The closing ceremony of the 3rd Panhellenic Student Simulation of United Nation’s Committees for Human Rights ‘Students in the role of a Diplomat’, took place at the Convention Centre ‘Ioannis Vellidis’.
The main presentation of the event was assigned to the representative of the organization’s body, Mr. Panagiotis Podiotis and the journalist of the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (AMNA), Mrs Nicole Kazantzidou, who thanked the guests and especially the Member of the European Paliament, Mrs Maria Spiraki for her offer, that gave the chance to 6 students to visit the institutions of European Union in Brussels.
When the floor was yielded to Mrs Spiraki, she emphasized the importance of young people engaging with the public affairs and by addressing the head of the simulation, who is an advocate of the Greek language, recommended that ‘the next simulation, might take place in English’. Later, the floor was yielded to the Deputy Minister of Environment and Energy, Mr Socrates Famellos, who, by expressing his admiration for the existence of active citizens at such a young age, mentioned that ‘the biggest threat to this existence is our persistence not to move away from the loneliness of our sofa and social media. Right after, the time had come for Mrs Katerina Notopoulou, Minister of Macedonia and Thrace, to talk about the climate change (the 13th of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the UN) and its repercussions at ‘this world’s poorest nations’ and before the end of her speech she didn’t fail to congratulate the president of the science committee, Mrs Paroula Naskou-Peraki, and the professors-escorts of the students. Afterwards, Mr Damianos Seferidis from the office of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, mentioned that he was impressed by ‘the eloquence and cooperation of the participants’ and added that ‘the UN High Commissioner is not an impersonal institution, but it is all of us’. Of course, the presenters thanked the Bar Association of Thessaloniki for covering costs of participation fees of the student group from the Greek School of Argyrocastro.
Finally, Mrs Peraki expressed her emotion for the various opinions that were heard from each one of the students and announced that the Committee’s records, after personal examination, ‘will be sent to the PR minister the President of Democracy and the rest institutions to show what kind of children we have here’. Moreover, she, as a professor, congratulated the teachers for their work, the parents, the organizing committee, the students, the university students and the press team.
Right before the closing, the awards for the Best Diplomat of the Committee were given to the students from the guests who joined the floor earlier.
Leave a Reply