M.u.n.g.a.
By Camilla Allan
Fifteen year 5 students took part in the Model United Nations General Assembly, along with other schools from all over the world. Divided in groups of 3, each group had to choose a country to represent at the assembly. We had five sessions beforehand to get into character and to get to know how M.U.N.G.A. works.
On the day, the five groups and two teachers, Mr. Martin and Frau Teichert, went to South Africa House, in London.
The assembly was set out to simulate the real Assembly as closely as possible, to get us more in character. On top of this, every group had to dress up in the typical clothes of their country.
In the first part of the Assembly, the Plenary Debate took place. This consisted of each country putting forward their ideas and feelings towards climate change in their country. Each nation had to speak for one minute, after which the speaker would be stopped.
Following on from the Policy Statements, each group divided up into three committees, each one having a different topic being debated. One delegate from each group debated about Nuclear Technology, one about the Millennium Development Goals, and the other about the Responsibility to Protect.
After successful debating, each discussion group wrote up the conclusion they came to as regards the issue they were deliberating. These resolutions were later discussed and further debated about and modified, as to suit every country’s opinion.
Lunch followed the debates with many countries taking this opportunity to befriend other countries, whereas others discussed strategies between themselves to lobby other countries. The countries in the Security Council stayed behind as an emergency meeting took place and an unknown problem to all the other countries was discussed.
Lunch was then followed by heated discussions of this problem by all the United Nations’ countries. Lobbying then took place by all the countries to ensure that the right choice was made.
After these discussions, the resolutions were debated and voted for or against by the countries. In some cases, countries also abstained.
To end the day, awards were given to the best debates as well as the best-dressed country.
All in all, the day was very worthwhile. We learned a lot about the functioning of the United Nations Assembly and managed to successfully feel part of it.
|