Model UN Provides Another Event for Debate Students

What happens when you put China, Iceland, Argentina, France and the United States in the same room? Change happens. The world becomes a better place, or at least this is the idea behind participating in Model United Nations (UN), which is a competitive event for high school and post-secondary participants.

Any group at school can sponsor students in Model UN conferences, as they are called, but often civics groups and speech and debate teams compete. Some schools even form Model UN clubs in order to foster participation. Unlike other extracurricular events, most conferences are standalone, without any advancement to another level.

Conferences range in size from major U.S. conferences, like Harvard and Berkeley, that last for four days and include 1,500 students or more to mid-major conferences lasting three days and including 400 to 1,400 students, to smaller conferences in various regions of the United States. Single-day and double-day conferences tend to have fewer than 200 competitors and are more localized.

Students, referred to as delegates, are assigned countries to represent. While researching, students will discover not only the basics of their assigned country, such as the history, demographics, type of government and economic systems, but also what issues that country is facing.

The students then represent their country as an assigned member of the Security Council, General Assembly or other UN bodies like the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Human Rights Council. Different competitions will designate bodies and committees within them differently depending on the size of the competition. Students from the same school are spread out between assignments, so students from the same school are not all together. Usually, schools are given a set of assignments and the teacher sponsor can specify which student would be appropriate to take each assignment based on the student’s individual abilities and interests.

The host of the contest will provide one to two research areas for each of the assigned groups to focus on. The job of the delegates is to research their country’s position on this topic, including their current stance and previous actions in the designated area, and then to suggest and evaluate proposals that can address the issue.

At the same time, students are charged with understanding the functions and purposes of the UN. The Preamble of the UN Charter describes four areas that are the pillars of the UN: Peace and Security, Human Rights, The Rule of Law and Development. Students learn that these are the foundations upon which all proposals are made and actions are taken, and they must consider how what they propose would impact the world in these areas.

For instance, the WHO might be given a topic about future pandemics or food shortages in refugee camps, while the General Assembly might address the topic of women’s rights in Afghanistan and the Security Council might tackle nuclear proliferation or the threats posed by rogue militant leaders. These will become what the delegates debate and propose solutions to solve.

Delegates write a research paper, called a position paper, and usually submit that to the contest host ahead of time. This paper is generally about one page in length and is a summation of their research. The paper is considered when determining who will be given awards at the end of the competition. Awards include Best Delegate, judged as the one who represents their country on the assigned body or committee best, as well as other awards that individual competitions may hand out, such as Best Public Speaker.

During the contest, delegates use different forms of debate to flesh out the main causes of the problems and argue what can be done on the global level to combat those issues. Occasionally, the body is given a surprise crisis that delegates must deal with as they are participating in the UN simulation. These could include something like a natural disaster or a political crisis that could impact the negotiations. While debating, students have controlled presentations using a speakers’ list, where delegates sign up to speak on their country’s position. Students also participate in caucuses where the delegates conference with each other, sometimes as a whole body, committee or assembly and sometimes in smaller groups. In this process, solutions are fleshed out and resolutions are written.

Resolutions are step-by-step solutions to the problems that the UN body has determined, through debate, are the most important issues to be addressed by the UN. Delegates choose strong wording to convey the level of the problem and its impacts as well as encourage participation in the change they have proposed. These resolutions are presented to the whole body and are voted on for Model UN competitions.

Debate looks a lot different in Model UN than in other formats, like Lincoln Douglas which focuses on morals and philosophy or policy debate that focuses on very specific policy change. Model UN is more like congressional debate, a style that appeals to different types of students, including those who might not want to go directly head-to-head with an opponent but who enjoy the collective characteristic of this style of debate.

Besides the unique format, what students like most about Model UN is that they tackle global issues from the perspective of another country, and they have fun negotiating and creating policy.

While participating in the preparation and simulation of the General Assembly or various bodies, students learn to communicate their ideas, collaborate with others who may or may not agree with them, and find creative solutions to problems that plague the world. Even though the competitions are simulations, these are skills that can transfer into the real world, and just maybe, lead to real world change.

For more resources and information on competition locations, visit these websites:

https://www.un.org/en/mun/model-un-guide
https://bestdelegate.com/
https://bestdelegate.com/high-school-model-united-nations-conferences/
https://www.allamericanmun.com/resources/model-un-conferences-by-category/