Autor: p665890

Last week, our delegation braved the cold and spent their days counting and surveying the visitors of this year’s Tübinger Schokomarkt. Each of our delegates managed to dedicate 13-14 hours of their time over the six days – a great effort considering that our Landmark Documents are due today.

We would like to thank our delegates for their time and dedication this past week and encourage them to keep up the good work – the money we raised will help to pay for our trip to New York in March – so we think it was worth it.

On that note we would like to kindly ask anyone interested in sponsoring us to contact our delegation using the details below. Of course your help will not go unnoticed – we will add you to the sponsors page on our website and add a link to your business on our blog – and if you need a counting or surveying team we are willing to put our newly acquired skills to use!

Website & Blog

www.nmun-tuebingen.de

Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/nmuntue14

Via Mail:

nmun@ifp.uni-tuebingen.de

On Tuesday, our delegates came into class not sure of what to expect. Sitting around the room were new delegates from countries none of this year’s team were representing in our practise classes, but soon it became clear why these new delegates were there: To test our knowledge of the Rules of Procedure. Together with the Dias, the three representatives wrecked havoc on our simulation; among other things they made phone calls, changed the Speaker’s list and used the Right of Reply incorrectly giving the 2016 delegation ample reason to make a Point of Order or even appeal the Chair.

All in all, the mischevious newcomers, who later turned out to be delegates from previous years, helped everyone to realise where there is still room for improvement and which Rules of Procedure need to be refreshed. They also made it very difficult to maintain Decorum – this year’s delegation will have to practise their pokers faces!  For their invaluable advice at the end of the session, as well as the unexpected test of our knowledge, the 2016 delegation would like to thank the past delegates for their help.

On the 14th and 15th of November, our newly selected delegation faced the exciting challenge of their first simulation of UN procedures.

Discussing the urgent important topic of „Women’s Empowerment and the Link to Sustainable Development“, the Tübingen Delegation’s members each took on the role of a different country and, in smaller working groups, drafted three resolutions which proposed concrete steps the global community should take in order to intensify their contributions on this issue.  In view of the hard work every delegate put into convincing their fellow members of their standpoints and negotiating common ground, it was all the more rewarding to see all three draft resolutions pass with marked majorities.

At the end the simulation, it became obvious just how much progress our delegation had made in terms of free speaking and understanding the often complex rules of procedure. After such a sucessful first attempt, we are excited to push forward in our preparation for the big NMUN in New York City, especially through our upcoming participation in the Hohenheim Castle MUN in January and the Tübingen Model United Nations (TMUN) in February 2016!

As the new semester has been underway for some weeks already, we are excited to anounce that 18 students have been chosen to make up the NMUN Tübingen Delegation 2016!

This academic year, we have the honor to represent the Republic of Chile and to thus take on the challenge of building on the successful tradition of past Tübingen Delegations.

Follow und support us on our eventful and laborious way to the National Model United Nations 2016, taking place from the 20th to the 24th of March in New York City.

Our website will keep you posted with regular updates and coverage of our practice simulations, our position papers, greetings from our supporters und much more!

We are looking forward to the new semester and a new NMUN Tübingen Delegation!

Interested Students are still welcome to apply for the NMUN workshop and the UN System seminar via the Campus system. Be part of the NMUN experience and become a diplomat for (at least) one semester!

We did it!

Our delegation at the UN Headquarters in New York, where the Closing Ceremony took place.

After a week of debates and negotiations, we are very happy that in all our committees we worked on resolutions that passed – you can take a look at their drafts: https://sites.google.com/site/2015nyb/.

It was a long semester for us, but now that the Closing Ceremony of NMUN 2015 is over, it all seems to have begun yesterday. We are very proud to announce that our delegation has been awarded the Distinguished Delegation award and also, more importantly, that we will be leaving New York with the feeling of a job well-done, as well as some very inspiring experiences and an infinite number of priceless memories.

We thank our Head Delegates Berith and Martin for the great preparation and absolutely reliable support, and, most of all, our Faculty Advisor Bettina Ahrens, who dedicated invaluable time, efforts, and patience in order to enable us to make NMUN such a brilliant experience. Thank you!

The Iraqi flag at the UN Headquarters in New York.

Our Position Papers have been uploaded on the NMUN homepage! You find them here: https://sites.google.com/site/nybpps2015/home. If you would like to have a look at the basis of our negotiations in New York, go to the respective committee’s page and view Iraq’s Position Paper.

In February, part of the delegation traveled to Geneva for four days to visit several institutions relevant to our preparations for NMUN. We visited the Iraqi embassy, where the First Secretary and the Secretary for Disarmament gave us detailed answers to our questions, which will be a great help for us to represent Iraq as adequately and realistically as possible. Other appointments included the German embassy, the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the UN High Commissioner of Refugees (UNHCR), and the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), an NGO that works with Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and refugees. A final highlight was our visit to the Palais des Nations, the headquarter of the United Nations in Geneva, which made us only more curious and excited about the simulation in New York, which will take place in the headquarter there. Speaking of highlights, the delicious cheese fondue we enjoyed together at the lake should not be forgotten either! This trip was a nice conclusion of the semester, and a great start into the final preparation phase. We thank our Head Delegates Berith and Martin for the excellent organization!

In order to give you an idea what delegates think of NMUN in general and the preparation for it we conducted a short interview.

Why do you participate in NMUN?
I want to get an insight into international politics and diplomacy. Participating in NMUN is a unique opportunity to experience the course of decision making in international affairs.

How do you prepare for your task in New York?
We are preparing for that during our seminar and wrote three versions of our steadily improved Position Paper about the stance of Iraq. We also did several simulations and had a speech as well as negotiating training.

What did you learn so far?
First of all we learnt the Rules of Procedure which are important for the course of the conference. Then we talked about how to write resolutions and practiced to give speeches in front of other delegates. Finally, one very important part was also to get to know the position of Iraq on the special topics we are dealing with.

What insights into international politics did you get?
Part of our preparation is also a seminar on ‘The United Nations System’ where we talk about the many institutions of the UN and their effectiveness.

What is the greatest challenge?
I’d say a big challenge was to find the position of Iraq on certain issues. Some documents we found were only in Arabic and other topics are just not of high importance for Iraq.

What was the funniest thing that happened so far?
The wine tasting after HCMUN was quite enjoyable. But in general, there is such a good atmosphere in our delegation which makes the whole preparation process real fun.

How did you get to know about NMUN?
There was a mail from the political institute sent to every student. Apart from that there is also a website about our delegation.

What was the best party?
The best party is still to come in New York!

Is there anything you would like to add?
Yes, I would like to seize this opportunity to thank the honourable interviewer for his provident guidance during this conversation. I highly appreciate the significance of all the questions and the order of them being asked. In general, it is of utmost importance to acknowledge the high relevance of this issue and to remain seized in this matter. Thank you very much!

On February 6^th the delegations of Tübingen, Stuttgart and Heidelberg met in the Neue Aula to have their last simulation before New York. The preliminary agenda included the following three topics:

• Review of the United Nations Global Counter Terrorism Strategy
• Fostering Developing Countries’ Resilience to Natural Disasters
• Combatting the Spread of Epidemic Diseases in West Africa

After a brief discussion and several motions to set the agenda, the committee voted to deal with the Review of the United Nations Global Counter Terrorism Strategy as the first issue. Various working groups emerged debating on issues as raising awareness and education, the implementation of a shared database, the development of quick response mechanisms and long term strategies. Main controversies became evident along the question of national souvereignty and international responsibility. At the end of the day and after fruitful discussions there were four draft resolutions on the floor of which three were adopted and became GA 1^st resolutions.

We thank the TMUN department for organizing the whole event and also would like to express our gratitude to Bettina, Berith and Martin for their guidance as chair during the simulation.