Kia Ora and welcome to the second edition of the UNYANZ newsletter, Communique.

As I write, our delegation to The Hague International Model United Nations are in the midst of the conference, and have completed their study tour of Bangkok, Paris, Geneva and Amsterdam. By all reports they are doing us very proud, and are having a ball at the same time. You can keep up-to-date with their progress at their travel blog. Big ups to the THIMUN staff, Hannah, Jamie and Kitaj, for organising and facilitating an awesome trip, we look forward to having them all back soon.

I'm sure that the newly enthused THIMUN delegates will be roaring to come back and get involved in the running of New Zealand's premier youth-for-youth organisation. For those of you who are likewise interested in becoming a part of the UNYANZ administrative side, of things please keep an eye out for your local regional AGMs. I'm sure you will be hearing from your Regional Councils in regard to this very soon.

The National AGM this year will be held in conjunction with the UNYANZ 10th birthday celebrations. Those of you who have been around in the organisation for some time (and are over 18!) are cordially invited to join us for a celebration of a decade of success on the evening of Saturday the 30th of May. The AGM will likely be held on the Sunday, details on that will be forthcoming very soon.

As we embark on a new year of educating New Zealand youth about the UN and international issues, I would invite you to get involved in the plethora of activities that we have on offer, from Model UN and Model Security Council events, to international conferences, and the second annual Youth Declaration.

So even if you do nothing else this year, there are three things I would ask of you right now. One; renew your membership if you haven't already and encourage your school to sign up too (membership for schools is now free!). Two; read the rest of this newsletter and see all we have to offer. And three; visit out website www.unyanz.co.nz for a full-on perspective of our work and the opportunities we have at hand.

Matt McGrath
UNYANZ President
president@unyanz.co.nz

---

---- Regions ----

---

The 2009 Auckland Regional High Schools Model UN will be held at the University of Auckland on the weekend of 28 and 29 March. This two day conference will feature: six committees, a General Assembly plenary session on Sunday, and a social event for participants on the Saturday night. Our six committees are Human Rights Council, UN Environment Program, Disarmament Commission, UNESCO and the UN Development Program. Plus we have a special committee the ICTY (International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia) for more experienced Model UNers.We expect the 2009 event to be the biggest yet so register online now at www.unyanz.co.nz! For more information, contact Bradley Scott (the 2009 Coordinator) at aucklandmun@unyanz.co.nz.

The 2009 Youth Declaration is open to high school students nation-wide. The first ever Youth Declaration was held in Auckland last year where twelve groups of students crafted statements of belief, detailing their vision for the economic, social, cultural and political future of New Zealand, over the course of a one day conference. The fruits of their effort, compiled in the Youth Declaration document, was presented to a number of governmental and non-governmental dignitaries, including the Governor-General. 2009 will see an expanded conference as a two-day event and we want you to be one of our 2009 Youth Declaration attendees. The event will be held on Saturday and Sunday, April 19 and 20. For more information, contact Zebedee Stone at youthdeclaration@unyanz.co.nz.

Zeb Stone
Auckland President (Acting)
auckland@unyanz.co.nz

---

Wellington UNYANZ is rearing to go in 2009, with a busy few months ahead! For those heading to Victoria University this year, look out for the UNYANZ stall during Clubs Week in the Kelburn Quad. We will be there on Monday 2nd and Tuesday 3rd March as well as at Pipitea Clubs Day on Thursday 12th March. So come along to join the university club, renew your UNYANZ membership and hear about what we've got in store for University students for the rest of the year. The first event for university members, aside from the AGM, will be a social quiz night in late March, with details to be confirmed.

The Wellington AGM will be held on Monday 16th March in the Common Room in the Student Union Building at Victoria's Kelburn campus at 7pm. A new regional council will be elected for 2009, which provides a great opportunity to get more involved in UNYANZ. The AGM is for the whole of Wellington UNYANZ, not just uni students, so we encourage high school students to come along also.

Preparation for the feature high school event in the region, the Wellington Model UN is well underway. The event will take place in early April and more information will be sent out to schools and individuals closer to the time, so keep an eye out!

Mark Mulholland
Wellington President
wellington@unyanz.co.nz

---

2009 is shaping up to be one of the busiest and fulfilling years for Canterbury UNYANZ yet! Planning is underway for activities and events for both university and school students and is looking to include (but definitely isn’t limited to)...

Canterbury Model UN for high school students – the ultimate regional event if you are in Canterbury and involved in UNYANZ, the 10th and the 11th of March is when it’s happening, at the Canterbury Horticultural Centre. Capably being convened by Rupert Morris, with the support of Anton Smith and the council, this year's is looking to be one of the best and biggest conferences yet! So whether you’re a high school student wanting to be a delegate, or a university student dying to get a chance to Conference Assistant, get in touch with the organising team at canterbury@unyanz.co.nz and keep your eyes peeled for more details coming soon!

In the area of university, UNYANZ Canterbury will be enjoying its second year as an affiliated club, so come and find us on Clubs Day (we’ll be there both days, don’t worry) and get involved. This year is looking to include social events, speaker evenings and a whole lot more – so come along and get amongst it!

Also coming up is the Canterbury AGM, on the 11th March, after Canterbury Model UN (time to be confirmed, with a dinner being held afterward)… So if you’ve always wanted to run for the esteemed position of regional council, your chance has arrived! Again, more details to be posted soon – but email canterbury@unyanz.co.nz if you’ve got any questions.

That covers merely the first couple of months of this year – there is still plenty going through the planning stages. There’s something for everyone who’s keen on UNYANZ in Canterbury – make sure you make yourself known!

Erin Jackson
Canterbury President
canterbury@unyanz.co.nz

---

The Otago region had an exciting and challenging year in 2008 and we're looking forward to building on last year's successes in 2009.

We'll be keeping the traditional highlights; the ever-popular High Schools Model United Nations and an even bigger contingent of conference assistants and delegates to the National Model United Nations in Wellington. Last year the Otago team pulled off a fantastic effort in our second ever tertiary level Model Security Council. This year we hope to host an even bigger and better event.

After a year long mission to become affiliated with the Otago University Students Association, Otago UNYANZ (should) now be a fully fledged Society with the OUSA, bringing us a greater university level support base. We will also be encouraging our younger members with plans for a high school's speech competition which reaches out to the region outside Dunedin. Four of our members are currently storing up holiday pay to represent the University of Otago at this year's Harvard World Model UN in The Netherlands. They will be representing Cote d'Ivoire.

Our fearless leader, Janet Fraser, along with the majority of the council and our permanent members, will be looking forward to another year of meetings, events, challenges, successes and surprises.

We wish everyone the best with their region's work and warmly invite you to venture to the deep south to check some of them out.

Sarah Paterson
Otago Vice-President
otago@unyanz.co.nz

---

---- Features ----

---

Gina is 23 and has held numerous roles in UNYANZ, including Wellington President, National Secretary, NZ Model Security Council Coordinator and she is currently the Vice President for Organisational Policy. She has been a member of UNYANZ since 2006. A unique quirk about Gina is that unlike the majority of members, she had never been a Model UN delegate until Wellington Model Security Council 08 when she decided to act all diplomatic for the day.

In 2009 Gina is finishing off her Law degree, having completed her BA (International Relations and Political Science) in 2006, and Honours in International Relations in 2008.

And what does she want to do when she is all growed up? Oddly, for someone who has her fingers in a whole lot of pies, she is not so sure. As long as she is not stuck doing a repetitive office job with work that she is not interested in then she'll be happy. At least she has all of this year to think about it!

Gina Manning
vp.orgpolicy@unyanz.co.nz

---

UNYANZ has recently upgraded its Facebook page. As most of you already know, Facebook is capable of a great deal. Use it to keep in touch with other members, to view and share photos and videos, and to keep in touch with UNYANZ news and events.

UNYANZ On Facebook

---

---- Events ----

---

Exciting changes are coming to New Zealand Model United Nations! For those who have attended before, expect the unexpected – the committee and the national council have been working hard and have developed a new structure to ensure that delegates get the most enjoyment out of the conference and learn the most possible.

First off, we've decided to get rid of the old committees, for the reason that these did not accurately reflect the United Nations in reality. We've replaced them with the actual committees of the General Assembly; check them out here. Additionally, we've decided to reduce the number of topics to one per committee, with each delegate attending three committees. Expect to learn more about these topics, to get involved in far more engaging discussion, and to experience some intense lobbying.

We will also be expanding the size of the conference by 30 people, allowing us to introduce a Model Security Council to the conference for the first time. Being the Peace and Security arm of the United Nations, delegates here will be faced with scenarios where a quick decisions save lives. The Model Security Council will be aimed at those delegates who've had quite a bit of experience with Model UNs before and want to try something more complex. But not to worry, these delegates will also cycle through the other committees.

Dates have been confirmed for the 4th to the 7th of July in Wellington - enter that in your diaries. I'm pleased to announce that for the first time in years, our conference won't be clashing with Stage Challenge for those of you who have too many extra-curricular activities to count!

We'll have a forum up and running shortly where people can ask questions and start rubbing shoulders. We'll also have a spot for any suggestions or ideas you have for the conference. We'd love to hear from you.

Until then, if you have any questions or suggestions, do not hesitate to email either me at nzmun@unyanz.co.nz or our registrations officer, Aidan Beckett, at registrations@unyanz.co.nz.

Nigel Smith
NZMUN09 Co-ordinator
nzmun@unyanz.co.nz

---

The second annual New Zealand Model Security Council Competition will be held in Auckland this year. The Conference, UNYANZ’s cornerstone university event, is planned for three days over the first weekend of September, during the university mid-semester break. Delegations of four university students will compete in committee and plenary sessions, discussing issues of international security in simulations of the UN Security Council. The organizing committee is planning an exciting lineup of social events, and will be comprehensively rewriting the rules of procedure to ensure fair and fun and competition for all delegates. Moreover, to provide new challenges for experienced Model UN delegates, the new, fourth committee will be a crisis committee, dealing with a developing security crisis.

We encourage experienced Model UN attendees to consider leading teams or signing up for the challenging, fun, and fulfilling role of Conference Assistant (CA). We will be opening CA applications in March, and selecting them in April or May. This is a great chance to be involved in chairing and helping to organize a national event.

For delegates, team registrations will open in April, and we suggest that you don’t sleep on it then. Places are limited to fifteen delegations, and, if previous Model Security Councils are anything to go by, will fill fast. This is especially true for the five permanent members or veto powers!

Expect to hear more about the Competition over the next few months. For any inquiries now, please feel free to contact me.

David Tong
NZMSC09 Co-ordinator
nzmsc@unyanz.co.nz

---

It is less than two months until the 2009 Harvard World Model UN, currently the premier tertiary-level Model UN conference, and delegates are earnestly preparing. Eighteen delegates from our four main centres will attend as part of the UNYANZ New Zealand Universities' Delegation. Our delegation has been tasked with representing Cote d'Ivoire and Serbia in a range of committees, including the UNHCR, SOCHUM, DISEC and an Historical General Assembly. This year the HWMUN is being held in the Hague, where delegates will debate in the Peace Palace.

Preparations are well underway for a Diplomatic Study Tour which will take delegates through Hong Kong, Geneva, Paris, Amsterdam, the Hague and Los Angeles. As part of this tour, delegates will be guests at the UN Economic Commission for Europe and the International Labour Organisation. These organisations have created half-day seminars representing our delegates interests, and will afford delegates the opportunity to learn more about various practical aspects of international diplomacy.

This year's HWMUN will be bigger and better than any before. The opportunity to debate with top students from over sixty countries is unparalleled, and the committee topics will be especially stimulating. In addition to rigorous debate, the host team has organised six nights of unforgettable partying, with a distinctive cultural twist. We are excited to travel to the Netherlands and show the world how great New Zealand can be.

Sarai Cosgrove
HWMUN09 Co-ordinator
worldmun@unyanz.co.nz

---

---- Opportunities ----

---

The New Zealand National Commission for UNESCO is interested in hearing from UNYANZ members who would be interested in undertaking a unpaid internship between March - July 2009. It is expected that the Intern would contribute ten hours per week, worked around their study commitments and that their work would be based at the offices of the National Commission in Wellington.

It is expected that the Intern would have a focus on the National Commission engagement with young people, and the UNESCO Associated Schools project, however we will look to match the role with the experiences of the candidates. It is expected that one internship will be offered on a trial basis from March - July 2009, with the possibility existing that a second internship will be offered between July - December 2009.

The National Commission is aware that this internship may be able to be considered part of a formal internship programme as part of your studies. Please advise if this situation would apply to your application.

Expressions of interest should be in the form of a letter outlining your motivation for undertaking this internship, with a copy of you CV attached.

Please address your applications to Hayden Montgomerie, UNESCO Programme Officer, New Zealand National Commission for UNESCO, and emailed to hayden.montgomerie@minedu.govt.nz.

These must be received by 12:00pm on Monday 23 February.

---

Hundreds of lanterns will again light up Christchurch’s Victoria Square for two nights from Saturday to Sunday welcoming in the new Year of the Ox. Bring along your families to this free event!

---

This symposium will be hosted by the Institute of Policy Studies at the Pipitea Campus of Victoria University of Wellington, in partnership with Oxfam New Zealand, the Council for International Development and the British High Commission. It will explore what progress has been made, both globally and in the Pacific, toward achieving the MDGs, and the challenges that lie ahead. The event is free of charge and keynote speakers include Salil Shetty, Director of UN Millennium Campaign and Paul Collier, Professor of Economics, Oxford University. For more information or to register for the symposium, send your name and email address to ips@vuw.ac.nz.