What is Model UN?
Model UN is an activity for college students in which participants engage in a simulation of the practices, actions and debates of the real United Nations. Students participate in all branches of the UN including the General Assembly (GA), the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and the Specialized Agencies (SA). Delegates are assigned country positions in their various committees and are to debate and discuss their country’s position in a realistic simulation of the UN. Over a series of sessions, delegates are given the opportunity to debate, advocate and ultimately collaborate over a certain topic in an effort to arrive at a solution that can actually be implemented.
Model UN is a unique experience that allows and encourages delegates to hone their public speaking, analytical and negotiating skills as well as broaden their perspective on a variety of international topics. The sessions are moderated by a director and are organized under the rules of parliamentary procedure. As an activity for internationally aware students, Model UN has become increasingly popular over the past decade, with conferences now held around the world.
What is WorldMUN?
Harvard World Model United Nations (WorldMUN) is the most diverse college-level Model UN conference and the largest outside of North America. Every year 1,650 college students from over 42 countries attend WorldMUN in a different location around the world; past locations include Beijing, China, Belo Horizonte, Brazil, and Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. The conference lasts one week in late March and combines committee sessions during the day with nightly social events. The week provides delegates with an amazing way to experience the host country and to learn with students from around the world.
The ‘WorldMUN Spirit’
The ‘WorldMUN Spirit’ is our guiding principle, our reason for holding this conference and is always at the forefront of our minds when planning events for delegates. It is difficult to describe, but ask anyone who has attended a WorldMUN conference and they will tell you there is something special about WorldMUN, something that distinguishes it from all other Model UN conferences around the world. For some the ‘WorldMUN spirit’ comes out after hours of deliberation and debate and the final passage of a important resolution, for others it’s the deep conversation at 2 am with someone from the other side of the world, and for some it’s the relaxation at one of the social events after a long day’s work. For us, the ‘WorldMUN spirit’ involves bringing 1,650 college students from different geographical, cultural, religious and social backgrounds and making the world seem a little bit smaller, if just for one week.
Why WorldMUN?
Mission
To provide our delegates with an understanding of the responsibilities and benefits of global citizenry.
Vision
Our annual aim is to provide the world's most realistic simulation of the United Nations while allowing our delegates to immerse themselves in a different cultural setting.
Formally, our goal is to allow delegates to discuss and debates ideas from the perspective of a country from where they do not live and may not have ever visited. Through this exchange of diverse ideas, we hope that delegates will learn more about other countries, issues of global import, and themselves.
The opportunity to explore other cultures is magnified as WorldMUN is held in a different city of the world every year, giving the delegates a chance to explore the societies that contribute to our common global culture.
Our long-term aim is to spread the ideals of peace, justice, understanding and participation. These four concepts are not ideals so much as attitudes to be cultivated. It is our sincerest hope once the conference is co-hosted by a University that a tradition of Model United Nations will develop and flourish in that area.
Ultimately, we wish that WorldMUN will be an annual conference where delegates from all over the world will come - after experiencing the simulations in different regions of the world - to address the same agendas that committees at the United Nations itself are debating, in order to provide the world's youth with a means of letting their voices be heard.