Dear Delegates,
Welcome to this year's 2025 BERMUN SpC!
In light of this year’s conference theme, “Building a Rules-Based Order to Withstand Authoritarianism”, it is imperative to recognize that it is the duty of the national government to ensure an international consensus on rules and customs to combat authoritarian, extremist, and totalitarian ideology.
To ensure the respect for a rules-based order, which is often mutually exclusive with authoritarianism, a free and fair media is often an effective way to hold governments accountable. That's why the SpC will be discussing “Fostering free and independent media to combat autocracy” as one of our topics. In many totalitarian states the media has been controlled by a small minority of regime friendly individuals. This is also becoming a trend in MEDCs with powerful individuals influencing traditional print media, like billionaire Jeff Bezos, who owns the Washington Post. Social media platforms like Twitter are also increasingly being controlled and monitored by the extremely wealthy elite.
On a personal note, I’m 16 years old and currently attending the John F. Kennedy School in Berlin. In my free time, I like to fence, do horseback riding, debate, go to the gym, play the drums, and hang out with friends. This BERMUN will be my thirteenth conference and my seventh time as a student officer. I hope we can all learn from each other and positively influence each other, create a respectful environment, and have a productive debate.
Sincerely,
Ilian Bordet
