -the two largest regional energy producers- nations of Latin America, African States) stated that they consider Caspian Sea to be a lake, and, consequently, they don’t agree with the application of UNCLO. Furthermore, they sug-gested that the Caspian Sea should be equally di-vided between the five littoral nations, which appears to be the most democratic and fair solution. The voting procedure will finally take place during the third session. Good luck delegates! By Alexandra Ziaka

3rd Committee

“Green Day not yet to come” With surprises, unexpected reactions, disputes but always in a good mood, the third committee completed this evening’s session by concluding it’s discussions on the first topic. Initially, all states seemed to express similar views on the first topic of their agenda “Renewable Energy sources and the Right to Sustainable Develop-ment”. Developed and Developing Countries seemed to agree on the necessity of achieving an effective and realistic transition from conven-tional to renewable energy sources in order to achieve the goal of sustainable development by giving funds to the developing world, introduc-ing educational programs and sharing of the technological know-how . But, the unanimity on their approach didn’t last long as certain nuclear states such as USA, UK shacked the committee by expressing the view that the use of nuclear energy could be another financially efficient en-ergy resource. Apparently, 4 working papers were introduced to the committee which were later merged into two, representing the views of both the developed and developing states. To-morrow these working papers will be discussed and voted upon by the divided delegates. How-ever, apart from ways of introducing renewable energy sources, the delegates also figured that in the third committee being punctual is as impor-tant as being a humanist, as the co-Chair didn’t let the delayed delegates to take their seats be-fore stressing with humor the importance of early arrival for the session. By Christina Chelioti

COUNCIL OF EUROPE The 1st Session of the Council of Europe came to the end. During this Session the delegates discussed about the situa-tion of Roma in Europe, despite the opposite opinion of Italy which proposed the discussion of the discrimination against disabled people. The Roma issue caused a lot of tension between Dele-gates, due to the different countries’ policies upon this topic. Negotiations took place concerning education, housing and political representation of Roma, although it seemed that a certain number of countries were only willing to put forward their own agenda. During the debates, Russian Federation, Iceland and Switzerland emphasized to education, while Cyprus stated the registration of Roma. Moreover, Greece claimed that it’s up to Roma whether they will join society or not, while Norway underlined that we have first to take into account the problem of dis-crimination against Roma and then face it. In the end of the session there was a video screening made by Panos Charitos, a Roma observer. By Viktoria Kanata

“Bigmouth STRIKES again” in ECOSOC Setting the agenda was not a difficult task for the committee. However, it set off a series of disputes within the committee that proved to be more than tricky to tackle with. “Financial cri-sis and the right to strike: an abuse of right?”. Two main alliances have been formed, the de-veloping countries on one side, the developed on the other. Movie title: An affair to remember: 1st scene: Venezuela and Mr. Chile (or should I say Mr.Chili?): “los amigos latinoamericanos” Several interesting views were expressed by the delegation of Chile regarding Venezuela’s position on strikes such as “You are on strike all the time, that’s why your economy is not going well” (seconded by Egypt’s harsh com-mentary “Venezuela is the eternally developing country”) and “Venezuela never was an inter-national market, simply a market on its own” and “The voice of people is expressed in elec-tions, not in strikes”. Venezuela stated that they will stand by the working class but be flexible when it comes to resolutions. 2nd scene: Ecuador and the United States of America Ecuador expressed that 70-80% of their popu-lation is workers (“that percentage can’t be ille-gal!”) and considers, amongst with the other developing states, the right to strike as a funda-mental one. Also, declared many states to be “satellites” to the USA. United States of Amer-ica on the other hand firmly believes the UN resolution should be a general one and the right to strike is a basic one, yet not fundamental. 3rd scene: Canada and Pakistan (plus Canada and socialism) Canada was confused on Pakistan’s position, considering that the delegation of Pakistan first showed interest in cooperating with them, but then allied with developing states. Then Can-ada made a rather controversial comment: Pre-venting strikes through privatization of public sectors? According to Canada, that will lead to more profitable states and better quality of life, thus fewer reasons to strike for. Talking about a capitalistic delirium… By Maria Oproglidou

HRC The topic discussed in the Human Rights Council (HRC) was “the freedom of religion or belief and the role of education”. Firstly, the Council dis-cussed the several efforts for the protection of human rights without discriminations in interna-tional level. Furthermore, the HRC set out as top-ics the freedom of religion. The delegation of Mexico referred to the relation between religion and the state. United Kingdom underlined the crucial role of religion, which must be respected, because of its multicultural society, and men-tioned that deeds are better than words. The dele-gation of the USA made clear, that they will play a leading role in the protection of human rights.

Also, they mentioned that their word must be taken into serious consideration, especially as far as freedom of religion or belief is con-cerned. The Republic of Korea responded that, despite being a multicultural society, is homo-geneous as well. The delegation of Republic of Korea stressed the importance of education on the HRC agenda regarding human rights and called upon the international community to cooperate through constructive dialogue and tolerance, whilst finding strategies to meet the highest attainable standards of human rights protection. The delegation of Jordan underlined the fact that minorities must be protected without stereotypes, while the dele-gation of Belgium strongly supported that the education should be neutral and any preven-tive measure must be forbidden, as everyone

should have the right of freedom of conscience, thought and religion and is in favour of a multi-cultural and multireligional world. Another issue was the freedom of religion and the role of educa-tion, intercultural dialogue and policy and the substantial help of the education system, so the delegation of Norway stressed that schools should be the meeting point for different traditions and religions. The rights of elderly people in educa-tion were also discussed, as well as the way that different countries could incorporate and inte-grate immigrants and minorities. By Rafaella D. Tsertsides

Le comité a débuté directement avec le rapport sur l’état du Djibouti. Il y avait une opposition entre la Chine et le Djibou-ti sur les thèmes qui concernent la protection du peuple au Djibouti. Mais on doit souligner que la rapporteur de cet état de la Corne d’Afrique a répondu à toutes les questions et nous a prouvé qu’elle est capable d’affronter les points épineux du rapport… En plus, le comité a indiqué l’importance de financer des pays comme le Djibouti pour l’ai-der. L’Arabie Saoudite a signalé pour sa part le besoin aussi bien pour favoriser son dévelop-pement que pour faciliter l’adoption des mesures relatives à l’amélioration de la situation. De surcroît, ils ont procédé à un caucus non-modéré afin que les articles 6 à 9 soient débat-tus. Ces articles portent sur: 1. l’arrestation et la détention des personnes inculpées d’actes de torture. 2. le jugement ou l’extradition des personnes soupçonnées d’avoir commis des actes de tor-ture. 3. l’incrimination des actes de torture dans les traits d’extradition. 4. l’entraide judiciaire entre états parties dans toute procédure relative aux actes de torture. Par Eleanna Psomiadou.

Le comité contre la torture

NAC During the first day, the committee struggled to find a commonly accepted definition of cy-ber warfare that would separate it from the relevant term of cyber terrorism. Unfortunately, the committee spent too much time debating on non-substantial issues instead of drawing policy lines and proposing concrete measures. This was clearly depicted in the working pa-per that was introduced at noontime. Despite the fact that it was an effort based on good in-tentions, it ended up in a mere mediocrity. This of course ignited serious reactions from the US and the UK over the discussion on issues such as the protection of privacy over the Inter-net, the cooperation with Russia but mostly over the revision of Article 5. The board made an effort to guide the delegates into the right path and along with certain delegates it worked on the draft communiqué that was introduced in the afternoon. This, although it proved to be time saving, it appears that it was not welcome by the other delegates, who considered the selection unfair. The board however was quick to apologize and make things right. Lithua-nia, at some time seeming to be driven off policy, came back with a proposal of a crisis man-agement scenario in case of a cyber attack. The debate on Friday is highly anticipated.

By Stamatis Zachariadis

Security Council The first day in S.C. began with the delegates establishing a speakers list. Hav-ing heard some policy statements they moved to the moderated caucus which went on until 12:15 pm. It was obvious that all of the delegates had made a very good preparation for the topic (Sanctions against Iran). Next, they moved to unmoderated and by the end of it, we all had a working paper in our hands which was discussed afterwards at the moderated caucus. The European countries and USA agree with each other that “the global com-munity cannot trust Iran with nuclear power even for peaceful purposes” as the delegate of Germany stated. Iran accuses USA about abusing their power against the Middle East and seems to forget that “Iran’s delegation is there as an observer and not to accuse anyone” as the delegate of France emphasized. The rest of the countries were in favor of the peaceful use of nuclear power and formed another group. The debate, so far, is very fruitful and the delegates very passionate. But we’re still at the beginning. There are much more to see and

hear… Stay in touch! By Dora Karakechaidou

Since 2002, ThessisMUN is an institution here in Thessaloniki! Yesterday, ThessisMU-Ners were hosted by Mr Yiannis Boutaris, Mayor of Thessaloniki. In his speech, Mr.Y.Boutaris expressed his happiness for hosting more than 400 students in Thessaloniki (known as “the city of love”) and noticed how ThessisMUN- as an institution- contributes to the cultural development of Thessaloniki. Moreover, he claimed that Municipality of Thes-saloniki will try in the future to support more and more the institution of ThessisMUN. Be-sides the Metro and bicycle paths which contribute to the amelioration of city’s life quality, these events could also offer an initiative for both Municipality and people of Thessaloniki to have an active participation in city’s life! In the end of his speech, Mayor had a short con-

versation with the Delegates

IMPORTANT!!! Thessaloniki celebrates her candidacy for European Youth Capital 2014 and invites you all to the biggest street party ever organised in the city! Today, from 4pm to the sunrise, in Paralia-Thessaloniki’s espla-nade, by the sea!!! PS: Our beloved MUN Photog-rapher will be there waiting for you to check out his exhibi-tion…Don’t miss it!!!

GOSSIP FACTS

•In HRC, the Delegation of the UK happily announced the marriage of Prince Wil-liam and Kate Middleton, while the Delegation of Maldives offered the newly wed couple an exotic trip to Maldives for their honeymoon!

•One thing the Turkish Delegation loves about Greece is the cold frappe coffee, which they admitted they will miss when they go back.

•The Vice-Chair of the HRC received a diplomatic warning by the HRC honorable Chairperson, because he could not stop talking and interrupting him.

•Sanctions on Iran should finally be imposed, not for the obvious reasons, but for its Delegation at the SC being logged in Facebook all the freaking time!!

•Kiss of compassion was given by Romania to the Delegate of Japan in one of the United Nations committees, because of the recent tragedy….

•Nine months after MUNIst 2010, Mehmet still loves all the girls!!

•Who noticed the HRC dark haired male delegate’s bruises on his neck? We bet he definitely wasn’t beaten up…

•Chairing is a difficult task, as it requires self-control. Getting carried away by a delegate’s charm is not in order…

•Yabancı Damat (ελληνιστί «Τα Σύνορα της Αγάπης) strikes again.

•Love is in the air among the Security Council and the 3rd GA Committee. …Halleluiah!

•Le Comité contre la Torture “tortured” the tables at the Committee Dinner night!!

•The first kiss of the MUN, however, was given in the foyer of the University of Ma-cedonia. Due to this, Mrs. Perraki encourages all those who wish to follow the kiss-ing process to feel absolutely free to do so!

• “From behind the computer” shouted several delegates towards the delegate of Bel-gium in her effort to locate the USB port.

• ’Be sincere; be brief; be seated’. The delegate of Hungary does not get along with the last part of Franklin’s famous aphorism.

Who is this guy next to me???