KaMUN – The Black Forest Summit 2019

Honourable prospective Directors, Delegates and Guests,

The revolution in information, communications and remote sensing technology exemplifies the impact of a single technological revolution on virtually every aspect of international relations.

The operational processes of the International System, namely the United Nations, sustains the clearest and most direct impact of knowledge technology. The web has empowered individuals, institutions and non-governmental organizations to gain access to an immense load of information but also easily circulate this information worldwide. However it is not notable that this capacity has become a privilege to everybody, including this that will utilize it to serve their personal purposes such as terrorists, drug traffickers and various criminal networks. This development has given a new face to international threat. Nonetheless, new technology has resulted in faster and more efficient collection and communication of knowledg and information, and has allowed information to be gathered in antecedently inaccessible regions and communicated to inaccessible audiences.

Except in hermetically sealed countries like North Korea and Myanmar, it’s become
virtually impossible to deny people from gaining know-how from individual all around the planet. The mass media and therefore the web have greatly accelerated the pace of international events. Political or financial crises that accustomed, take months to develop and currently unfold in days. People learn of world events instantly as their governments, giving officials very little time to investigate, to border problems and to form agendas. This has dramatically altered the conduct of war, diplomacy, policy formation, propaganda, and crisis management.

The pervasive mutual influences of science, technology and diplomacy, and
their importance to world governance, justify the need to “mainstream” the growing organism of technology in the various aspects of diplomacy within the 21st century. And the interrelation of the aforementioned fields is still largely ignored, or at best are subsumed in larger topics like proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, terrorism, globalization, environment, or the rise of the mass media.
This has unfortunate effects on the discipline of international affairs and it shows in diplomats and officials of international secretariats, as a result tending to neglect the scientific and technological dimension of their work.

The time has come for science, technology and international affairs interconnectivity to be recognized, to be entrusted to specialists and less isolated from the primary actor of international diplomacy and policy making, the United Nations. Science and technology not solely perforate the problems with that the United Nations are faced upon, but also have an elementary influence on the design of the system itself. For this reason, it’s of crucial importance that the interdependence of international relations and technological and scientific development become a part of the thought of the analysis, observation and debate of international affairs.

Though it might appear simple to return to terms with what’s sure to become an excellent additional necessary dimension of diplomacy and world governance, it is a demanding challenge to introduce technology to various already multifaceted socio-economic issues as it requires the query of a very thin line between ethics, sustainability and practicality that technological means aim to procure. Hence, we want to focus on humanitarian, environmental, financial and security topics that encompass the involvement of new technologies, asking ourselves all along how to maintain peace and create a world that all of humanity wants to live in.

UNHCR, CSTD, ECOSOC, UNFCCC, UNSC and the JCC will be faced upon the task to detect this equilibrium that will discuss the aforementioned question and we are very much looking forward to welcome you at KAMUN 2018 to discuss these issues and come up with viable solutions together. Bring your energy and enthusiasm for worldly topics to Karlsruhe again and be part of this wonderful conference.

Onwards,

Jonas Bruns
Secretary-General KaMUN – The Black Forest Summit 2019