Simulation at Hohenheim Castle

As we are slowly but surely approaching the end of the semester, the workload on our delegation has doubled. Finishing the second drafts of our position papers, planning and organizing the upcoming TMUN and preparing for exams next week at the same time… definitely not easy! However, we are becoming more and more confident in our knowledge of Azerbaijan and UN procedures and our role as delegates. We can’t wait to put our skills to the test in New York!

Last weekend, we also attended the annual General Assembly simulation at Hohenheim Castle with the universities of Hohenheim and Heidelberg. It was great to get to know some other delegations, especially since Hohenheim will be joining our delegation in New York, representing Iraq. The location was extraordinary and gave the negotiations a unique atmosphere. At the beginning of the assembly, we set the agenda on the topic „Forced Displacement Due to Climate Change“. As we had never participated in a simulation with more than 20 people, we quickly realized that we did not need to worry about the speaker’s list running out. It is also more difficult to find a working group that best represents your country’s interests when there are so many delegates you could cooperate with. This was definitely a good exercise for New York, where some of us will be in committees with about 100 nations more than in Hohenheim. 

One of the main disputed issues between the different working groups was the question if the term „refugee“ should be broadened to include people displaced due to climate change, guaranteeing them the same political rights as people displaced due to violent conflicts or human rights violations. While mainly European and North American countries debated this definition, African and Asian countries called for more concrete ideas on how to help people already displaced due to climate change and how to prepare countries with a higher risk of being affected. In the end, two resolutions were adopted, one of them containing detailed suggestions and one defining „environmental migrant“, without using the term refugee, and most of our delegates were happy with the achievement. To top everything off, Jakob, representing Togo, was honored with the title „Best Delegate“! 

To celebrate our hard work, we attended a wine tasting the Hohenheimer delegation had prepared. This gave us the opportunity to relax and get to know the other delegations on a more private level. We will see them all again on Friday when they come to visit us in Tübingen for TMUN. We can’t wait!