National Model United Nations. Final Report of the 2015 National Model United Nations Course at the University of St. Gallen

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1 National Model United Nations Final Report of the 2015 National Model United Nations Course at the University of St. Gallen

2 New York The meeting place of the peoples Within the elective course National Model United Nations, a team of 18 motivated and inquisitive St. Gallen students committed themselves to preparing almost an entire academic year for their participation in the 2015 National Model United Nations (NMUN) conference in New York. This report will sift through the most significant landmarks of the team s seven- month journey. Biweekly NMUN Seminars Throughout the fall term of 2014 the NMUN team met every second Monday for four hour long preparatory seminars and mock debates. These seminars were chaired by the responsible professor Prof. Dr. Thomas Burri and his teaching assistant, Moritz Meyer. In the course of these meetings a variety of topics surrounding the conference in New York were discussed, including the NMUN rules of procedure, administrative tasks and the United Nations in general. Especially the individual task of writing a lead article, in the manner of The Economist, about a randomly assigned subject taught us how to suavely present one s own opinion within a limited amount of space. In these seminars the group also decided, which country, they would preferably represent in New York. Mock Debates & First Conferences Especially instructive and enlightening were the mock debates, which were held multiple times during the fall semester seminars. Among these mock debates, there was one in mid- November that stood out particularly, as it took up the entire four hours of the seminar and therefore allowed us to delve more deeply into the mechanisms of such a debate. From November to February, many delegates attended various MUN conferences, in order to experience the atmosphere of an actual conference. Notable conferences attended were: Stockholm MUN, Manchester MUN, Prague MUN and Switzerland s very own Junes MUN, which was held in Lausanne. Junes MUN took on an the role as an important landmark on the group s journey to New York, as it was the first and sole time, where almost the entire NMUN team attended a conference before they headed out to New York. The conference in Lausanne was a success, as the only two awards to make their way to St. Gallen, were both won by delegates of the NMUN team. NMUN- delegation in Lausanne

3 Position Paper In order to adequately represent the positions of Peru, our assigned country, at NMUN in April, we were given the task of writing a position paper. The team of 18 had split into nine groups of wo delegates, each representing Peru in one specific UN committee. According to the individual committee s agenda (made up of three issues within the realm of the specific committee s competencies) each group had to present Peru s position on the topics. This was a great way of learning how to research in UN matters and how to disclose one s position within in limited space (2 pages). New York Conference After seven months of hard work and dedication the week we had all been waiting for finally arrived the week of the NMUN conference in New York. Together with multiple thousands of students from all over the world we discussed, negotiated and tried to find consensus. Our groups of two delegates sat in all the committees, in which Peru is represented. For four days we held speeches, wrote resolutions, tried to compromise with opponents and win supporters of our cause during informal debates. Our involvement and dedication was honored with an award at the end of the conference. Visiting the Swiss Mission to the UN During our stay in New York we had the privilege to visit the Mission of Switzerland to the UN in midtown Manhattan, not far from the UN itself. We were warmly welcomed by the mission s external relations manager and had the possibility ask plenty of questions through which we gained many insights into the work of the mission, the role of Switzerland within the UN and the world of diplomacy in general. Visit to the UN headquarters As part of the NMUN closing ceremony we were able to catch a first glimpse at the United Nations Headquarters on the banks of East River. In spite of the magnitude of NMUN participants visiting the headquarters simultaneously this opportunity provided us with plentiful of moments to soak up the unique atmosphere surrounding the halls of the UN. Following the closing ceremony many of the group took the chance to stay in New York for a few more days and experience the Big Apple more thoroughly.

4 NMUN Class of 2015 in front of the UN headquarters Acknowledgments The NMUN class of 2015 would like to express its sincerest gratitude to Prof. Dr. Thomas Burri, responsible professor for the 2015 NMUN course and his teaching assistant Moritz Meyer. Furthermore we would like to thank our generous sponsors: Meracator Stiftung, HSG Alumni and Lions Club.

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