About 10 days ago, I was presented with the opportunity of taking part in Model United Nations (MUN) for the very first time. Having experienced MUN first hand, I can now present my experiences regarding MUN, and all I have got to say is this: My First MUN was one of the best 3 days of my life.
Model United Nations, as its name suggests, is basically a model of United Nations’ General Assembly, and contains separate committees such as DISEC (Disarmament and International Security Committee) and the Security Council. You are assigned a country and you have to represent that country in the committee in a way any delegate would: you have to be accurate regarding the countries policies and allies. I was in DISEC and I was assigned the United States of America (USA). This in itself was a big deal, specifically because I had recently read a book (Failed States by Noam Chomsky), which was critical of the US government in almost every aspect! Thus, defending the USA government in policies was not something I was looking forward to.
The topics that we discussed in the committee were “Terrorism Empowerment: Financing, Preventing acquisition of arms and Strengthening International Regulations” and “Drug Trafficikng”. I researched about these topics a lot, including the position of various countries in regards to these issues. I also prepared two position papers (one each). Since it was my first MUN, I went there not expecting much.
The program was being organized at Nami College. On the first day, we had an opening ceremony, and then it was straight into the committee and the debating began. The Russian delegate was a well-reputed, experienced MUN delegate; the others were first-timers. Ever since the first opening speech by the delegate of Syria, I and the delegate of Russia were engaged in a hotly-contested debate regarding basically every single issue (Crimean Annexation, Fighting ISIL, Turkey buying oil from ISIL etc.)! By lunch time, my voice was hoarse from the debating!
After lunch on the first day, we were presented with a crisis. The crisis sounded quite ludicrous when heard first: the USA annexed Mexico and Mexicans are dying on the streets, Russia permanently annexed Crimea and bombed Syrian civilians! We managed to solve this crisis the next day, forming a US-Russian coalition!
The following two days were much more peaceful. We discussed resolutions on anti-terrorism and then Drug Trafficking. I didn’t take part in the discussion of Drug Trafficking much, but I did try by utmost best to stand according to the policies of the United States. I tried my best to go against Legalization of Drugs. However, I was unable to do so for long and in the end, I decided to go for drug legalization in order to achieve a consensus on the issue.
On the last day, I found out how well I had done. I won the best delegate for the DISEC committee (along with the Russian delegate, who I have to say, was incredible). After the awards ceremony, we had a two-hour dance party. I hadn’t danced much before, nor did I like dancing. But that day I danced, and it was pretty fun!
Model United Nations, as its name suggests, is basically a model of United Nations’ General Assembly, and contains separate committees such as DISEC (Disarmament and International Security Committee) and the Security Council. You are assigned a country and you have to represent that country in the committee in a way any delegate would: you have to be accurate regarding the countries policies and allies. I was in DISEC and I was assigned the United States of America (USA). This in itself was a big deal, specifically because I had recently read a book (Failed States by Noam Chomsky), which was critical of the US government in almost every aspect! Thus, defending the USA government in policies was not something I was looking forward to.
The topics that we discussed in the committee were “Terrorism Empowerment: Financing, Preventing acquisition of arms and Strengthening International Regulations” and “Drug Trafficikng”. I researched about these topics a lot, including the position of various countries in regards to these issues. I also prepared two position papers (one each). Since it was my first MUN, I went there not expecting much.
The program was being organized at Nami College. On the first day, we had an opening ceremony, and then it was straight into the committee and the debating began. The Russian delegate was a well-reputed, experienced MUN delegate; the others were first-timers. Ever since the first opening speech by the delegate of Syria, I and the delegate of Russia were engaged in a hotly-contested debate regarding basically every single issue (Crimean Annexation, Fighting ISIL, Turkey buying oil from ISIL etc.)! By lunch time, my voice was hoarse from the debating!
After lunch on the first day, we were presented with a crisis. The crisis sounded quite ludicrous when heard first: the USA annexed Mexico and Mexicans are dying on the streets, Russia permanently annexed Crimea and bombed Syrian civilians! We managed to solve this crisis the next day, forming a US-Russian coalition!
The following two days were much more peaceful. We discussed resolutions on anti-terrorism and then Drug Trafficking. I didn’t take part in the discussion of Drug Trafficking much, but I did try by utmost best to stand according to the policies of the United States. I tried my best to go against Legalization of Drugs. However, I was unable to do so for long and in the end, I decided to go for drug legalization in order to achieve a consensus on the issue.
On the last day, I found out how well I had done. I won the best delegate for the DISEC committee (along with the Russian delegate, who I have to say, was incredible). After the awards ceremony, we had a two-hour dance party. I hadn’t danced much before, nor did I like dancing. But that day I danced, and it was pretty fun!
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| I won the best delegate award! |
Thus, I would like to re-iterate, the MUN at Nami college was one of the best 3 days of my life. I got to know a lot about current policies in the world regarding various agendas as well as the differences in the opinions of various countries. In the end, I realised international cooperation and diplomacy are one of the best traits that should be inculcated in the hearts and minds of everyone.
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