From 11 to 12 April, students of the Faculty of International Relations of the Belarusian State University took part in the Belarusian Model United Nations (MUN), which was organized together with the UN Office (UNO) in Minsk.

This year’s MUN encompassed the momentum of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), 1,000 days of action, and the International Day of Water Cooperation.

“Water is one of the issues of the Millennium Development Goals. It was amazing to come together as one world and agree on these goals to eradicate poverty and deal with various economic and social issues”, said Sanaka Samarasinha, UN Resident Coordinator in Belarus in his address at the opening of the Model UN.

For the 2013 simulation, the Faculty has also chosen the Security Council discussions on the situation in North Korea, specifically “Non-proliferation: Democratic People’s Republic of Korea”.

During discussions about the Post-2015 agenda, the participants cast their vote on specially prepared cards made by the MY World global survey.

Model UN at the Belarusian State University has been operational at the Faculty of International Relations for 15 years, and is the oldest in the country. During this period, more than 20 UN Models with hundreds of students have been organized.

In Belarus from 3 to 4 April, the Brest State University held, with the support of the UN Office (UNO) in Minsk and the National Nongovernmental Association for Human Rights, the National Research and Methodology Seminar "Key Mechanisms of Human Rights Protection and Enforcement".

The seminar aimed to increase public awareness on the essential role of human rights institutions and to cultivate recommendations regarding their development and establishment in Belarus.

In attendance were professors of human rights and civil society as well as representatives of national institutions of higher education, public officials, international and nongovernmental organizations and research centers.

In his address, UNO’s Victor Radivinovski emphasized that in its Resolution 65/207 of 21 December 2010, the UN General Assembly encouraged Member States to "to develop and conduct, as appropriate, outreach activities at the national level, in collaboration with all relevant stakeholders, in order to raise awareness of the important role of the Ombudsman, mediator and other national human rights institutions”. He underscored that the seminar “aptly reflects the essence of the Resolution – raising the interest and awareness of both decision-makers and the public about the important role of the national human rights institutions".

Since 2009, the inter-university (national) research and methodology seminar of professors of human rights and civil society issues has been held under the auspices of the BSU Politology and Sociology Department.  During that time, sessions have been conducted on:  "Training human rights in establishments of higher learning: experience, problems, prospects", "Experience, methodology, problems with learning the European Convention on the Protection of Human Rights and Basic Freedoms and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union ", "Enhancement of the system of human rights learning", and "Civil society as a medium for implementing human rights".

To celebrate World Water Day, the UN Office (UNO) Minsk jointly with the National Scientific and Technical Library held a seminar in the form of a scientific café "Cooperation in the field of water management and natural water quality assessment in Belarus".

In attendance were experts of the Belarusian Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection, Central Research Institute for Complex Use of Water Resources, National Center for Radiation Control and Environmental Monitoring, Belarusian National Technical University, International NGO "Partnership EcoProject", and the UNDP Project "Management of the Niemen River basin with account of adaptation to climate change".

After the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio +20), the UN has been holding open-ended consultations to establish the priorities of people post-2015.  Water was identified as one of the 11 thematic areas of these consultations.  

To achieve the global objectives of future sustainable development, effective management of water resources is imperative.

“It will not be an overstatement to say that the recent presentations made by water management experts from international, public and non-governmental organizations may be deemed as Belarus' contribution to the process of national consultations on the development agenda post- 2015”, stated UNO’s Victor Radivinovski in his opening speech.

The scientific café was co-organized by the UNO, the State Committee for Science and Technologies of the Republic of Belarus and National Scientific and Technical Library in commemoration of the World Water Day and International Year of Water Cooperation. 

Open Doors Day was held in the Conference Hall of the UN Office (UNO) Minsk for International Relations students in Belarus.

 Thirty students of the International Relations Faculty of the Belarusian State University were addressed by UNO’s Officer-in-Charge; Programme Associate Representative of UNHCR; Operations Officer of UNDP; and Public Relations Specialist of UNDP Biodiversity Project. 

During the briefing, the students were informed about the activities carried out by the UN system agencies and the UN short-term priorities. 

Students also shared their visions of post-2015 development and  took part in off-line voting within the UN Global Campaign "MY World", identifying six key issues of utmost concern for the youth.