The venue of the seventh annual THIMUN Qatar Conference during the official launching ceremony at QNCC yesterday. Pic: Kammutty V P / The Peninsula
DOHA: The seventh annual THIMUN Qatar conference opened yesterday involving more than 1,300 Model United Nation (MUN) local, regional and international students.
The three-day event being held at the Qatar National Convention Centre was officially launched with a colourful flags procession.
The theme of seventh THIMUN Qatar is ‘Gender Equality and Empowerment for Women and Girls,’ inspired by the United Nation’s (UN’s) Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5.
During the opening session, a powerful keynote speech was delivered by Trisha Shetty, Founder and CEO of SheSays India, a youth-led NGO with a focus on youth and civil society engagement to promote gender equality.
Trisha Shetty, Founder and CEO of SheSays India, a youth-led NGO
She stressed on the urgent need to address gender equality in line to achieve the remaining 16 SDGs. Trisha, urged the audience to make three commitments in regard with gender equality, and pledge to show up and speak in solidarity, be resilient and be an active citizen and translate commitments into action.
“Make a pledge to leave no one behind,” she said. In conclusion Trisha requested the audience to switch on the light of their mobile phones as a gesture of support to gender equality.
Several diplomats also attended the opening ceremony, including Roberto Abdalla, Ambassador of Brazil in Qatar, Eric Chevallier, Ambassador of France in Qatar and Dr Bahia Tahzib-Lie, Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Qatar, who also addressed the audience.
Additionally, as part of the opening ceremony, Sandev Ferdinando, Secretary-General, THIMUN Qatar in his welcoming speech highlighted the successes such as the HELA, a NGO formed in 2015, that promotes student leadership and Model United Nations in Afghanistan.
He also stressed on the need for realisation and action to promote gender equality.
During the conference, participants will engage in a simulation of the UN, taking on roles as diplomats to discuss and debate international issues in order develop solutions to some of the greatest challenges facing the global community. Students will also be given the opportunity to participate in a variety of committees.
A key aspect of this year’s conference is MUN Impact. The program will serve as a hub for sharing stories of impactful MUN activities, best practices, and ways to support, through action, the SDGs.
THIMUN Qatar’s Regional Office was created as a joint project between Qatar Foundation’s (QF’s) Qatar Academy schools and the THIMUN Foundation, an affiliation program designed to develop high quality MUN conferences around the world.
