UN Student Issue 1 – June 2007 (pdf)

Welcome to the first issue of UN Student – the Cambridge University United Nations Association magazine!
We would like to thank all our contributors. Though our publication obviously remains in its infancy, we are looking to improve and expand, and would love to hear from prospective editors, writers and designers. Please don’t hesitate to contact us with your thoughts.

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NEW WORLD – see page 39

Busy times for UNYSA!

Hello and welcome to Newer World. I hope you have had a brilliant term at school or university and an excellent holiday. These are truly busy times for UNYSA. Since being appointed UNA-UK’s Campaigns and Education Officer at the start of October 2006, I have been in touch with all 23 university-based UNYSAs and model UN societies. It appears that you have been up to exciting things!

Many of you attended the launch of UNA-UK’s annual parliamentary lobby on UN Day on 24 October, and many branches organised their own UN Day events; others ran programmes to mark World AIDS Week in December. Brunel University UNYSA has been raising money for an orphanage in Sierra Leone, and Edinburgh University UNYSA held a ceilidhto raise funds for itself and attract new members. An international model UN was held at Oxford University in November and another took place at Sussex University from 5 to 7 January 2007. Cambridge University now boasts one of the most active UNYSAs – read about its activities below.

New UNYSAs are being set up at Kingston, London Metropolitan and Leicester Universities. We hope to make a big push to increase the number of branches in the New Year. If you are a student at a school or university which does not have a UNYSA, do get in touch and I can help you to set one up. If you are already a member of a UNYSA, let me know what you are planning for the rest of the year. I can be reached on 020 7766 3459 or rusling@una.org.uk

On behalf of the Youth Council, have a very enjoyable and productive 2007!

Mark Rusling

UNA-UK Campaigns and Education Officer

UNA-‘OK’ in Cambridge

Kai Yuen Wong is the founder and President of Cambridge University UNA.

The Cambridge University United Nations Association (CUUNA) was founded in May 2006 and was launched in October that same year. Since then we have gone from strength to strength and now have over 550 members and associates. We were active during freshers’ week, hosting a stall at the freshers’ fair and recruiting new members. We aim to involve students in the future of the UN, in support for its Charter and in the work of its various agencies by organising campaigns, social events, academic trips and speaker meetings.

All of our campaigns emphasise the Millennium Development Goals. We participated in the Global Call for Action against Poverty’s ‘Stand Up’ event on 15-16 October, which saw over 23 million people around the world literally stand up to show their solidarity with the world’s poorest and to call on governments to fulfil their MDG pledges. The scale and nature of the initiative was unprecedented, and was described as the “largest single coordinated movement of people in the history of the Guinness Book of World Records”.

To round off our work in supporting the Global Call, we organised our own ‘White Band Day’ event on 17 October – the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty – with our first social of the term: a formal meal at which everyone had to wear their white bands. In celebration of UN Day on 24 October we hosted an ‘international meal night’, where everyone brought a dish from their home country. At our ‘Christmas Poverty Dinner’ the minority of guests were given a ‘rich’ dinner while the majority were served a ‘poor’ one, as a reminder of the uneven distribution of income in the world.

As the UK is one of the few countries which do not officially recognise Universal Children’s Day on 20 November, we decided to do something to increase awareness about the day and its aims. Students raised money for UNICEF by dressing up in keeping with the theme of childhood – this included anything from cartoon characters to school uniforms. In 2007, we are planning our first UN study tour to the UN in Geneva. Closer to home, we also intend to host a series of speakers and launch our very own publication. Do browse our website – www.cuuna.org – for a better look at CUUNA in action!