Dear Delegates of the SOCHUM,
Welcome to the 2025 BERMUN conference!
The theme of this year's BERMUN conference is “Building a Rules-Based Order to Withstand Authoritarianism”. Rules and guidelines are established in order to regulate the distribution of power across the international community. However it is clear today that these rules are being challenged, as autocratic governments increasingly defy international norms. Forging rules based doctrines and policies can be essential to, not only to resisting authoritarian influence, but also to promoting accountability, cooperation, and lasting international stability across the globe.
In line with this, this year's SOCHUM committee will address important issues of identity, bureaucracy, and immigrant rights. The topics of our committee, “Implementing the 1951 Refugee Convention and 1967 Protocol Status on Refugees” and “Encouraging the Political Integration and Representation of Minorities”, highlight the importance of understanding the bureaucratic processes involved in determining the statuses of immigrants and refugees. These discussions are vital to be able to foster sustainable and safe immigration practices. I hope to see the topics meaningfully debated and thoughtfully discussed at this year's SOCHUM committee.
On a more personal note, I am 17, British-Portuguese, and I lived in England before moving to Germany when I was 9. So far I speak 4 languages, English, German, Spanish and Portuguese, I look forward to learning many more. In my free time I enjoy reading, hanging out with friends and of course taking active part in my school's MUN.
It is such a pleasure to be one of the chairs of this year's SOCHUM committee! I have been active in MUN for around two years, and this BERMUN will be my fourth conference in total, and first as a student officer.
I look forward to seeing all of you in November!
Sincerely,
Amélia Clark Silva
