What is Model UN?
by Clara De Leon
Model UN, also referred to as MUN (Model United Nations), is a club made up of students hoping to learn more about the United Nations. Though the students go to D.C. on February 15, there are many other events that happen before the trip even departs. To begin, students pick their delegations. Delegations are either duos or singles. It simply depends on the number of people you work with. In this case, you can choose to be in a double delegation which is you with a partner or a single delegation which is you by yourself.
After you decide who you plan to delegate with or if you choose to work by yourself, you get to choose your committees. This is essentially the name of the conferences or the events you will be going to for all four days. Some committees are General Assemblies, Economics and Social Councils, Historical Crisis, Contemporary Crisis, Non-Traditionals, or National Security Apparatus. In each of these committees there are conferences that fall under them. This would be the official name of the conference you will be attending. Some are called CSW (Commision on the Status of Women; Economic and Social Council), UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization; General Assembly), Las Soldaderas: Heroines of the Mexican Revolution, 1910 (Historical Crisis), United Nations Security Council: Albanian Civil War, 1997 (Contemporary Crisis), Supreme Court Of The United States (SCOTUS; Non-Traditionals), and The Third Taiwan Strait Crisis, 1993: People’s Liberation Army (National Security Apparatus). In each of these committees, you as members are either representing a country or a specific person. A lot of the time, for certain committees like Historical Crisis, Non-Traditionals, Contemporary Crisis, as well as some Economic and Social Councils Committees, you will be playing a character. For example, this year for the committee, Historical Crisis: Las Soldaderas: Heroines of the Mexican Revolution, Sparta High School students have been given the chance to act as Sara Pérez Romero – Wife of Francisco I. Madero (Former President of Mexico). Nonetheless, in other committees, you will be representing a country. For this year's convention, Sparta High School will be representing Bolivia, Libya, Sweden, and Jamaica as their “Mock United Nation”. After getting assigned your role as well as committee, there are multiple things you must prepare for before the trip. Students are assigned an essay they must write before the trip called a Position Paper. This paper addresses the solutions as well as issues your nation is attempting to solve. Each committee is assigned two topics they must address in their paper, which side they lean more towards and the overall solution. For example, in the WTO (World Trade Organization), Topic A is Expanding Trade Capacity in Agriculture while Topic B is Pharmaceuticals & Intellectual Property Rights. You can find your topics and other information here: https://naimun.modelun.org/allcommittees.
After completing the assignment, you can have either the advisor (HP at SHS) or students with position paper experience check your work. Once they check your work and you print out the final revision, you have nothing else to complete until the in person conference. If you have questions about this club, please contact HP!
