Feature articles, Reviews, posted April 25th, 2008

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United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon would have been proud to witness the impact of his institution on young people at the recent EuroMun conference in Maastricht. Organised by the small team of the Maastricht United Nations Student Association (UNSA), the event attracted 450 students from all over the globe to the South Limburg capital. All had come with the same goal: take part in a European Model United Nations, simulating real life UN proceedings.

Participants could either chose to negotiate on international matters as representatives of any state other than their own or look behind the diplomatic scene by reporting as a journalist for the Delegate´s Daily, the internal EuroMUN newspaper.

In order to simulate the real workings of the UN as closely as possible to, delegates were asked to follow strict procedural rules during the sessions and to wear formal business attire, except if they preferred to dress in the traditional clothing of their country. English was used as the working language.

In a number of committees standing for organisations like the Human Rights Council or the World Trade Organisation, delegates engaged in sharp discussions and tried to develop solutions for real world problems as diverse as the negative health effects of climate change or the use of ammunition containing depleted uranium. As a special part of the program, the delegates of each committee were given the opportunity to partake in a live video chat session with experts at the UN headquarters in New York.

The most striking event happened at the model Security Council, charged with the maintenance of international peace and security. After one day of discussions on the status of Kosovo, delegates received a series of press releases - made up by the EuroMUN staff - stating that an Albanian minority in Serbia had proclaimed independence and that riots had occurred, causing civilian fatalities. Delegates were forced to debate until late in the evening in order to find a consensus and solve the crisis.

Many participants grew into their roles as country ambassadors to the EuroMUN to such an extent that it was sometimes hard to believe that everything was just a simulation. When for instance a US representative venturously stated his country’s policy “not to kill the ones that we free”, many were reminded of the actual rhetoric from the Pentagon.

For all the serious discussions and the formal procedural rules that were strictly followed, participants didn’t miss out on opportunities to have some fun during the sessions. When the chairperson of a committee started looking too stressed during a deadlocked negotiation, a delegate sent her a note stating his “sincere appreciation if the honourable Chair and her secretary could from time to time put on a smile on their faces”.

A night out with the whole world
Apart from the official meetings, which were held at various faculties of Maastricht University and at the Graduate School of Governance, the EuroMUN staff had organised a number of side events such as a movie night and a concert to provide some entertainment for their guests. During the Global Village at brasserie De Kadans, the various delegations had a chance to present their home culture and share some of their countries’ culinary specialties: the Swedish delegates brought their famous knäckebröd and a group of French participants offered some delicious crêpes.

Another highlight was the Global Party when everyone was allowed to leave behind their official role and get to know each other better in an informal way by having a drink or a dance together. One delegation, which had traveled all the way from Pakistan, provided a special surprise. The students all showed up at the party in traditional outfits and after requesting the DJ to play Panjabi MC, started performing a dance that sparked a wave of rapture around them and swept the whole dancefloor.

One of the Pakistani dancers was 25-year-old Aziz Nauman Butt, who took part in EuroMUN as a journalist. He found the people in Maastricht very helpful and said that he “had lots of fun, but also learned a lot during the fruitful discussions.”

“Next year we will organise our own Model UN at my University in Pakistan”, Aziz proudly added with glittering eyes, hoping to welcome some of the people he met at EuroMUN in his country next year.

Learning by doing
The most obvious accomplishment of the conference was the great progress that many participants made in enhancing their presentation and communication skills. Within a few days, some first-time delegates who were still feeling a little insecure during the opening session, had turned into confident speakers and hardline diplomats.

The participating students were also able to experience at first hand the challenging task of dealing with dozens of parties with differing interests. One delegate stated during the break of an exhaustive session that she “just now understood how difficult it is to reach an agreement in a multilateral body like the United Nations”.

Most importantly, the conference helped to raise awareness for some of the global problems that we are facing at the beginning of the 21st century. Darko Petrovic, the Polish-Serbian Secretary-General of EuroMUN and one of the main organisers of the event, stated his belief that “some issues can only be tackled if we work together.” In order to solve current and future crises he saw further cooperation, not only between states but especially between people, as the only solution.

When he gave his final speech, Darko was visibly struggling to gulp back his tears. For months he and his team had put enormous efforts into setting up this unique project, held for the first time in Maastricht, and he seemed amazed that everything had worked out so well in the end. Looking at the large audience of participants, he expressed the wish that they would “put a human face on world affairs” in their future responsible positions; then, pausing, he added: “with a smile”.

Certainly, the EuroMUN conference represented an important step towards reaching this goal.

By Tobias Gerhard

Tobias Gerhard is originally from Bonn, Germany and has been studying at Maastricht University since 2005. He expects to graduate in European Studies in the summer of 2008.

EuroMUN Compilation Video

Related article (in pdf format): UNU-MERIT presence at the European model of United Nations (source: UNU-MERIT website)

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This entry was posted on Friday, April 25th, 2008 at 10:56 pm and is filed under Feature articles, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.