Of Faux Crises and Genuine Debates

By Tanish Jain, Member of the Editorial Board

IHS hosts the first edition of the Indian High School Model United Nations (IHSMUN) Conference.

Nearly three hundred students from across the country participated in the fiercely competitive Indian High School Model United Nations (IHSMUN) Conference, held at the campus of the Indian International School, DSO. The conference was the first of its kind held in IHS, and was organised by the MUN Club of the school.

Model United Nations, or MUN, is a conference which simulates the experience of UN Committees, where students typically roleplay delegates of various countries and work together in specific UN committees in an attempt to find resolutions to global issues.

MUN’s roots are older than the United Nations itself. In 1927, Harvard invited nine colleges to a simulation of the League of Nations, nearly a decade after that body’s creation in the wake of the First World War. Today, more than hundreds of thousands of students attend Model UN conferences across the globe.

In classic MUN, students represent the positions and values of assigned countries, adhering to official protocols when speaking, negotiating and drafting resolutions. Consensus is important, and the process of arriving at innovative solutions to global problems the goal. That is still the prevailing model. But a new breed of Model UN, popular among student-run clubs, has a distinctly different philosophy. Their “crisis sessions” focus on a single, more urgent event, such as a developing situation in Syria. Participants battle it out in three-day conferences in hopes of winning a coveted “Best Delegate award”, awarded to the strongest member on each committee, as well as several other awards recognizing excellence in committees, and schools with the most “best delegates” top the new rankings.

“The conference allows students to know the inner workings of the activities of the United Nations,” said Abhilasha Chaube, the MUN Director at IHS. “Educationally, the students get so much out of it.”

At the IHSMUN, student delegates stepped into the shoes of real-world leaders and attempted to tackle a host of current global issues. Delegates were part of one of the seven committees: The Disarmament and International Security Committee, Economic and Financial Affairs Council, Economic and Social Committee, United Nations Human Rights Council, United Nations General Assembly Sixth Committee (Legal), the Special Conference on Refugees, the Security Council and Committee X.

Kritagya Arora, a 16-year-old who served as this year’s Deputy Secretary General, said he learned how best to manage his time. “Like the delegates at the U.N.,” he said, “the students are very opinionated.”

And like the real U.N., debates can become heated. In most committees, one could find two or three blocs formed among the delegates who wished to put forward their nation’s interest. What makes MUN so interesting is that one must work through collaborative effort; several parties must look for resolutions for a better world, with neither party facing severe compromise.

“IHSMUN was a lot more than just researching and debating,” claims Rydell Tauro, Deputy President of the General Assembly Sixth Committee. “In the interest of the ‘greater good’, delegates must learn to negotiate and sacrifice to reach peaceful solutions. At the same time, they must be cautious to strictly adhere to their country’s foreign policy and make sure that their national interests are not hurt.”

With UN facing exigencies which may come up at any time, many committees hosted “crisis” situations, where delegates were given real time updates on an urgent global issue, requiring the immediate attention of the committee. With complex issues arising, joint crisis sessions among delegates of different committees were held, such as the joint crisis among the delegates of The Disarmament and International Security Committee and United Nations General Assembly Sixth Committee (Legal).

But not all was serious. Intense debates were often interspersed with lighter moments of fun and “Motions of Entertainment,” where one could see delegates as well as Chairs being asked to perform in front of the committee. At the end of the second day of the Conference, a Gala evening was held, complete with a scrumptious dinner buffet, and a disc jockey playing to the demands of the delegates, dancing with energy despite an exhausting day of committee sessions. Of course, many delegates still took the opportunity to network with other delegates over dinner, negotiating and forming blocs for the next day in committee.

Vishal Vinod, Deputy President of UNHRC, says, “MUN debates aren’t restricted to only committee session. A strong delegate will look for opportunities outside the session — over meals, tea or other sessions — to discuss, debate and negotiate with delegates, unrestricted by the procedures of formal debate.”

Just like at the real U.N.