Rabat - Moroccan young leader Karima Rhanem will take part in the largest Model United Nations in the Balkan scheduled to take place in Albania on May 2-5.
Ms. Rhanem will be the only guest speaker from Morocco for the opening of the conference and a chair of the simulation of the United Nations General Assembly Disarmament and International security committee (DISEC).
“I am very honored to have been selected by the Balkan Model United Nations Secretariat to open the conference among other national and international personalities. I am more thrilled for my selection to chair the DISEC committee to discuss important issues for the international community such as cyber crime and terrorism,” Ms Rhanem told Morocco World News.
She added: “being the only Moroccan to take part in the Balkan MUN is a great responsibility and I will do my best to better represent Morocco, hoping to see an increase in the number of Moroccan young leaders in such international gatherings.”
Klevis Rreshka, Secretary General of Balkan Model United Nations 2014 said: “we have chosen Karima Rhanem as a guest speaker in the Balkan MUN, because of her spirit to inspire young delegates. Young diplomats like Karima will be an added value to our conference and we are looking forward to learning from her wide experience in youth work and public diplomacy. Her background in cyber security and internet Governance will also help delegates from Balkan Countries to draft resolutions to fight cyber attacks.”
For Karima, participating in conferences such as Model United Nations illustrates the important role these public diplomacy conferences play in preparing a new generation of young diplomats who could be their country’s future decision makers.
“Ambassadorship of a given country is not solely the responsibility of official diplomats, but also of a young generation of today’s leaders who could play a key role in advancing foreign policy goals and influencing international decision-making through non-governmental and people to people diplomacy,” she stressed.
Karima Rhanem has been involved in youth and NGO empowerment work for the past 15 years and in public diplomacy for the past 6 years. Thanks to her continuous involvement in several development and diplomacy programs worldwide, she has been nominated Morocco World News good will Ambassador for the year 2012. She was also appointed by the Moroccan Ministry in charge of Relations with the Parliament & Civil Society member of the national commission in charge of the Dialogue on Civil Society and Constitutional Prerogatives. Recently, she has been selected by UNDP Regional Bureau for Arab States member of the Arab Human Development Report (AHDR) 2015 Youth Consultative Group to promote genuine youth-led reflections on development choices in the Arab region, through meaningfully consulting young people to bring their voices to policy-makers.
She has also received several awards from international institutions for her creativity in communications, management of youth and civil society programs, and for her efforts in promoting good governance and peace in the MENA region. In 2012, she was nominated, among several young leaders from different parts of the world, Crans Montana Forum “New Leader of Tomorrow.” She was also awarded a certificate of appreciation from the Association for Public policy and the Administration for her professionalism and contribution to the causes of peace and sound governance in the Middle East.
With a rich international experience, she took part in world leading conferences and seminars such as the 2003 Young Ambassadors MENA Leaders Program at Dickinson College in Pennsylvania (USA), the Youth General Assembly at the United Nations in New York in 2011, the International Symposium on Cultural Diplomacy in Geneva in 2012, the world Forum of Young Diplomats in Turkey in 2013, Crans Montana Forum 15th International Summit on Transnational Crime and Security in 2013. She has also participated as a guest speaker and workshop facilitator at several conferences - in Europe, USA and the MENA region – designed for youth inclusion and empowerment and for the use of media for sustainable and human development.
Throughout her career, she founded several non-governmental organizations such as "Dialogue for Peace Association" and “The Moroccan Association for Development and Public Diplomacy,” and organized various youth forums at the national level. She currently serves as a MENA representative of the London based Non-profit Global Diplomatic Forum, and director of ‘Dialogue for Peace” cooperating circle of United Religions Initiative in Morocco.
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