Category: FERMUN 2016

If you understand French you can watch the replay of this very interesting TV program . They talk about the reform of the SC, terrorism, migrations…

The replay is available for a few days, watch it!  Link here

We finally published them… here

After a long registration process, we can now confirm that 40 schools from 18 countries will participate in FerMUN 2016. Read more here.

On October 24th at 3.00 pm room VIII there will be a debate at UNOG organized by FerMUN on the following theme:

What can the civil society, private actors, governments as well as transnational organizations do to avoid wastefulness?

Students from”Ingénieurs du Monde”, EPFL, will take part in the debate by presenting concrete projects that are implemented in developing countries.

Main discussion subjects (15-20 minutes each):

• How to sustainably renew global agriculture and reduce alimentary waste?
• How to use energy (both thermal and electric) in a more effective manner and releasing as little CO₂  as possible?
• How to reduce Greenhouse gases subsequent on global steel, cement and aluminium production?

“He climbed aboard the frigate, […] aware that a fight was about to take place and that men, on the bulging back of the sea, are nothing”

(Eldorado, Laurent Gaudé, Babel, page 71)

Who is the figure hidden behind this “he”? Is it Salvatore Piracci, commanding officer of an Italian warship whose mission is to look after the citadel Europe against the repeated assaults of the sea? Or might it be Soleiman, storming the European forteress in a frail skiff, taking with him visions of his past life, taking with him the unwavering hope of a better life, far from the poverty and terror of his home country?

Nothing indicates such a departure. Salvatore strolls around in an Italian market. Daily gestures continuously repeated, the sale of fish, the purchase of a certain species rather than another, trite discussions… Words and sentences thrown out through open outcries, that gain bit by bit a symbolic importance. (“So officer, we were touched by a ghost?”, page 11) Then, a figure comes to disrupt the spirit of the soldier, a familiar figure. A main figure in the book, who casts doubts in the functional spirit of our officer. This doubt, which will chase him throughout the book, will also be the starting point of a wholly different journey …

On the other side of the sea, Soleiman drinks his last coffee, in the last bistro that he will go to on his home continent. He shares his last glances, his last sighs, his last words also with his brother Jamal. Then, a mad race, a car that ran out of gas which concludes the feeling of liberty, and we have to go back on the road. Crossing the border to Libya and (perhaps is it not as easy) board the makeshift boat, with unknown fellow travelers but who share the same Destiny and the same dreams.

Organised into very short scenes grouped into seven chapters, into seven acts, the book allows the reader to gravitate around symbolic sites: the Catane, Lampedusa, Ghardaïa, Al-Zuwarah. Sites described with a lifeblood, that outlines every landscapes, the shadow of a tree on the African coasts, the sound of waves running ashore on the Italian lands, the tribulations of travelers atop the bitter abysses.

We recognize the author’s privileged themes, already tackled in his novels and theatre plays. Remember the theme of exile, particularly explored in Le Soleil des Scorta. (Babel, pages 92-93 and following) We could also risk a historical parallel between the transatlantic journeys of the XIX-XXth centuries and the trans-Mediterranean journeys of the beginning of this XXIst century. Parallel that could confirm the poem of Emma Lazarus, graved unto the stoned pedestal of the Statue of Liberty.

“[…] Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

Will Europe be, as was she, capable of lifting her lamp beside the golden door?

But remember also the omnipresence of death, presented in Le Tigre Bleu de l’Euphrate (Babel, pages 138-139), theme explored once again in the book.

Reading such a book in today’s context turns out to be extremely insightful, the realism being so strong and the presented figures being so human. We learn from it the daily lives of the men of the sea, those who navigate through it in safety to save – and the word is not too strong – the surcharged rowing boats, the ships crumbling under the weight of the refugees’ hopes.

The intertwined destinies of characters evolving in the big Mediterranean fresco, Eldorado is one of those books whose intrigue and style are remarkable, and that we close – not without a certain sorrow – thinking that “here is the fight of night and day…”

Journalist : Pierre SIBUT-BOURDE

Translator : John GORDON

The registration meeting will be on Wednesday, September 23rd at 2.30 pm or 3.30 pm room 104. If you are in Seconde and if you would like to join MUN, please come to one of the two meetings. Before the meeting you need to register and send a motivation letter.

More information here

June 23rd

We received a high number of candidates for committee chairs. During this morning’s meeting, chairs from external schools were selected. MUN directors of the following schools will be contacted very soon:

• Externat Notre Dame Grenoble
• Pierre Termier Grenoble
• Victor Hugo Colomiers
• Fénelon Grasse
• Lycée de Bellevue Martinique
• Eötvös József Secondary School Hungary
• Massignon Morocco
• Arsakeio Lykeio of Thessaloniki Greece
• St Joseph Turkey

More information under conference/Registration

Dear Delegates, Participants, MUN Directors,

It is our great pleasure to announce that FerMUN 2016, the sixth session of the Model United Nations conference organised by the Lycée International de Ferney-Voltaire will take place this upcoming January in Geneva.

We are extremely grateful to be hosted by the World Meteorological Organisation and the World Trade Organisation at their headquarters, on January 13, 14 and 15 of 2016, where we will debate on the theme of International Migration and Development. This has been enabled in recent years by the opening up of international organisations to the youth, as Kofi-Annan once said: “Let us ensure that all young people have every opportunity to participate fully in the lives of their societies”. FerMUN is our attempt to seize this occasion, in order to show that we truly are “the forefront of global change and innovation”.

At FerMUN, we believe in the power of diversity. We believe that every participant, no matter what language they speak or what social background they come from, can add to the rewarding experiences that are MUN conferences. This is why we work hard to allow English and French-speaking delegates to exchange ideas freely by making FerMUN a fully bilingual conference, thanks to our interpretation and translation teams, of which you can be part of. Furthermore, throughout the year, we raise funds to make this conference accessible to a range of pupils from our own public school, and this year we are hoping to extend this support to students around the world.

In continuation of those basic principles of social equality and justice, we believe we must face and understand the reality of those whose most basic rights are being baffled everyday: migrants. At FerMUN 2016, you will be able to comprehend the source of international migration, whether it is social, economic, environmental, political or even health-related, and debate potential solutions. Those same rights which are so often cruelly denied to migrants around the world, have also a proclaimed enemy: terrorism. As future citizens, we cannot remain passive in front of such brutality and horror that topples civilisation.  We hope to find effective solutions through a special conference, run in parallel, which will consist of defining organisations that shape the military reality of our world: NATO, the Arab League and the African Union.

The first 15 years of the 21st century have already been defining for humanity. It is now our turn, as the youth of today and the leaders of tomorrow, to begin facing the challenges we will be confronted to. We believe that FerMUN can be the start of that change, the change we need.

On behalf of the entire FerMUN 2016 team, we truly look forward to seeing you come January, and in the meantime, we send you our warmest regards,

“FerMUN 2016; The Change we need.”

Kilian Bartsch
Secretary General

Sara Luzzatto
Deputy Secretary General