There’s a Committee for Everybody!
//Opinion
Most high schoolers and undergraduates in India know what Model United Nations conferences are — huge groups of a goody-goody, boring kids in fancy clothes bickering about stuff out of the morning’s newspaper. If you think so, then you’re missing out. MUNs are tailored to every individual, to every taste. Owing to a huge number of committees, I’ll try my best to cover all of them completely. Trust me, you’ll only realize when you go for one, how well you fit in and how much you attune to the other delegates. The best part about finding the right committee is the amazing friends you get out of it. It puts you in a room full of people with similar interests and itching to talk.
Disclaimer: My opinions of delegating in specific committees remain my own. I have not delegated in all the different committees that are being simulated. My personal preferences do not, in any way, indicate that a certain experience is better than another.
General Assembly
All UN Member States are represented in the General Assembly. Each Member State has one vote. Decisions on such key issues as international peace and security, admitting new members and the UN budget are decided by a two-thirds majority.
Simple enough. The UNGA comprises of 6 committees, each of which has different responsibilities. All 193 members of the United Nations are members of the General Assembly, with the addition of Holy See and Palestine as observer states.
to the United Nations
Disarmament and International Security (DISEC)
The First Committee deals with disarmament, global challenges and threats to peace that affect the international community and seeks out solutions to the challenges in the international security regime.
It’s a conference on issues like Control of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), The risk of nuclear proliferation in the Middle East, Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALWs) and Prevention of an arms race in outer space, to name a few.
The thing about DISEC is the immense amount of technical knowledge needed. The UNGA committees are usually suggested for beginners, but as a consequence, first-timers turn up with lots of research done. The debate usually becomes jargonized with political and military terms. For a person who has strong opinions on nuclear weapon treaties or control of arms, this is the committee to go to. Military geeks will have a really fun time.
Economic and Financial (ECOFIN)
The work of the Committee falls under eleven thematic clusters, which includes: Macroeconomic policies, Operational activities for development, Financing for development, Groups of countries in special situations, Globalization and interdependence, Eradication of poverty, Sustainable development, Information and communication technologies for development, Agriculture development, food security and nutrition, Human settlements and sustainable urban development, and the sovereignty of the Palestinian people over their natural resources.
This committee focuses on the financial aspect of things- where funds should be allocated and why. It usually features developed nations questioning the usage of resources and the other nations pleading for them to use it humanely. It also might get a bit technical, but may also lean towards ethical concerns, much like the Human Rights Council.
Does the great economic divide between the rich and the poor strike a nerve? ECOFIN focuses on fair usage of the world’s money; what better place to voice your concerns. Owing to a good number of communists in the country, this committee is also a prefect battleground for followers of capitalism and socialism to discuss and debate.
Some agendas would be International efforts to combat money laundering, Enhancing macroeconomic stability to prevent another financial crisis and Development cooperation with middle-income countries.
Social, Humanitarian & Cultural Issues (SOCHUM)
The Third Committee deals with human rights, humanitarian affairs, and social issues. This includes questions relating to the advancement of women, the protection of children, the treatment of refugees through the elimination of racism and discrimination, the promotion of fundamental freedoms and the right to self-determination, indigenous issues and a range of social matters such as issues related to youth, family, aging, persons with disabilities, crime prevention, criminal justice, and international drug control.
Of the dozen agenda items allocated to the committee, “Promotion and
protection of human rights” is considered the most important and
makes up about half of the work of the Committee.
In my personal opinion, matters relating to social, cultural, and humanitarian issues are what make the world forward. While the Security Council may be dubbed the most powerful organ of the United Nations, I believe that the Third Committee and the Human Rights Council are doing more for humanity as a whole.
Issues like Elimination of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, Right of peoples to self-determination and Advancement of women are some of those which are discussed in the Committee. Unlike the Human Rights Council, the Third Committee has more power to enforce its resolutions.
Human Rights Council (HRC)
The Council was created by the United Nations General Assembly on 15 March 2006 by resolution 60/251, comprising of 47 members. Among its procedures were the Universal Periodic Review mechanism which serves to assess the human rights situations in all United Nations Member States, the Advisory Committee which serves as the Council’s “think tank” providing it with expertise and advice on thematic human rights issues and the Complaint Procedure which allows individuals and organizations to bring human rights violations to the attention of the Council. The Human Rights Council also works with the UN Special Procedures established by the former Commission on Human Rights and now assumed by the Council. These are made up of special rapporteurs, special representatives, independent experts and working groups that monitor, examine, advise and publicly report on thematic issues or human rights situations in specific countries.
As a delegate, my favorite committee would the Human Rights Council. It provides a platform for discussion on Human Rights, as its name suggests and its recommendations and reports to the General Assembly are always greatly valued. I believe the HRC is doing a lot for humanity, and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), which acts as the Secretariat for the HRC, has seen amazing individuals like Sérgio Vieira de Mello take up the position. The work that the HRC does and the accountability the Universal Periodic Review brings to the UN is extremely beneficial to the world.
Elimination of discrimination against women and girls in sport, Combating intolerance, negative stereotyping and stigmatization of, and discrimination, incitement to violence and violence against, persons based on religion or belief, and Consequences of a child, early and forced marriage are a few among the many agendas that the Council debates on.
If ethical issues and heated debates are your cup of tea, you should definitely go for an HRC simulation in your next MUN.
Security Council (SC)
The Security Council is the United Nations’ most powerful body, with “primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security.” Five powerful countries sit as “permanent members” along with ten elected members with two-year terms. Since 1990, the Council has dramatically increased its activity and it now meets in nearly continuous sessions. It dispatches military operations, imposes sanctions, mandates arms inspections, deploys election monitors and more.
In a Model UN conference, Security Council sessions are usually full of hardcore debates and lots of technical jargon. Both the SC and the Historical Security Council, a special committee based on some event that happened in the past, are quite advanced committees with delegates pitching their vast knowledge of recent events and technical details against each other.
Personally, I’ve never delegated in a Security Council committee, being more of a Human Rights fanatic myself, but I have a lot of friends who get completely hooked on the action and the power they wield in the committee. If you feel like the solutions and discussions put forward by other UN bodies are fruitless, maybe you should try the Security Council simulations at your next MUN.
These are but a few of the many options out there in the MUN circuits across India. Continuous Crisis Committee (CCC), United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), World Health Assembly (WHA), are among the other various simulations you can find.
You can look forward to more about them in future articles!
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