The United Nations Society (UNS) held UON’s inaugural Model United Nations.  The United Nations Model is designed to simulate the processes of the real UN committee conferences, where students are able to use and learn public speaking, diplomacy and debating skills in order to come to a resolution (hopefully) for real world issues. The issues at hand may relate to security, human rights, economics, the environment, and more.

 

As a delegate, you are able to choose any of the 193 countries in the UN to represent and a committee, either United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) or the United Nations Security Council. UNESCO’s agenda was to find a resolution to minimise harm and abuse to women and children in armed conflict, and the agenda for the Security Council was to create a resolution road map for the Syria Crisis.

 

In order to have fulfilling and engaging debates, it was very important to have researched your country’s position on the agendas at hand, to fuel energetic rebuttals and question the other delegates’ stances, ready to catch even the most knowledgeable off guard.

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As part of the program, we were lucky enough to have the opportunity to have diplomats and members of the United Nations provide workshops and talks about their experience working locally and internationally. During the opening ceremony, the director of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), Graham Brewer, spoke of the importance of meeting the 17 UN’s Sustainable Development Goals for 2015 to 2030.

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After the first session of debate, director of the Diplomacy Training Program (DTP), an independent NGO, Patrick Earle, spoke of his program’s goals to advance human rights and empower our society with quality education and training in order to build the skills for individual human rights defenders and community advocates.

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A delegate for the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), Sara Rayment, spoke about diplomacy in international trade. The resolution can depend on the delegate chosen and the relationship between the countries on the day, so outcomes can be quite unpredictable.

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In the UN Women workshop speaker Sherrill Whittington implored that gender equality is essential for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world, particularly if we are to begin meeting any of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

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Full article by Luci Ragan at https://yakatuon.com/2016/08/31/can-argue-a-point-until-the-cows-come-home-the-model-un-is-for-you/