If the title isn't clue enough, this is about the Halton Model United Nations Conference, a program that took place on Tuesday March 31st, or as you may say, yesterday. The Model U.N. is a simulation where students are assigned countries and divided into committees to solve 2 world issues, I was South Korea, and I had to try and tackle ISIS and Police Militarization.
The most important thing to know about the M.U.N. is that you HAVE to dress in western business attire, I was cool with that cause I look great in a suit, but the whole point is to have this atmosphere off authenticity. Each delegate would have to take a side and come up with solutions to try and solve the issues we were faced with. We spent a larger amount of time on ISIS and had more serious debate, this is probably due to the fact that all the delegates hadn't gotten to know each other, so when we got to Police Militarization, we would crack jokes, get into arguments, you know how it goes.
The day started off with the keynote speaker, Christal Earl. It was a phenomenal presentation where Christal told us delegates how she transformed the tragedy of her brother's death into a drive that fueled her humanitarian work in countries such as Haiti, where she adopted her daughter after a massive earthquake. She was a charismatic presenter who set a high bar for the conference.
At this point we split off into our own committees, mine was General Assembly/DISEC. We started off with ISIS, it was really interesting seeing the different delegates argue their points, we discussed a lot; military intervention vs aid, airstrike effectiveness, humanitarian aid, militia groups, nonintervention, you get the point. We eventually entered un-moderated caucus, basically where evryone gets up and starts talking to each other, trying to come to a resolution (solution). I think this is when people started getting more comfortable and talkative, making jokes, walking up and talking to other delegates, it was pretty fun. We eventually came to a solution after a lot more debate, and some snacks, courtesy of Cobs.
After the resolutions were passed to "solve" the ISIS problem, or as we called it #ISISCRISIS, we moved on to the topic of Police Militarization, at this point we were more comfortable with everyone so it got a bit more ridiculous, this led to the infamous Chinamerica resolution. The Chinamerica resolution was made by the pro militarization delegates China, and America. The plan called for all countries to join a new global superpower, a military state controlled by it's namesakes, not surprisingly, this communist/fascist resolution didn't have many supporters.
Model U.N. was a lot of fun, we sang some of Bohemian Rhapsody (don't ask), we had the chance to eat doughnuts and pizza, and we got into lots of debate, some got a bit heated, the American delegate ended up unanimously voted into a 10 minute time out... twice. We got a lot of resolutions passed, some in the face of a crisis such as America sending assassins to murder the N. Krean leader Kim Jong Un, others against threats such as ISIS.
The closing ceremony was done by Dr. Atif Kurbursi, a proffessor of economics, he shared with us his knowledge of the U.N. The presentation was marvelous, it highlighted the pros and cons of the U.N. and offered solutions such as raising the funding or removing the Veto power of countries like the U.S. Dr Kurbursi's presentation was a great way to end the day.
The Model U.N. is an experience that I will never forget and I encourage that all of you reading this sign up next year, it's an exciting club which gives us a taste of the responsibility resting on the shoulders of world leaders and at least gave me, a better understanding of human society and government.
p.s. It felt weird writing an article about an actual event as opposed to whatever haphazard thoughts enter my head, I should do this more often.
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