Author: mun01podcast

The sixty-sixth session of Harvard National Model United Nations (HNMUN) occurred over the weekend of February 13-16, 2020. The largest conference on the collegiate circuit, HNMUN hosted over 2,000 delegates for a conference of debate and collaboration. This year’s conference was led by Secretary-General Noah Cominsky in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Committee Overview

HNMUN 2020 offered a staggering number of committees, 26 total, which were divided into three categories: The General Assembly, The Economic and Social Council and Regional Bodies, and The Specialized Agencies.

The General Assembly

• Disarmament and International Security Committee: Foreign Interventions in Civil War
• Economic and Financial Committee: Banking Policies for Avoiding Global Recessions
• Legal Committee: Exploring the Rights and Limitations of Digital Citizenship
• Futuristic General Assembly on Climate Change: The World in 2055: Coping with a Broken Climate
• World Health Organization: Global Disparities in Health Professional Training
• World Trade Organization: Combatting Climate Change Through Environmental Subsidies in the World Economy
• Press Corps

The Economic and Social Council and Regional Bodies

• Human Rights Council: Rights of Disabled Individuals
• Commission on the Status of Women: Child Brides
• United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees: Asylum and the Right to Healthcare
• Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice: Cybersecurity in Political Elections
• African Union: GMO Food Aid and Cultivation in Africa
• European Union: EU Defense Integration and the Future of the CFSP
• League of Arab States: Post-Conflict Restoration of Syria
• North Atlantic Treaty Organization: NATO Burden-Sharing and Collective Defense
• Non Governmental Organizations Programme

The Specialized Agencies

• United Nations Security Council: Boko Haram
• Historical Security Council, 1969: The Conflict in Northern Ireland
• The Thing, 850
• The Culper Ring, 1778
• Republic of Gran Colombia, 1819
• Council of People’s Commissars, 1918
• National Assembly of Singapore, 1955
• The Iranian Revolution, 1978
• The Advisors to Giuseppe Conte, 2019
• South Korean Women’s Presidential Advisory Board, 2020

Socials 

HNMUN 2020 offered a wide variety of socials on each night of the conference for delegates to enjoy. On Thursday night, HNMUN offered both a “Club Night” and a “Model Casino Night.” Friday night was the “International Bazaar & Charity Auction.” Finally, Friday night had the class “Delegate Dance.”

Awards

On Sunday, teams were awarded delegation awards as follows:

Best Large Delegation: University of Chicago

Outstanding Large Delegation: Yale University

Best Small Delegation: Boston University

Best International Delegation: MetroMUN – Venezuela 

To learn more about HNMUN 2020, click here to see their conference website. Thank you to the teams and delegates who participated in building this article with their comments and critiques. MUN01 offered the HNMUN Secretariat a chance to comment for the article, but did not receive a response. Congrats to all who competed in or staffed the conference!

The Florida Crisis Simulation (FLCS) was a three day conference held by the University of Florida in Gainesville over the three-day weekend of February 14-16, 2020. Led by Secretary-General Zola Hoehn, who provided us with this statement, “As Secretary-General, I have been involved with the Secretariat of FLCS for the past three years. Serving as Secretary-General for this FLCS by far was the most rewarding experience, seeing all of the hard work of the directors and staff culminate in committees and a conference that incorporated every aspect of the delegate experience!”

Attending Delegations

The following delegations attended FLCS IX (list provided by the conference):

• Agnes Scott College
• Barry University
• Emory University
• Florida State University
• Florida Gulf Coast University
• Georgia Institute of Technology
• Hardin Simmons University
• Santa-Fe College
• University of Tennessee
• Tulane University
• University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
• University of Miami
• University of Central Florida
• University of South Florida

Committee Overview

FLCS IX offered ten different committees with all being crisis committees. Two committees were part of a JCC. They were:

• The Secretary-General’s Ad-Hoc
• JCC: Bigger Than US Steel – The Commission of the Five Families v. The Task Force for Organized Crime
• England in Crisis: The Privy Council for Lady Jane Grey
• King Carol’s Camarilla
• The First Cabinet of South Sudan: 2011
• The Executive Board for the Westminster Dog Show
• All Men Are Brothers: Outlaws of the Marsh
• The United Federation of Planets
• The Summit for the Recolonization of North America

The ad-hoc topic for this year revolved around the Bilderberg Conference.

Socials 

This year’s social for FLCS took place at Bricks, a club in downtown Gainesville. The Secretary-General stated that, “Most delegates seemed to have a very enjoyable time thanks to the drinks provided at the bar!”

Awards

On Sunday, the delegation awards were handed out as follows:

Best Large Delegation: Florida State University

Outstanding Large Delegation: Emory University

Best Small Delegation: University of Miami

Outstanding Small Delegation: University of Tennessee – Knoxville

To learn more about FLCS IX, click here to see their conference website. MUN01 would like to thank the FLCS Secretariat for providing information about the conference as well as quotes for this article. Congrats to all who competed in or staffed the conference!

As another early Spring semester conference, the Model United Nations at Emory (MUNE) conference was held February 6-9, 2020. Delegates from around the South and schools even further traveled to Atlanta, Georgia to participate in a long weekend of Model UN at Emory University’s campus which was headed by Secretary-General Miguel Vivar-Alcalde. According to statistics provided by the MUNE secretariat, over 195 delegates registered for the conference with 16 schools attending. The conference centered around the Emory Student Center (ESC) as the secretariat shared that they “completely changed the aesthetic of the conference to move towards a more modern feel that was reflective of [their] growth and professionalism.”

MUNE VIII’s Secretary-General provided the following quote, “It was an incredibly rewarding experience to organize MUNE. It was so fulfilling to see the hard work pay off with such great reviews in Head Delegate feedback sessions from participating schools. It goes without saying that the Crisis Directors drove this memorable experience for delegates and that alongside the careful and meticulous planning of Secretariat made this a successful conference and one that I’m looking forward to seeing evolve in the future.”

Attending Delegations

The 16 attending delegations came from the following schools:

• Florida International University
• Tulane University
• Georgia Tech
• Seton Hall University
• University of Notre Dame
• Florida State University
• Brown University
• University of Georgia
• Georgetown University
• University of Virginia
• Indiana University – Purdue University Indiana
• Elon University
• Pitzer College
• University of Central Florida
• University of Alabama
• North Carolina State University

Committee Overview

MUNE VIII offered 12 unique committees for delegates to choose from. 10 of those were full crisis committees, including an ad-hoc, a 24 hour committee, and two sides of a JCC. One committee was full General Assembly style. The last committee was the UN Security Council with intermittent emergency updates.

General Assembly

• OAS Special Mission: The Social Conjuncture of the Republic of Honduras

UN Security Council

• South China Sea Dispute

Crisis

• Barbarians, Generals, & Emperors: The Crisis of the Third Century
• No Retreat & No Surrender: The Sixth October War
• Assad’s Cabinet to Rebuild Syria
• Doctor Who: The Pandorica Opens
• Morning Star: Society At War, The Rising (JCC: The Rising v. Compact)
• “Condoms Not Coffins!”: Public Health Activism & The HIV/AIDS Epidemic
• Italian Unification Situazione
• Wakanda Forever: The Rise of the Black Panther
• 24 Hour: Chernobyl
• Ad-Hoc

This year’s Ad-Hoc topic revolved around the Harry Potter universe and took place during the Triwizard Tournament.

Committee Comments

As it should always be said, the committee comments section should serve as a balanced critique of the conference. MUN01 recognizes the hardwork and dedication that all Secretariat members put into the weekend. However, MUN01 also believes that delegates should be able to receive honest opinions and conferences gain feedback to grow and improve every year!

Committee Praises

Delegates praised the conference in several aspects. Overwhelmingly, delegates felt like crisis was well run. One delegate stated that the crisis was “efficient” and that notepads were being returned “every 20-35 min.” Another delegate praised the “fun crisis updates” and delegates felt like they had the ability to let their crisis “arc develop well.” Other delegates also praised the Delfest social on Saturday night. In-room chairing was also favorable.

Committee Critiques

Overall, there were very few critiques for the conference. One critique from a delegate was that they felt high ranking teams were given the best positions in the room, like the P5 in the UN Security Council committee.

Socials

MUNE VIII provided two socials for delegates and staff to get to know each other, their committee members, and their own teams. One social was for head delegates specifically and took place on Friday, February 7th. This social was at Tin Lizzy’s Cantina and offered head delegates the opportunity to meet the Secretariat in a laid back setting with a spread of Mexican food provided. The second social, dubbed “Delfest,” was at The Pool Hall, a bar in a nightlife strip of Atlanta. This social event took place the following night, on Saturday, February 8th. Delegates enjoyed the music and mingling the social provided from 10pm until 1am. Many delegates commented on how much they enjoyed both socials!

Awards

On Sunday, February 9th, the conference came to a close with the awards ceremony. After the award winners were quickly announced, delegates enjoyed watching a chair and the Secretary-General get pied as well as a “Best Crisis Update” voting competition.

The following teams received delegation awards:

Best Large Delegation: Florida State University

Outstanding Large Delegation: Brown University

Best Small Delegation: Georgetown University

Outstanding Small Delegation: University of Virginia

To learn more about MUNE VIII, click here to see their conference website. This conference was also recapped on Episode #43 of the podcast. Click here to listen or go to Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Thank you to the teams and delegates who participated in building this article with their comments and critiques. MUN01 would also like to thank the MUNE Secretariat for providing a number of stats to this article as well as photos and quotes. Congrats to all who competed in or staffed the conference!

As the first major conference of the Spring 2020 season, the McGill Model United Nations Assembly (McMUN) occurred over the weekend of January 23-26, 2020. Temperatures may have dropped to well below freezing, but delegates still showed up in droves to the conference this year. The conference was led by Secretary-General Hawa Maiga along with an extensive staff to support the large size of the conference. According to the delegate handbook, over 1650 delegates attended the conference which was supported by over 600 staff members.

Attending Delegations

Due to the size of McMUN, a full delegation list would be entirely too long for this article. More than 90 delegations attended this year’s McMUN with teams from all over North America attending, as well as quite a number of non-North American teams.

Committees

McMUN offered an astounding number of committees this season. In total, there were 28 committee rooms offered at McMUN 2020. Three of these were General Assembly committees with 150 to 320 competing delegates. Five of these were ECOSOCs with 45 to 75 delegates. Specialized Agencies made up nine of McMUN’s committees with 20 to 60 delegates. Finally, Crisis committees made up eleven of these committees. An interesting committee that was offered by McMUN was the second iteration of their consulting committee which partnered with Deloitte. Six committees required applications.

General Assemblies

• SDG 2: Zero Hunger – Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
• SDG 15: Life on Land – United Nations Environment Programme
• SDG 16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions – Special Political and Decolonization Agency (SPECPOL)

Economic and Social Councils

• UNGA Special Session: The Rights of the Child
• The 2020 African Meeting on Science and Technology
• The Equal Rights Coalition: Global Summit on LGBTQIA2+ Rights
• Moneyval: The Evalutaiton of Anti-Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism
• The International Organization for Migration (IOM): Special Conference on Resettlement, Repatriation, and Local Integration of Migrants and Refugees

Specialized Agencies

• McMUN Consulting
• The Pacific Islands Forum: Health and Well-Being in Oceania
• European Court of Human Rights: Agnes Nagy v. Hungary
• Fyre Festival 2.0: Executive Planning Committee
• Five Eyes: The Rise of Artificial Intelligence
• The Six-Party Talks: 7th Round – Peace and Security in Korea
• Formula for Success: The F1 Group
• French Bilingual: Reunion de Crise A Matignon: La Colère des Gilets Jaunes
• Spanish Bilingual: Responses to the U.S. Invasion of Panama, 1989

Crises

• Ad Hoc
• JCC: Platine Wars – Argentina v. Brazil
• JCC: Deccan Wars – Mughal v. Maratha
• The Death of Stalin
• Ross Perot 1992
• Fourth Merkel Cabinet
• The Furthest Shore
• Rise of the Zulu Kingdom
• The Court of Empress Irene

This year’s McMUN Ad Hoc was Dungeons and Dragons themed!

Committee Comments

As it should always be said, the committee comments section should serve as a balanced critique of the conference. MUN01 recognizes the hardwork and dedication that all Secretariat members put into the weekend. However, MUN01 also believes that delegates should be able to receive honest opinions and conferences gain feedback to grow and improve every year!

Committee Praises

As typical, McMUN 2020 was highly praised for their socials. One delegate praised McParte and said it “was great” but that McCrawl was not as good. The same delegate and several others also praised the in-room committee experiences. Another delegate praised the conference for being “well run, having a great staff-to-delegate ratio” which resulted in fast moving notes and crisis. Another delegate stated that the chairs at the conference “were largely really great.”

Committee Critiques

One delegate critiqued McMUN’s GAs for starting on Friday rather than the typical Thursday. They believed that replacing Thursday’s committee with an event forced delegates to rush debates and blocs. An additional critique was that their GAs were entirely too large.

Socials

McMUN hosted several socials over the long weekend. There were two different events on Friday night that the delegates could choose between to attend. One was the classic McCrawl, a bar crawl through Montreal with both bar and food stops along the way. The other choice was an Arcade Night at the Esports Central Gaming Complex. Saturday night featured another staple of McMUN, McParte, a club night for delegates at L’Olympia de Montreal 

Awards

As the conference came to a close, delegation awards were given out on Sunday as follows:

• Best Large Delegation: Clark University
• Outstanding Large Delegation: Georgetown University
• Best Small Delegation: Claremont McKenna College
• Outstanding Small Delegation: Florida International University

To learn more about McMUN 2020, click here to see their conference website. Thank you to the teams and delegates who participated in building this article with their comments and critiques. MUN01 offered McMUN Secretariat a chance to comment for the article, but did not receive a response. Congrats to all who competed in or staffed the conference!

Article by Prithvi Vijay Kumar

Bio – Prithvi Vijay Kumar, 11 MUNs (Singapore, GIIS). Apart from the time he spends MUNing, Prithvi is a self-proclaimed book connoisseur, and an avid follower of cricket – all whilst lamenting about the looming deadlines his procrastination has made worse.

Although I claim to be an avid MUNner, my first brush with this unique platform occurred not too many years ago – fearing the worst when it comes to external MUNs, it was when MUN fever hit my school that I eventually took the deep dive. And 5 years later –from a newbie in SPECPOL, representing Thailand and cursing my country’s irrelevance to the topic, to Russia in NATO, cursing my country’s relevance to the topic – it has been a ride that I would not trade for anything else in the world. Throughout this journey of mine, there has always been this question asked of me – For what joy are you spending these three days, dressed in an outfit that is in no way suitable to my country’s weather, debating relevant ongoing issues and imagined non-issues, when it is in no way going to have a tangible impact on society? My de facto response has always been to say – MUN is not only about the issues being debated; it is the nurturing of the confidence of an individual; it is a peephole to the real world for him, or it might just be an excuse for them to vent out their anger at a particularly annoying fellow delegate. Whatever the reason, MUNs are an integral aspect of the fabric of High School, and Collegiate life.

MUNs in Singapore tend to be the one of the best received, and well-attended events – even with the number increasing year by year, conferences increasingly overshoot their forecast number for a target audience. Even more than the Organising team or even the delegates of the conference, the Chairs of the various committees have an integral role to play – it is in their hands to make or break a delegate; it is their behaviour and approach which determines whether or not the MUN count of a particular delegate will increase. Being the type of delegate that I am, I tend to participate more in Inter-school MUNs, and almost exclusively in Crisis Committees – where a loud voice and thick skin (both of which I have in abundance) come in handy. So when my first opportunity to chair was in a JCC, it was almost as if the Mothership was calling me home.

I have only chaired a council twice – one as the Head Chair of JCC, and the other as the Co-Chair of WHO. Councils in Singapore tend to increasingly have a reliance on a single, influential delegate, and having been to only local MUNs, I regarded that as the norm; yet, when I went to Cambridge, UK to attend the Inaugural CUIMUN-HS, I was pleasantly shocked to notice the complete lack of a Power Delegate, and was confused as to how easy-going, and friendly delegates where with one another – any of my previous MUNs in Singapore would inevitably have had at least 2 delegates at each other’s throats by the second day. The second aspect which I noticed in Cambridge, and tried to instil in my delegates in Singapore was the need for Blocs – and how much more effective council would be, as a direct result of them. When thinking about the difference between the two councils I have chaired, it was the difference in dynamics of these aforementioned aspects which stood out.

 As I fancy myself to be a Power Delegate, I did not see the big deal with having a one-person lead council – I assumed that the increase in efficiency and speed of proceedings would serve the committee well. Yet as a Chair in JCC, I realised that I had to urge council to not blindly follow the words of a particular delegate, and at one point of time even assume the role of a missing delegate to pinpoint the deficiencies in the argument of the Power Delegate, in an attempt to galvanise council to rise to the occasion – a Backroom always prefers a variety of ideas from a number of delegates, in order to direct debate in a meaningful manner. This problem was not so prevalent in the beginner committee, the bare fact is that the majority didn’t have the experience to wield the Gauntlet of a “Power Delegate”. Interestingly, this phenomenon meant that debate slowed and dawdled in the JCC, as committee centred around one delegate, and debate seldom slacked in the WHO.

 In terms of formation of Blocs, the converse holds – by the time delegates reach the level of an advanced council, they tend to more or less be experts at working Blocs – be it manipulating existing ones, or creating new and interesting ones. The dynamics of these blocs ensured that some level of conflict was always present within committee – and conflict is integral for any committee to move ahead in debate. WHO, on the other hand, tended not to form blocs or be confrontational to one another – whilst this lead to a more cordial atmosphere in the room, what with the absence of assassination plots and nuclear threats, the conformity did lead to certain committee sessions being described as ‘boring’ by the delegates.

“What you see with your own two eyes is false. What you hear with your own two ears is false. Only thorough research yields true answers.”

This is a quote is one which I shared with the delegates who I chaired – MUN isn’t merely about identifying the loudest, most confident delegate; nor are the roles of council written in stone as per the allocation of countries; it more often comes down the depth of research undertaken, and the level to which the delegate has stuck to the stance of his/her country. As a chair, I’d say my biggest takeaway was watching the delegates debate, and picking up tactics and strategies that I, during my time as a delegate, was not mindful off – for never was I able to formulate a full-fledged resolution, win back the independence of my allocated country, and pacify two warring blocs; all in the space of an hour-long lunch break.

MUN01 would like to thank Prithvi for their contribution! This is our last guest article of the year- which means we will be looking for new writers soon! Keep a look out on our social media and the website for updates on when we will be actively looking.

Disclaimer: The following recap was written by UNCMUNC. MUN01 thanks the conference for their hard work to write this conference recap themselves!

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Model United Nations Conference (UNCMUNC) was hosted in its 11th iteration from November 7th to November 10th. UNCMUNC XI was organized and staffed by the Carolina International Relations Association (CIRA) and this year’s conference was spearheaded by Secretary-General Rosie Tran and Director-General Brent Van Vliet.

In order to ensure all delegates had the ability to succeed in Crisis Committees, UNCMUNC XI hosted its first-ever How to Crisis Info Session. The event was attended by 24 delegates, significantly more than expected, who learned the ins and outs of Crisis Committees first-hand from our Secretary-General. Attendees to this event expressed that UNCMUNC should continue hosting events like this in the future.

The Secretary-General of the conference, Rosie Tran, had this to say about UNCMUNC XI: “UNCMUNC XI was the first time UNCMUNC was hosted for four-days rather than three-days. It was the most successful collegiate MUN conference hosted by the University of North Carolina as of yet; successful in terms of delegate experience, delegation attendance, and well-trained chairs. We had several new delegations join us and over 270 delegates registered. As a smaller conference, we’re still working on many different kinks, but I am proud to say that many delegates left UNC’s campus with a good experience. I hope to come back to UNC in 20 years and see how far UNCMUNC has developed.”

Attending Delegations

• University of Pittsburgh
• University of Florida
• Northern Arizona University
• Georgetown University
• College of William & Mary
• Elon University
• University of Tennessee, Knoxville
• The George Washington University
• Florida State University
• NC State University
• Washington University in St. Louis
• University of Notre Dame
• Emory University
• University of Texas at Austin
• University of Cincinnati
• University of Richmond
• UC Berkeley
• George Mason University

Committee Overview

Delegates at UNCMUNC XI participated in 12 committees, including a JCC and UNCMUNC’s second-ever General Assembly.

The General Assembly put delegates into the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) where they grappled with sustainability within the growing tourism industry. The UNWTO Committee was successful for the second GA ever fielded at UNCMUNC. This format will continue to be improved upon when it returns to next year’s conference.

UNCMUNC’s line-up of Crisis Committees featured a two-room JCC where delegates stood on either the Scottish or British side of the Jacobite Revolution – or Rebellion as the British would prefer to call it. UNCMUNC’s single-room Crisis Committees featured a range of topics which included:

• Civil rights in Birmingham, 1963;
• A murder mystery in Murder Hill, a fictional town based off of Chapel Hill;
• The 2014 Bangkok shutdown;
• Britain after the American Revolutionary War;
• The Wizarding World’s path to reconstruction after the Battle of Hogwarts;
• The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank’s “Journey of Promise”;
• An alternative history in which Germany had won WWI;
• A hypothetical Addis Ababa Conference organizing colonized African nations during the “Scramble for Africa” against European imperialism.
• UNCMUNC’s Ad Hoc saw delegates rush to solve an impending agricultural crisis in Los Angeles, 2030, offering a fast-paced experience touching on increasingly pertinent ecological issues.

Social

UNCMUNC hosted both a Head Delegate Social and a Head Delegate Lunch. The Head Del Social was at TRU Deli & Wine on Thursday night, a cozy little eatery by Franklin St., and the lunch was at Top of the Hill (TOPO) on Friday.  On Friday night, the Delegate Social was held at Might as Well, a fun place to get down on the weekend. While Friday festivities ended promptly at 1am per the venue, delegates got to spend their night dancing, both on the floor and on tables, and exploring Chapel Hill’s vibrant nightlife. By “nightlife” we obviously mean the local Waffle House.  

In addition, UNCMUNC hosted its first-ever Formal Gala. A black tie event, the UNCMUNC XI Formal Gala took place on Saturday, November 10th, from 10pm to 1am. The UNCMUNC XI Secretariat spared no expense in providing delegates an experience they have personally referred to as “mun prom.” The Gala was located at the Rizzo Center, a sprawling and elegant conference center, owned by the prestigious UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School. Attendees were encouraged to show up in their classiest outfit and spent a night conversing, dancing and enjoying a catered buffet in the gorgeous Magnolia Room. Besides some technical issues with the venue’s speakers, the night was one for the books.    

Delegation Awards

Best Large Delegation – University of Virginia

Outstanding Large Delegation – Emory University

Best Small Delegation – The George Washington University

Outstanding Small Delegation – College of William & Mary

Again, thank you to UNCMUNC for this article! You can check out their conference website here.