This year, the ninth session of the Bangladesh Model United Nations (BANMUN) conference, BANMUN 2017, took place at the Udayan Higher Secondary School premises  in Dhaka city from July 01 to July 04 with around 600 high school students and youths from across the country. The theme was 'Sustainable Development Goals and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights'. The uniqueness of the conference is that this Model United Nations (MUN) is only for the high school and college going students. This MUN is also the oldest MUN in Bangladesh.
What makes the MUN special compared to the other youth conferences is that it ensures that the participants are getting the floor for maximum time to speak and argue under the decorum of the United Nations. This helps them improve their public speaking and negotiation skills. It is a platform where students turn into delegates for four-days and keep negotiating for the rights of their nation according to the agenda.
The opening ceremony of the conference was attended by former ambassador of Bangladesh to United States of America M Humayun Kabir and the Director General of foreign ministry's UN Wing Sadia Faizunnesa.
The inaugural session was followed by a workshop. In his keynote speech, Syed Saikh Imtiaz,  chairman of Department of Women and Gender Studies of the University of Dhaka and also the founder of United Nations Youth and Students Associations of Bangladesh (UNYSAB), focused on the sexual and reproductive healths and rights.
After the workshop, the delegates attended the committee sessions. The agenda was designed with a view to engaging the students on the theme of the conference and  finding the solutions to the problems they face in their daily lives.
BANMUN 2017 ended with a closing ceremony. The state minister for power, energy and mineral resources Nasrul Hamid, Member of Parliament (MP) and Naimur Rahman, MP chaired as the chief guests for the closing ceremony. The special guest was Khurshid Alam, acting country director of UNDP. Mohammad Mamun Mia, the president of UNYSAB, acted as the secretary general of the conference.

The writer is studying BBA at University of Dhaka. He can be reached at orthodox.shatil@gmail.com [Read More]

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Source: The Financial Express