Cesar Guedes-Ferreyros
During the fourth annual AISMUN conference, Atlanta International School’s yearly Model United Nations Conference, we were honored to welcome Cesar Guedes-Ferreyros as our inaugural speaker to kick off the event. Mr Guedes, presenting from the prestigious hotel Metropole in Hanoi, spoke about many topics during his speech, relating his work experience and past UN roles with our offered Model United Nations committees.
This year's Model United Nations conference hosted over 130 students from 7 schools (Including AIS) offering committees for Middle and High School delegates. Mr Guedes not only offered inspiration in his speech to all the delegates but also offered insight into the practical and real-life implications of the topics being discussed in the committees.
One underlying topic of Mr Guedes' speech was sustainable energy and climate change. He warned of the negative effects of high greenhouse gas emissions and promoted the need for renewable energy. He also mentioned the disparity between privileged and underprivileged countries, stating that sub-Saharan Africa will be impacted the most out of any region in the world. In addition, Mr Guedes honored the number of environmental activists assassinated for speaking out against the issue but also encouraged all to take action and make changes to better their environment and their world. He offered much inspiring and relevant information, connecting to four of AISMUN’s offered committees (European Union, ECOSOC, WHO, IAEA) which aimed to tackle global warming and climate change and promote sustainable energy worldwide.
Extending on the previous topic, Mr Guedes spoke on the topic of global warming and climate change’s effects on world heritage sites. He referenced the cultural and historical importance of world heritage sites and antiquities and how it give us insight into past civilizations and human history as a whole. He also spoke on the dangerous weather events, floods, dissertations, and deterioration of these important cultural sites. He tied this topic in with AISMUN’s UNESCO committee where delegates debated on the topic of protecting antiquities and historical sites from natural disasters.
Near the end, Mr Guedes began to speak about his career in international relations and world politics. He spoke on his experience as elected UNODC country director for Afghanistan, Bolivia, Mozambique, and Pakistan, and his roles in combating national and transnational organized crime as well as corruption in order to bring balance and order to those affected by these acts. “I did so not only in La Paz, Islamabad, Maputo, or Kabul but also in UN HQ locations such as Vienna, Bonn, Geneva, and New York to reach agreements on these treacherous topics and move forward with multilateral creative and sustainable solutions in the framework of UN Protocols and Conventions,” says Mr Guedes.
He then offered words of encouragement to the delegates before ending his speech. All in all, we here at AIS were delighted to have Mr Guedes as our guest speaker and we hope his speech offered our delegates much insight into the world of international relations.
