Jacob Chen
Chair
Jacob Chen is a first-year student at Clark University studying Sociology and Political Science. He started Model UN as a freshman in High school and has been involved with Model UN ever since. Having been on the Clark Model UN Team for only a semester, Jacob has had the opportunity to compete and award at MCMUN in the OAS Committee, his first collegiate conference. Outside of Classes and the community that is Clark MUN, Jacob is also part of the Clark U Photo Society and the Clark U Climbing Club.
For ClarkMUN XIV, Jacob is excited to serve as the Chair of the African Union GA Committee! Having just been in a similar Continental Union GA committee, Jacob is excited to use what he has learned to bring everyone a fantastic day of debate and policy-making, hopefully making his first ClarkMUN the best one ever!
Jacob was originally from North Carolina but has lived all over from cities in China to Okmulgee Oklahoma, Northampton Mass, Long Island, and New York City. If you see Jacob around campus he is probably shamelessly referring to NYC as “the city”. From moving many times, Jacob has gained an interest in photography having competed for a Scholastic award in high school, and continuing to do photography to this day.
For any questions about Clark MUN, “the city”, or photography, Jacob can be reached at Jacchen@Clarku.edu
African Union: Visa Free Africa and Economic Integration
The African Union (AU) as we know it today was established in 2002 as a continental body consisting of 55 member states. The AU was established as a successor to the previous Organisation of African Unity (OAU) which lasted between 1963 to 1999. The African Union came to be when the Sirte Declaration was issued by the OAU. The goal and vision of the African Union is, “An Integrated, Prosperous and Peaceful Africa, driven by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force in the global arena.”
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A few of the AU’s goals are to, “Achieve greater unity and solidarity between African countries and their the people”, and to, “Promote peace, security, and stability on the continent”. This committee will be comprised of many of the 55 member states of the AU, which are all countries that make up the African Continent. The goal of the committee is to use diplomacy and policy work to unite the continent as a whole whilst sticking with the theme of Economic Integration, with the goal of Visa Free travel among the nations of the continent. As this committee is designed to challenge the delegates representing African member states to draft policy work and use diplomacy as a tool to reach a united African Union, We encourage all delegates to look into Regional Economic Communities (RECs), The Pan-African Parliament, and the Department of Political Affairs. These are all departments within the AU. We also enourgage delegates to prepare for the committee by exploring the official website of the AU, https://au.int/en.