“We are only as strong as we are united” – the theme of Bramun 2020
Two Nations students earned special awards for their contribution to the Brazilian Model United Nations (BRAMUN) XVIII. Daniel Rêgo, Grade 10, won the Outstanding Position Paper award, and Otávio Barboza, Grade 12, won the award for Outstanding Essay!
Bramun 2020, originally scheduled for March 25–29, 2020, at the Costa do Sauípe resort in Bahia was canceled because of the pandemic. Nonetheless, the Bramun leadership committee evaluated the position papers from participating student-delegations and student essays.
Every year students research and write position papers to prepare for Bramun. Like a debate, a position paper presents one side of an arguable opinion about an issue. In Model United Nations, the goal of a position paper is to convince other student-delegates that the position of the country you represent is valid and defensible.
Daniel Rêgo, Grade 10, wrote three position papers as a student-delegate representing Indonesia on the United Nations Economic and Social Council. Daniel researched relevant information about Indonesia and developed arguments to address the following topics:
The impact of economic sanctions on vulnerable nations
Implementing an international standard for minimum wage
The socioeconomic impacts of automation in the job market
This year, Bramun also promoted their first essay contest among student-delegates. Students submitted their essays in response to the following question: “How are moral divisions shaping society in the 21st century?”
In his award-winning essay, Otávio Barboza, Grade 12, writes about how he sees moral divisions as products of a lack of dialogue and blind intolerance. He then calls on society to look within and to play an active role in fighting divisions based on anger and hatred.
“It's okay to feel angry, but it's not okay to hate others. It's okay to feel divided, but not against your fellow man. The moral divisions of the 21st century can be the incubator of a beautiful, transcendental revolution, but for that, we need to organize ourselves. We can shape society; we can shape the century…” — Otávio Barboza