Dear delegates, esteemed MUN directors, honoured guests, respected NaMUN staff,

My name is Tom Scheer and it is my great pleasure, indeed a great honour, to be here with you today and to welcome you to the very first Namur Model United Nations conference here on the premises of the Parliament of Wallonia. It is my privilege to serve as your secretary general. Thank you for coming. That many of you have travelled a long way to be here, shows us how motivated and invested you are.

I would also like to extend my sincere gratitude to all of the staff who made this event possible.

For the last year the world was dealing with new crises. War in Ukraine, the energy crisis, international tensions in Taiwan, only to name a few. They all demonstrate the fragility and the ordeal the world finds itself in. But it also proves that there is an opportunity, no, a need for us to become the catalysts for a better, more stable and more peaceful world.

This international event unites students from 7 countries: Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, Morocco, Poland, Slovakia, and Spain. Over the next three days, you and your fellow delegates will lead debates, will try to understand and convince each other, and push forward with new solutions and resolutions for the problems at hand. You will make new friends and create a network of connections. This parliamentary debate, solidarity and understanding for others is at the core of democracy, the core of our society, which keeps us united and extremism at bay. Hence, the main theme of our conference: “United in Solidarity”.

Moreover, I would like to express my gratitude to the Institute of Providence Champion for this bilateral conference. They gave 2 luxembourgish students the opportunity to see the MUN experience from a different point of view, as Chair and secretary general. Additionally, in cooperation with the MUN club of Providence Champion, the Lycee Michel Rodange would be thrilled to accommodate you during the next year’s MUN.

This is only my third and also last high-school MUN conference since I am, hopefully, going to study politics next year. So I would like to give the many first-timers here advice. As delegates, do not simply work with others who share the same ideas, try convincing others by validating your point. Outside of committee sessions, try meeting new people you would otherwise never have met, don’t stick to your committee or your delegation. And lastly, discover the beautiful town of Namur, it is truly a beautiful city to host this event.

It’s wonderful to see so many of you here. I hope you will leave Namur more open-minded and confident. I wish you all pleasant and fruitful debates.

Thank you.

Dear Guests, dear teachers and dear delegates, (press)

I am really happy to be here with you as the Deputy Secretary General.

In 2020, when I presented my candidature to join the Mun club, I could never have imagined that I would have so many experiences. 

In the spring of 2021, I was a delegate from France to the Human Rights Council to discuss The Effects of Climate Change on Poor Communities. This first conference online was difficult but very interesting, and it made me want to take part in a live conference.

At the 2022 March conference, in Slovakia, I represented the USA at the Security Council. The topic was the Indo-Pacific crisis. On this occasion, I understood the atmosphere of a MUN better. (Well, maybe also thanks to the fact that it was held in my mother tongue  ;-) ) At the end of the conference, even if it surprised me, I was happy to have been elected 3rd best delegate of the MUN. The USA would now like to thank the delegates from China, France, Russia and of course, of the other countries for the very interesting debate and our great draft resolution.

In early October 2022, I participated in ToMUN. This experience allowed me to understand that a conference in French is great, but in English, it is another level. During the conference, I realised that the different activities I had taken part in with the MUN club have made me more comfortable in English. This helped me during the debates, with the other delegates and also with  my host family.

When I came back from ToMUN, I was appointed Deputy Secretary General for internal and external affairs. This role suits me quite well because I am a person who likes to organise events. Not alone, but in a team. One of my teamwork skills is to be able to exchange ideas and find compromises that take into account the opinions of others, but also to make sure that everything is done on time. To succeed, I like to delegate tasks, taking into account the talents of each person. I would like to say a big thank you to the whole team that helped me organize  this conference, with a special mention to Kleida, our facilities, press and multimedia manager. Thank you very much to everyone and especially to Florian who trusted me with the role of Deputy Secretary General. I hope that NaMUN 2023 will give you good moments, good debates but above all, good memories with a minimum of problems. 

Before you fall asleep, I would like to wish you an excellent first day in your committees and a very good conference here in Namur.

Thank you very much for your attention,

Dear teachers, Fellow delegates, Honourable Guests,

Welcome to NaMUN 2023. We are proud to see you in one of the most important cities of Belgium, our city, Namur. Of course, we are here today, but I think that we should go back to the past, because 3 years ago, I couldn’t have imagined being here at all.

I joined the club in September 2020 , for no special reason ... We worked on a great project for Doctors Without Borders, which gave me the chance to realize that everything wasn’t perfect in the world and the project gave me some ideas to talk about, later, during my MUN debates.

In 2021 I took part in my first MUN conference ever, ZaMUN. It was an online experience and I would say that I didn’t understand anything. I had chosen to represent France because it was a country near Belgium and ... that’s it. I mean I actually talked more on the chill zone of the Discord server than during the debates and my chair was always saying “Please, everybody should talk, at least once” And I was like ” No way” . Furthermore, Indians were taking part in the conference, too . not that I have a problem with them but... their accent made their speech quite hard to understand

Well, the conference passed and I went on taking part in the ToMUN 2021 conference. There, I discovered the friends I had met at ZaMUN, but in real life now. At ToMUN, I was still shy, but I tried to understand the rules and to take part in the debates. I knew I could do better, but I didn’t dare to. And after the Conference, I wanted more, more stress, more debates, more unmoderated caucus and more coffee breaks, of course. I just wanted to take part in more MUN conferences, it felt important to me to talk about topics that touch the entire world and to feel important to society, trying to find solutions about big and real problems that can’t technically be solved.

Then, ZaMUN 2022 took place . First of all, I think that I need to talk about my host family. One word : Amazing! Really, they were exceptional and we were made to be together. We both cried at the end of the Conference and we promised each other that we wouldn’t stay a long time without meeting again and we did meet again several times after the Conference and I hope that you can live the same experience as mine during your stay in Belgium because it’s something amazing?

As young people, we have to create friendships all around the world , we have to work together, to think together, to make a better world. Fortunately, you are here today, and thanks to that, we can start creating something amazing for the future.

At ZaMUN, we started talking about the idea of creating our own MUN Conference. At first, it was unbelievable for me, because I was the most experienced person in the Club and I thought it would be impossible for me to manage such a big deal but well, I’m here. After the ZaMUN Conference, I still wanted more but I knew that being a delegate wasn’t the best place for me. I mean, I like the atmosphere of a conference but I’m really shy, so I have many ideas and I always write some speeches, but I never read them aloud, it’s like impossible for me. So of course, I needed to chair a committee, which is most enjoyable since you are part of the whole thing but y you don’t need to deliver any speech, the perfect place for me.

And I did it, during the ToMUN 2022 Conference, I was the deputy chair of the UNEP committee, my favorite committee, it was perfect. The chair was a Slovak girl, she taught me everything and she gave me the lead, sometimes, even if I felt so bad. Before the conference, we also got some lessons about the creation of a MUN Conference. It was really interesting and we came back to Belgium with so many ideas. I felt ready and confident for our Conference. It was just impressive to be able to choose the topics we were going to talk about, it was amazing to manage the entire creation of the conference, the teams, the placards, the host families, everything.

I didn’t know it was possible, but we did it, guys. I’m so proud of you, because 15 of you are new in the club, you didn’t know anything about a MUN Conference in September and of course, you couldn’t speak English at all. What a wonderful experience! I still can’t imagine being here. I wanted to thank all the teams and their managers. you struggled with me, because I wanted my first and last NaMUN Conference to be perfect.

Thank you Mr. Coheur for being here, for raising me as high as possible . without you, what would I have done? Nothing, just following the lessons like all my classmates... But now, , I’m here in Namur, for the first NaMUN Conference ever, and in exactly one week, I’will be in Finland on a two-month- Erasmus program , also initialized by you. I’m so happy to be leaving school next year, because you told me that you wanted to leave soon to follow another life project - you know, one of those that makes you feel alive. How will all the projects you initialized finish? I hope and I’m sure that Mrs Monet and others will continue that, because it’s part of the identity of our school.

Thank you delegates, for being here too, we will make something great together and I hope that you will have a lot of fun, as much as I will.

Mesdammes et Messieurs, Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear  Participants of Namur Model United Nations  conference,

First of all, I would like to express my gratitude for the invitation to today’s event. I am convinced that I am standing in front of ambitious, well-educated young men and women interested in the current international affairs, who in the future will be able to take prominent posts in politics, diplomacy, international organizations or global companies. In a moment you will start debates on burning issues of today’s world. It means that you are concerned with the world around you, with the world which is facing many overlapping crises and challenges. Wars, poverty, climate changes, discrimination based on religion or belief require global solutions and people thinking globally. Your presence here in Namur confirms that you are people much needed by today’s world. In the context of already mentioned challenges that you are going to discuss, I would like to appreciate the main theme of the conference suggested by the students “United in solidarity”. Let me share with you some remarks on a very important example of solidarity in the turbulent world we live in.

As you know, I am the Polish Ambassador to the Kingdom of Belgium. I am honour to represent the country strongly affected by the war in Ukraine inflicted by Russia almost one year ago. The brutal, unjustified Russian aggression against Ukraine has caused the worst security crisis in Europe since the Second World War. Solidarity was our response to the war.

Millions of Ukrainian refugees have crossed the border with Poland. Poles have opened their hearts and homes offering help to our neighbours. Thanks to the unprecedented mobilisation of the Polish state and our society we were able to provide Ukrainians with food, medical assistance and shelter. In Poland you can’t see Ukrainian refugees sleeping on streets. They have access to schools and healthcare system. Most of them have found employment. We have continued support for Ukraine also through deliveries of humanitarian aid and weapons. On international arena we have worked with our partners from NATO and the European Union to ensure multidimensional support from other countries as well as to adopt and implement sanctions against Russia.

Work has not been done yet. Ukrainians are still heroically defending not only their country but also Europe against Russian imperialism. We must stay united in solidarity, we must stand with Ukraine as long as needed. Solidarity means that we have to pay a price for supporting Ukraine but if we do not pay this price now we will have to pay much more in the future as Putin’s regime will go further. This is a simple lesson learnt from history.

The war in Ukraine is also an extraordinary time for diplomacy, I am really proud of being a member of the Polish foreign service who every day works very hard in different capitals around the world to maintain to the biggest extent the solidarity with Ukraine, to isolate Russia on the international arena and to introduce further sanctions in order to weaken Russia’s war machine, to make Europe less dependent on Russian fossil fuels and last but not least to convince our partners beyond Europe – in Africa, in the Middle East or in Latin America - that this war is not like many others. This war has far-reaching global consequences and was provoked by a permanent member of the UN Security Council that should have been responsible for maintaining peace in a special way. It turned out that Russia is the main devastator of international order.

Ladies and Gentlemen, dear students, diplomatic work is difficult and fascinating at the same time but what is the most important for me personally is that it is also rewarding - this work matters. I suppose some of you dream about working in diplomacy and I would like to wish you that experience gained during this conference will bring you closer to making your dreams come true.

Taking this opportunity, I would like to congratulate the organizers of NAMUN conference on this event and wish you further success in undertaking such valuable initiatives. Merci beaucoup, thank you very much. 

Excellency,

Dear MUN Directors,

Dear Delegates,

Dear guests,

Thank you for your invitation to this first Model United Nations Conference of Wallonia, here on the premises of the Parliament of Wallonia. I am very pleased to say a few words on behalf of the German Embassy before you start this exciting experience.

A few days ago, on January 27, we celebrated the International Holocaust Remembrance Day. This day was chosen by the United Nations General Assembly to mark the liberation of the Nazi concentration and extermination camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau in 1945. I was very touched by the ceremonies I was privileged to attend here in Belgium. In particular, because we are lucky to still have among us some survivors who agree to testify to remind us of the immense tragedy they experienced. Listening to these voices allows us to better understand that the peaceful life we all, here in this room, live cannot be taken as granted.

It is by keeping this past in mind, by knowing where we come from, that we can seek solutions to the problems of today. And there are still many of them. I am very impressed by young people like you, who fully engage in fascinating debates on such important questions. They are not only complex because of their sensitive content, but even more so because you have to agree with others to obtain a result.

It is by working closely in contact with other cultures, sometimes even simply with people from neighbouring countries, that we realize that we do not necessarily see things in the same way. Each nation has a different history and political system and combining all this to find common solutions is a huge challenge to overcome.

During the next few days you will be getting to know each other, you will be expressing your points of view; you will be using all your creativity to develop new solutions to the problems of our world. Just very much the same way as diplomats at the United Nations have to if they want to be successful in their negotiations.

And even if you can't change the world in a few days, this exercise will allow you to get to know yourself. Knowing what you like to do and what you are good at is invaluable and will help you find your career path. And I wish you the best of luck on this path which is yours.

Thank you!

Your Excellencies

Dear teachers,

Dear students

It is an honor to be here today for this important exercise in democracy. I thank the organizers, it is a wonderful moment that you will share all together.

I represent the European Economic and Social Committee, as a Belgian national member. The Committee is part of the European institutions alongside the Parliament and the European Commission. The Committee plays an important role in the legislative procedure by being a mandatory consultation body. The Committee represents civil society, it is made up of three groups; employers, trade unions and organizations from the social economy, agriculture, consumers…

It is impossible in less than 5 minutes to explain the role of the Committee but I will come back to this important exercise which started now more than two years ago and is known as "the conference for the future of Europe". of which I was a member.

It was an intense moment of mobilization of European citizens to think, exchange, discuss the future of Europe. A large part of the contributions was devoted to youth. In this room of parliament, the Walloon region organized a hackathon to listen to young people, their needs, their visions of the future.

The results of this great mobilization and citizen consultation are impressive, 325 recommendations were made! I won't go over all of them, but I would like to highlight those that concern you more particularly.

An European Democracy

By Increasing citizen participation and youth involvement in democracy at EU level, in order to create a “full citizenship experience” for Europeans; ensure that their opinion is taken into account, including  election periods, and that their participation is real. It is therefore necessary to determine which form of participation is the most appropriate:

By providing a user-friendly digital platform where citizens – and in particular young people – could contribute their ideas, ask questions to representatives of the European institutions and express their views on important European issues as well as on legislative proposals. It should also be possible to organize online surveys on this platform.

By creating a system of local EU advisers, in order to bring European institutions closer to European citizens.

By periodically bringing together citizens' assemblies, on a legally binding basis of Union law. If the institutions do not take into account the conclusions of these assemblies, they will have to justify their decision.

By providing reinforced structural support, financial or otherwise, to civil society, in particular youth, and local authorities to set up local youth councils;

By Putting in place “youth scrutiny” of legislation, which would include impact assessment and a mechanism for consulting youth representatives, when legislation is likely to have an impact on young people.

A common European identity

By guaranteeing a minimum volume of education on the European Union, in particular its democratic processes, without neglecting the history of European integration and European citizenship.

Special efforts should be made to reach out to young people on social media, but also through youth movements and various 'ambassadors' (organizations and individuals) who explain the European project

The EU and its Member States should focus on the specific needs of young people in all relevant EU policies, in order to provide them with the best possible conditions to study and work and start an independent life, while engaging in democratic life and decision-making processes:

By providing young people with more opportunities for participation and representation in democratic and decision-making processes at all levels and support existing programs in this area, in particular by organizing citizens' panels with children (for example, aged 10 to 16 ) in schools.

By granting of the right to vote from the age of 16 in elections to the European Parliament, in parallel with a reinforcement of education in citizenship and on the EU, would deserve to be debated and considered.

By better preparing young people to enter working life, give high school students (from 12 years old) the opportunity to participate in quality observation visits to companies or non-profit organizations, in order to allow young people to have a first contact with the world of work in order to be able to guide their professional choices and/or to consider becoming an entrepreneur.

By ensuring that traineeships and jobs for young people meet quality standards, including remuneration, by ending minimum wages for young people and any other discriminatory labor law provisions specific to young people, as well as by prohibiting unpaid internships.

By guaranteeing young people a reasonable standard of living, including access to social protection and housing. Young people should have access to a level of social protection equivalent to that of other age groups. Young people's access to affordable housing should also be facilitated, including through EU funding.

I wish you the best for your life and for your future.

Mr Secretary General,

Mrs President of the General Assembly,

Excellencies, Ambassadors and Representatives of the Diplomatic Corps,

Dear teachers,

Dear colleagues,

Dear sponsors,

August 1963, 60 years ago, Martin Luther King pronounced is famous sentence “I have a dream”, calling for an end to racism. Has racism stopped since? Unfortunately, no, but his dream to fight inequalities for African Americans remained and inspired future generations. He did not find a solution to racism, but he is remembered today for defending peace and equality.

18 years before King’s speech, in a world left in ruins because of the Second World War, representatives of 50 countries gathered to the first United Nations Conference. Their goal was also to provide peace and equality in order to avoid another war. Did they prevent the wars in Vietnam, Iraq or Ukraine? Unfortunately, no, but their dream was and still is to make our world safer, freer and more democratic.

Since the creation of the United Nations and Martin Luther King’s speech, we have made progress towards peace and equality and there is probably no better example than the dream of 27 countries working together to create a Union, the European Union, in which their citizens can move, talk and live freely without the threat of being arrested or killed. It is the closest achievement to live in a peaceful and equal society.

However, a dream is, by essence, unreachable. As close as it can be from our reality, a dream always hits us hard when we wake up. Today, we open our eyes on a reality we wish not to see. Today, it is not enough to dream, it is important to set up realistic goals together in order to globally fight a harsh reality. After the migrants’ crises, the Covid-19 pandemic, the environmental disasters, the war between Russia and Ukraine… our global resolutions must still be to fight inequalities in many countries of the world: may it be racial, religious, or economic. Today, those elements of reality are the ones you, dear students, have chosen to look in the eyes. During these three days, your debates will be focused on “combatting intolerance and discrimination against people based on religion or belief”, you will “address the economic impacts of human actions on climate change”, you will tackle “the risk of escalation in the Eastern European conflict” and you will “deal with extreme poverty caused by the several recent crises”. Like Martin Luther King in 1963, you all have a dream coming here: to find realistic solutions to our reality through the path of diplomacy, as did the representatives of the United Nations in 1945. So, in 2023, in Namur, your dream is to be united in solidarity for peace and equality.

Dear students... I’m sorry to tell you that you will probably not find solutions to all your dreams. However, I am convinced that you will do your best to inspire others to find their dreams and fight for them. As you know now, our world is made of people who had a dream and who fought to make it come true; and the dream of living in a better world, in peace and equality, has never been closer in the History of Humanity. Surely not today, probably not tomorrow yet, but one day, through the inspiration you will give to others, your dreams will become true.

To conclude, I’m proud to stand in front of you today as the general coordinator of the very first MUN conference for students in secondary school in Wallonia. It also started with “I have a dream” a couple of years ago. Inspired by other motivated colleagues and students in Slovakia and Poland, I was eager to create a place for all of you to debate freely and peacefully, exchanging your solutions and your dreams for the future, here, in Belgium, at the heart of Europe, here in Namur, in the premises of the Belgian democracy, the Parliament of Wallonia. It is important to say that it has also been made possible to gather all of you here thanks to the European Commission and their Erasmus+ Program which celebrated 35 years of existence last year.

Furthermore, I also want to take the time to thank each and every person who has participated to the realisation of this project. First of all, the Parliament of Wallonia for the use of their premisses, which cannot bring our simulation closer to reality. Secondly, our sponsors: la Ville de Namur for the gifts in your bags, Le Nid, and Monsieur Jean Lemaitre representing the Roho Marc Derluyn Foundation, aiming to promote collaboration, teaching and training projects in the field of health and medicine worldwide. I also want to thank everyone who was involved in the preparation of this conference or supported it. Thirdly, the conference wouldn’t exist without the motivation and participation of my colleagues from Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, Morocco, Poland, Slovakia and Spain, and the colleagues who prepared their students at home in their countries and also those who are not in the room today. Your trust made me believe that this conference could safely take off. I also want to thank the board of my school Monsieur Paul Leblanc and Madame Céline Brijs for giving it its wings. Finally, my team of students and teachers at the Institute of la Providence, you are the co-pilots of this adventure, and without you nothing would have been possible.

Dear students, I hope you are ready to fly high above the clouds of reality to build a better future. The future of your dreams. I wish you fruitful debates.