Why Shouldn’t The UN Take the Model United Nations For Granted?

By Ausama Anwar:

The moment you decide to decide is absolutely momentous. However the moment you decide to be active and engaged in contemporary talks and causes is all the more important. Actually I am not intending to relate a mere personal experience, for what matters most has to do with the morale heightened and acquired. My experience with the North Africa International Model United Nations started the moment I decided to embark in the world of diplomacy. Everything was happening fast. It was only a few days after applying that I received an acceptance letter to tell me that I will be representing Bahrain in the 3rd annual North Africa International Model United Nations to be held on 18-22 March in Tunis, the capital of Tunisia.

Honestly, I felt confused the moment I was informed that I will be the spokesman of a country of whose political system I know little about. Bahrain is tiny and so is the information I have about this Middle Eastern country. The topic we were required to discuss was also challenging but I accepted the challenge and started my diplomatic journey. The first step was gathering thorough information about Bahrain’s political, economic and social system. This helped me figure out the country’s socio-economic weight as well as its diplomatic and geopolitical relations, especially with the other gulf countries. It is never too late to learn! I felt well informed and fully prepared to discuss the given materials and to reach the targeted goals around which ECOSOC committee’s debate would revolve.

My first day wasn’t as I anticipated, for theories are different from practice. The MUN world indeed was about rules and diplomacy codes. As soon as we got used to the rules and the language of United Nations, the serious work started. Countries’ representatives started delivering their speeches by order : “We are the delegation of …” or “As the delegate of … we suggest … “

Everyone was attempting to embrace the role of the real diplomats. It was not a game actually: we were serious to the extent of showing condolence and sorrow towards the problems Africa faces; we were enthusiastic and ready to support any country that really wants to be a part of the solution. As a Bahraini delegate, and regarding the fact that there’s a strong relation between Bahrain and somehow all other Arabian-gulf countries, a political rationale started to be shaped in my mind.  As I’d recently read that in 1981 nearly all the gulf countries, except Iraq, came to an agreement to form the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in Abu Dhabi which strengthened their relations up until now, my political logic paved the way for a necessary action: my plan was to form a new alliance in the committee to target the economic and security crises that Arab countries face in North Africa today. As soon as I had a chance to raise my country (Bahrain)’s flag, I stood up and asked to form a coalition between the Arab-gulf countries. 30 minutes of an unmoderated caucus were needed, so that the member states would be able to freely discuss future plans and projects. The next step was to exclude Iran from the talk. This move shocked the delegates who considered the world of politics in utopian terms. Most of the times things run counter to our will or desires: political agendas and tactics should never rely on feelings or compassion.

The unmoderated caucus started. Its onset was about the strategic plans aiming at helping – first of all – North African countries such as Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Mauritania and Algeria due to their cultural and religious closeness. We asked some other countries to join the coalition to discuss further plans that would help and be an aid for the vulnerable countries. We asked Turkey, Tunisia, and Pakistan to join us, taking into consideration the same principles and the same reasons behind forming it. The rest of delegates in our committee were not standing aloof. They had their own talks and meetings. They were actually advised and coached by an outstanding and a fluent delegate, representing Belgium. He looked confident and serious concerning the project they were working on.

During the second day, another “coalition” was formed. The delegation of Belgium introduced a project intended to be merged with the Bahraini Coalition. Again another unmoderated caucus, and we started to work hand in hand to reach a common resolution.  We organized ourselves and meet a group of African countries to discuss their problems and suggest solution. Meanwhile, we were searching and exploring our economic and political capabilities accordingly, to see the extent of our impacts as member states.Optimized-A-IMG_1054 (3)

The third and final day played a pivotal role in our endeavors. We discussed all the problems we have already stated and we divided the resolution into three major parts: Innovative Financing, Access to Energy and Sustainable Development. We discussed the format of our resolution, linguistically and semantically. After clarifying the main points already discussed, we divided them into preambles and operatives. Then we finally moved to voting.

The successful and outstanding performance of the delegations of Tunisia, Germany and South Korea made them the sponsors of the resolution which was finally signed afterwards by the majority. The NAIMUN event and specifically our committee started with a realistic political move, that opened up to an outstanding performance that all the delegations partook in. It is a microcosmic perception we all wish to see in the work of the United Nations. The NAIMUN president, Mr Taweh highlighted this shared desire and intention in his opening statement. He posits that “2016 marks a pivotal year for the United Nations and we selected the theme of ‘Impact’ as a means to reflect on the tremendous contributions of the United Nations towards human security and peace-building.”

I believe in what I have experienced and in our work of only three days. This is quite effective and  may work better in the United Nations if they really and truly work on it, leaving their political agendas aside. Thus the problems we face nowadays could at least be reduced. I also believe in Unity that made our work tangible. I ask the United Nations not to take Model United Nations for granted because they are the future and the brains that work for better days and you can benefit a lot from their resolutions.

Ausama Anwar was born in 1994, in the capital of the Kurdistan region, Hawler. He is a writer and author of two books. ‘A Gate to the Intellectual’ is dedicated to youth generally with an intellectual background. ‘Hidden Idea: Some Samples from Movies’ is a work of creative movie analysis. Ausama is also a freelance journalist and President of the Zamwa Society Development Organization. Twitter.com/suaam   fb.com/AusamaOfficial

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