Special Conference 2008

Committee Guide

This year in the Special Conference we decided to concentrate on the democratic process. Both our topics centralise on different aspects of this topic. The democratic process of a country is very important to us, because only with a democratic government can the interests of the people be fully satisfied.

Developing Monitoring Systems to Ensure the Democratic Process is an essential step in the democratic process. The formulation of the topic integrates the different aspects there are to monitoring. With this topic we are able to specialize on NGO-monitoring functions, governmentally controlled monitoring systems, as well as monitoring by UN organs or other organisations. These steps are vital to keep transparency in national affairs, so that the democratic process can be ensured.

Transparency is also a very important part of the topic of Fighting Corruption: A Threat to Democracy. Corruption is a great problem in our world today. It fundamentally hinders the democratic functioning of nations. Corruption is especially a problem that concerns the huge amounts of developmental aid that are actually going into the wrong hands, and thus plummeting the nations into a deeper financial hole.

Guest Speaker

Jan Philipp Albrecht is currently the federal spokesman of the Green Youth (part of Germany's Green Party). He studies law in Berlin.

Introduction of the Chairs

Dear BALMUN Participants,

I have the honour to serve as President of the Special Conference at this year’s first annual BALMUN Conference. I am 18 years old and currently attend the 11^th grade at the John F. Kennedy School in Berlin. Other than going to school and participating in MUN, I enjoy long-distance running, playing jazz piano and reading.

My first MUN Conference experience was as the delegate of Chad in the ECOSOC at BERMUN 2006. It was a great experience and opened my eyes to many new ideas and problems that our world faces today. This conference will be my sixth MUN conference since joining the program in tenth grade.

I look forward to meeting the outstanding delegates and hearing their perspectives on the issue we will be discussing this year. I hope that you will take the chance to speak up and let your voice be heard and that this BALMUN Conference and the Special Conference will be as memorable for you as my first conference was for me.

Looking forward to meeting you in May,

David Newbrander
President of the Special Conference

Fellow BALMUN participants,

At this year’s first annual BALMUN conference, I will be the Deputy President of the Special Conference. I go to the John F. Kennedy School in Berlin, where I am in 11^th grade. I am 17 years old. Outside of school and MUN I play tennis, guitar and love to socialise.

BALMUN will be my 6^th MUN conference, my 3^rd conference as a chair. I began to get interested in MUN after the BERMUN2 conference in 2007. Since then MUN has been my political outlet, I feel able to discuss with people on a high level.

Especially as I am actually not so long part of the MUN program, I understand many problems delegates have, and I am looking forward to meet you and hopefully being a help. I hope you are as enthusiastic for the conference as I am, this also being my first time being in the Special Conference.

See you in May,

Nicholas Erb
Deputy President of the Special Conference