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Keynote Speaker

BREAKING: We are happy to announce the guest speaker for MASUN XXVII, Noura Erakat! Noura is an assistant professor at George Mason University where she teaches in the legal studies, international studies, and human rights/social justice studies concentrations. Her scholarly interests include humanitarian law, human rights law, refugee law, and national security law. She earned her BA and JD from Berkeley Law School and her LLM in National Security from the Georgetown University Law Center. She is a Co-Founder/Editor of Jadaliyya e-zine. Prior to beginning her appointment at GMU, Noura was a Freedman Teaching Fellow at Temple Law School and has taught International Human Rights Law and the Middle East at Georgetown University since 2009.

Upon completing law school, Noura received a New Voices Fellowship to develop a litigation unit aimed at redressing Palestinian human rights claims under the Alien Tort Statute in US federal courts. She went on to serve as Legal Counsel for a Congressional Subcommittee in the House of Representatives, chaired by Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich. In Spring 2010, Noura worked with a Lebanese human rights attorney to file habeus corpus petitions on behalf of Iraqi refugees detained by Lebanese authorities. Upon leaving Lebanon, she became the Legal Advocate for the Badil Resource Center for Palestinian Refugee and Residency Rights where she represented their claims before the Human Rights Council, human rights treaty bodies, among the UN diplomatic missions as well as among the US Administration and Congress.noura_calstate

Welcome to MASUN XXVII!

Dear delegates and sponsors,

I am so honored to have the opportunity to invite you all to the twenty-seventh Mid-Atlantic Simulation of the United Nations at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. This year’s MASUN XXVII will take you to outer space, to the middle of a crisis in the Caucuses, and even through your favorite pirate movie franchise. Although MASUN is a challenging conference, we welcome delegates of all levels and abilities. I truly hope that all students leave MASUN better delegates than they were at the start.

We are excited to continue MASUN’s tradition of philanthropy through our MASUN Gives program. As the conference’s theme this year is post-conflict development, we have partnered with the Foundation for Post-Conflict Development, an international program that focuses specifically on maternal health, youth and education, and the environment. I encourage you to research the organization and the many ways you can make an impact in the world before even stepping foot on Mason’s campus.

MASUN could not be even half as successful as it has been without the help of a wonderful Secretariat, and I urge all delegates to explore the “Secretariat” tab and reach out to all of the incredibly hard-working people who work behind the scenes of the conference. If sponsors or delegates have any questions or concerns about the conference, please do not hesitate to contact me at sg.masun@gmail.com. I look forward to hearing from you all and especially to seeing diplomacy in action at MASUN XXVII!

Best,

Hamna S. Ahmad

Secretary General

MASUN XXVII