Model United Nations is an academic simulation of the UN that aims to educate participants about current events, topics in international relations, diplomacy and the United Nations agenda. The participants role-play as diplomats representing a country or an NGO in a simulated session of an organ or committee of the UN, such as the Security Council or the General Assembly.

Participants research a country, take on roles as diplomats, investigate international issues, debate, deliberate, consult, and then develop solutions to world problems. During the conference, participants must employ a variety of communication and critical thinking skills in order to represent the policies of their country. These skills include public speaking, group communication, research, policy analysis, active listening, negotiating, conflict resolution, note taking and technical writing. However, school delegation formats vary from region to region. Our school has participated in different models over the past years.

This Year’s News

This year ESSARP Centre will be organizing a MUN for the first time. It will be organized by Isabel Carlevaro, THIMUN (The Hague International Model United Nations) Director of Development Latin America. It will be in English and it will take place at St. George’s (Quilmes) on August 5-6, 2011.

Belgrano Day School will participate with two delegations, representing Russia and Saudi Arabia formed by the following S4 students: Francisco García Huidobro,  Lucas Gold, Tobías Gómez Bustillo, Natalia Marino, Thomas Page and Gastón Prieto, and the following S5 students: Eduardo Ameghino, Antonella Gazzani, Juan Cruz Hortal and Mariano Tortorelli.

Significant Challenges

The theme of this conference will be “Governance challenges in the 21^st century world” and the delegations will be present at the GA (General Assembly) first committee, which deals with disarmament and international security; the GA third committee, which deals with the rights of women, children, refugees, prisoners and minorities while often focusing upon preserving the culture of countries; the GA fourth committee, which is concerned with international political issues, which may or may not be a threat to international security. The students will also participate in the Security Council, which debates issues that concern world peace and security: usually current conflicts or wars, as well as other related threats, like the crisis in Lybia and Cote D’Ivoire, the ECOSOC that concerns itself with economic and social matters such as trade, development and education and the Environment Commission which follows GA debate procedures, but is not part of the GA. The commission debates issues concerning environmental problems around the world.

Our students will have to work hard but the experience will be very rewarding, not only academically but socially, as they will be interacting with students from other bilingual schools. We hope they make the most of this experience, have fun and encourage other students in the future to sign up. Good luck Russian and Saudi diplomats!