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 6th 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:
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 1st 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.
In order to be well prepared for the speeches we are going to give in New York, in the beginning of February we completed a speech training, which was kindly offered to us by the CEVEYGROUP for free. We learned how to draft and hold a speech within 10 minutes, first on fun questions such as whether chocolate should be classified as a drug. But also, we simulated speeches that we might have to hold in our committees: What do you say, for example, if you would like to quickly get a topic over, because it is not in the interest of the country you represent, but you don’t want to risk runining the constructive atmosphere in your committee? How do you convince other delegates of your position, if you have exactly 60 seconds to speak? Our delegation thanks Marco Behrmann, Senior Consultant with the CEVEYGROUP, for this great and generous support.
Have a look! „Am Arbeitsplatz von Ban Ki-moon“, Cannstatter Zeitung, 19.01.2015
Last Saturday, the delegation completed its second Model United Nations with a great success and as promised, we bring you a short report from it.
The Hohenheim Castle MUN, organised by the Club of Hohenheim every year since 2001, was already the next-to-last opportunity to gain a firsthand experience with a Model UN. In total, 60 students from University of Tübingen, Heidelberg, Hohenheim, and Stuttgart participated. The simulation was therefore much larger than our own first try-out model and no major player in the international arena was missing, as every delegate represented one UN member state.
The agenda of the HCMUN 2015 consisted of three diverse and highly up-to-date topics:
It was not long after the beginning of the meeting, that the agenda order of 1-2-3 was adopted, which effectively meant that the whole body would be dealing with the issue of biological weapons and their proliferation for the rest of the day. The main discussions revolved around the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) and the 1925 Geneva Protocol.
The negotiations were challenging, as all working papers had to be conceived and agreed upon in a single day. Five draft resolutions emerged in the end, most of them dealing with the issues of transparency, exchange of information, support of peaceful research and the danger of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction to non-state actors. The BWC served as a main focus for all draft resolutions and states that did not ratify it were urged to do so. In the final voting procedure, four out of five resolutions were adopted.
The HCMUN was another priceless experience in preparing for the final MUN in New York. Our delegation is also proud to have received the awards for the 2nd and 3rd best delegate, acquired respectively by Ina Majewski and Sahana Sreedar (both member of the General Assembly First Committee in New York).
We would like to thank the team of organisers very much for preparing this year’s HCMUN and we will do our best to make the Tübingen MUN at least as interesting and pleasant an experience for everyone as the Hohenheim organisers managed to do.
The year 2014 is history and we hope you enjoyed the Christmas break as much as we did. However, the new year means that the New York conference is inevitably closing in and becoming more and more real. So what progress have the delegates made so far?
First of all, the delegation is preparing for its second real-life experience with a Model UN, namely the Hohenheim Castle Model United Nations 2015, which takes place already this Saturday. You can be expecting a special report from this event next week.
Most importantly, the delegation is now in the phase of writing position papers, which represent the most important outcome of preparations for the NMUN. But what exactly is a position paper?
A position paper sums up each of every three topics of the respective committee and the country’s position on it – hence the name. This requires a lot of research, as the delegated need to not only gain overview of the main documents and concepts accepted and being discussed in the UN, but also to understand the motivation, position, and behaviour of Iraq regarding very specific issues. Assessment of current issues, recommendations, and calls for action are also an integral part of the document.
What takes some getting used to is that the aim of the position paper is not to provide thorough analysis of the issue, but to promote the country itself, its interests, and its actions within the UN. Another challenge is not to waste any space and use every sentence to express something important, as the whole paper is to be only two pages long.
Given its importance, there are three deadlines to hand in the position papers. The final versions are then sent to New York, where they are evaluated. The first versions were completed before Christmas and the delegates are now busy re-working them, trying to implement the feedback of the Head Delegates to make their position papers as good as possible. Wish them luck!