What Is The Model United Nations?
The United Nations is a group of people with one representative from each country. In the United Nations, the representatives from their countries fight to have their perspective seen by the rest of the world. The United Nations strive for four main goals: world peace, friendly relationships between countries, to improve peoples lives, and to be a center for helping nations achieve these goals. The Model United Nations is when a group of people mimic that actions of the United Nations and work to "solve" problems. In Humanities, we picked one world issue and held a mock UN Conference on it. The first conference we did, we had a conference on the Palestinian Refugee Issue. Our task was to figure out how to manage the refugees. We did Iranian Nuclear Technology as our second conference topic. Our task was to figure out if Iran should be allowed to have nuclear technology or not.
I was a moderator in the conference, meaning that I helped the delegates run the conference. I prepared for the conference, arrived early, and set everything up. I drew out seating charts, constructed placards, and selected dockets. Being a moderator was a special privilege, and I'm happy I got the chance to run the conference.
I was a moderator in the conference, meaning that I helped the delegates run the conference. I prepared for the conference, arrived early, and set everything up. I drew out seating charts, constructed placards, and selected dockets. Being a moderator was a special privilege, and I'm happy I got the chance to run the conference.
MUN Conference #2 Refection
1. How has your perspective changed (on the UN, the world, or the Middle East) based on this project?
Before this project, I knew almost nothing about the UN or what was going on in the world. Now, I am very inspired to follow world news and I am truly amazed by the UN. It took my class one month to plan one single model UN conference. As a job, people research, write speeches, and accurately present their country’s view to the UN on a daily basis. Over the course of this project, I have learned an abundance of new information about the world and the way that it is kept under control. The UN is a very dedicated group of people and it would be fascinating to see how the real UN works.
2. Look at what you need to improve on from your last reflection and discuss how you improved for this conference.
After my last conference, I said that I wanted to work on having more insight to what the conference was actually about. In the last conference, I hadn’t read the docket before the actual conference. That was my biggest mistake, and in this conference I made sure that I read the docket. In fact, Bryn, the other chair, and I got to pick the docket together. We read all of the resolutions and classified them by the quality of the writing, how unique it is, and what it was about. In the end, we only picked out five resolutions for the docket, but we still found that it was unique and interesting. It definitely helped improve my conference experience because I felt like I was actually a part of the conference rather than watching.
3.If we did yet at third conference, what would you most need to improve on from this conference?
If we did another conference, I feel that I would need to improve the most on speaking louder. When Bryn and I went to talk to the crowd during breaks, their number one feedback was that we weren’t talking loud enough and they were having a hard time hearing. I would also make sure that all of the delegates were speaking loud enough so that the crowd could actually follow along with the debates.
4. Give yourself a grade for the following categories and explain why that is the grade you deserve.
Grunt Work: There was a lot of grunt work involved with being a chair. I feel like I did all of the work that Mr. Fisher asked me to do including making three placards for each country in our conference. I believe that I deserve an A because Bryn and I finished everything asked of us and we did as quickly as possible.
Pre-Conference Prep: Even though I missed Humanities the day of the conference, Bryn and I were very prepared for the conference. We had done some organizing on the Thursday and Friday of the week before, and it paid off. When we got to the conference, we had everything we needed, including and extra computer. The seating chart did have to be adjusted, but I think that I deserve and A for pre-conference prep.
Challenges During Conference: Our conference was relatively challenge-free, but the one major problem we had was that there was a fan in the back of the room, and the audience couldn’t hear us. Despite our constant reminders, some of the delegates still spoke quietly. When we got to the room, the podium provided for us had a computer on it. We quickly made a podium out of overhead projecter and the top of a podium. I thought that Bryn and I did a good job of controlling the conference and that we deserve A’s or A-‘s.
Before this project, I knew almost nothing about the UN or what was going on in the world. Now, I am very inspired to follow world news and I am truly amazed by the UN. It took my class one month to plan one single model UN conference. As a job, people research, write speeches, and accurately present their country’s view to the UN on a daily basis. Over the course of this project, I have learned an abundance of new information about the world and the way that it is kept under control. The UN is a very dedicated group of people and it would be fascinating to see how the real UN works.
2. Look at what you need to improve on from your last reflection and discuss how you improved for this conference.
After my last conference, I said that I wanted to work on having more insight to what the conference was actually about. In the last conference, I hadn’t read the docket before the actual conference. That was my biggest mistake, and in this conference I made sure that I read the docket. In fact, Bryn, the other chair, and I got to pick the docket together. We read all of the resolutions and classified them by the quality of the writing, how unique it is, and what it was about. In the end, we only picked out five resolutions for the docket, but we still found that it was unique and interesting. It definitely helped improve my conference experience because I felt like I was actually a part of the conference rather than watching.
3.If we did yet at third conference, what would you most need to improve on from this conference?
If we did another conference, I feel that I would need to improve the most on speaking louder. When Bryn and I went to talk to the crowd during breaks, their number one feedback was that we weren’t talking loud enough and they were having a hard time hearing. I would also make sure that all of the delegates were speaking loud enough so that the crowd could actually follow along with the debates.
4. Give yourself a grade for the following categories and explain why that is the grade you deserve.
Grunt Work: There was a lot of grunt work involved with being a chair. I feel like I did all of the work that Mr. Fisher asked me to do including making three placards for each country in our conference. I believe that I deserve an A because Bryn and I finished everything asked of us and we did as quickly as possible.
Pre-Conference Prep: Even though I missed Humanities the day of the conference, Bryn and I were very prepared for the conference. We had done some organizing on the Thursday and Friday of the week before, and it paid off. When we got to the conference, we had everything we needed, including and extra computer. The seating chart did have to be adjusted, but I think that I deserve and A for pre-conference prep.
Challenges During Conference: Our conference was relatively challenge-free, but the one major problem we had was that there was a fan in the back of the room, and the audience couldn’t hear us. Despite our constant reminders, some of the delegates still spoke quietly. When we got to the room, the podium provided for us had a computer on it. We quickly made a podium out of overhead projecter and the top of a podium. I thought that Bryn and I did a good job of controlling the conference and that we deserve A’s or A-‘s.
Facts To Know - Iranian Nuclear Technology
- Current president of Iran is Mahmoud Ahmedinejad.
- The current supreme leader of Iran is Ayatollah Ali Khemeini.
- There have only been two supreme leaders in the history of Iran.
- The Revolution of 1979 resulted in Iran becoming a distinct Islamic Republic.
- The monarchy of Iran was overthrown during the 1979 Revolution.
- The IAEA is a branch of the UN Security Council that works with inspecting weapons.
- The Iranian Nuclear Program began in the 1950’s with help from the United States and the Atoms for Peace Program.
- Iran claims they are using their nuclear technology for energy and peace keeping.
- Many countries believe that Iran doesn’t need nuclear technology because oil can produce power.
- Iran claims they wish to reduce their use of oil because they wish to prevent pollution or the complete loss of oil worldwide.
- The IAEA has released more than one thousand pages of evidence supporting that Iran is producing nuclear technology.
- The 1979 Revolution helped to halt the production of nuclear technology in Iran.
- Iran said that it halted production of nuclear technology around 2003.
- It is suspected that there has been underground production of nuclear explosives ever since.
- In 2010, the IAEA released a report explaining Iran’s potential to create a nuclear weapon. In the 1970s, the United States, France, and Germany supported Iran and their nuclear technology.
- After the Shah was admitted to the United States for treatment of cancer, Iranian Islamic students took hostage 66 Americans. This happened on November 4th, 1979.
- In 2003, IAEA inspectors declared that Iran had failed to follow the guidelines under the Safeguard Agreement, which was signed in 1974.
- There are two major categories of the Muslim religion. Around 89% of Iran’s population is Shia, and about 10% of Iran’s Muslims are Sunni.
- Iran’s began building their first reactor when the Shah was ruling. The reactor was predicted to be complete around 1979, when the revolution began.
MUN Conference 1 Reflection
1. What are you the most proud of about this conference?
As a moderator, I am the most proud of the way that both myself and the other moderator were able to finally control the delegates. During the mock conferences, Tony and I were having a difficult time being able to keep the delegates quiet and on topic. When it came time to actually have the conference, it was easier to keep everyone quiet because they knew that now, if they talked out of turn, it would affect their grade. We did a good job at cracking down and giving people who were misbehaving negative diplomacy points which affect their grades.
2. What did you connect with most in this project, and how did that affect your conference performance?
During the build up to the conference, I feel like I connected the most to the research paper that I wrote in the very beginning of the project. It was an assignment that I took seriously because I knew that everyone in the class would be reading it. While I was researching, I found a website that showed the Israeli Palestinian Refugee Issue from the viewpoint of a teenager in a refugee camp. That one article truly helped me connect to issue because it told me how someone my age is living half way across the world. I was shocked when I learned that whole families live in one-room houses smaller than my garage. This article was key for me to be able to connect to the content that I was learning.
3. What was the most important thing you learned in this project? Why?
The most important thing I learned during this project was definitely the Parliamentary Procedure. Parliamentary Procedure was the basis of how Tony and I were going to run the conference. Without Parliamentary Procedure, the entire conference would have been a complete frenzy. After we learned the Parliamentary Procedure, Tony and I knew what someone was going to say before they even asked for it. If they said: “Point of parliamentary inquiry,” we knew they had a question for us. If someone asked for a point of personal privilege, we knew that they either had to go to the bathroom or would like to be added to the speakers list. Overall, Parliamentary Procedure was the most important this I learned during this project.
4. If you were a teacher or observer, what would you say about your performance in conference? (Good and Bad)
As a teacher or an observer, I would say that Tony and I were somewhat unorganized at moments, but we figured it out. We tried to have everyone decently prepared, but if someone had been absent on the day before the conference, they didn’t have all of their materials pulled together. Also, I would say that Tony and I were sometimes caught off guard by questions that we weren’t expecting. We weren’t necessarily prepared for everything that would come along, but we knew a vast majority of the questions that we were asked.
5. For our next MUN conference, what would you most want to improve in your performance? How do you plan on doing this?
For the next MUN, I would like to have more insight to what the delegates are debating about. One of the problems that I had was that I hadn’t had the chance to read the docket packet. This was slightly my fault, but either way I felt like an observer because I didn’t know what resolution 1F or 1B said. Before the next conference, I will make sure that I have received the docket packet and that I have read through it thoroughly.
As a moderator, I am the most proud of the way that both myself and the other moderator were able to finally control the delegates. During the mock conferences, Tony and I were having a difficult time being able to keep the delegates quiet and on topic. When it came time to actually have the conference, it was easier to keep everyone quiet because they knew that now, if they talked out of turn, it would affect their grade. We did a good job at cracking down and giving people who were misbehaving negative diplomacy points which affect their grades.
2. What did you connect with most in this project, and how did that affect your conference performance?
During the build up to the conference, I feel like I connected the most to the research paper that I wrote in the very beginning of the project. It was an assignment that I took seriously because I knew that everyone in the class would be reading it. While I was researching, I found a website that showed the Israeli Palestinian Refugee Issue from the viewpoint of a teenager in a refugee camp. That one article truly helped me connect to issue because it told me how someone my age is living half way across the world. I was shocked when I learned that whole families live in one-room houses smaller than my garage. This article was key for me to be able to connect to the content that I was learning.
3. What was the most important thing you learned in this project? Why?
The most important thing I learned during this project was definitely the Parliamentary Procedure. Parliamentary Procedure was the basis of how Tony and I were going to run the conference. Without Parliamentary Procedure, the entire conference would have been a complete frenzy. After we learned the Parliamentary Procedure, Tony and I knew what someone was going to say before they even asked for it. If they said: “Point of parliamentary inquiry,” we knew they had a question for us. If someone asked for a point of personal privilege, we knew that they either had to go to the bathroom or would like to be added to the speakers list. Overall, Parliamentary Procedure was the most important this I learned during this project.
4. If you were a teacher or observer, what would you say about your performance in conference? (Good and Bad)
As a teacher or an observer, I would say that Tony and I were somewhat unorganized at moments, but we figured it out. We tried to have everyone decently prepared, but if someone had been absent on the day before the conference, they didn’t have all of their materials pulled together. Also, I would say that Tony and I were sometimes caught off guard by questions that we weren’t expecting. We weren’t necessarily prepared for everything that would come along, but we knew a vast majority of the questions that we were asked.
5. For our next MUN conference, what would you most want to improve in your performance? How do you plan on doing this?
For the next MUN, I would like to have more insight to what the delegates are debating about. One of the problems that I had was that I hadn’t had the chance to read the docket packet. This was slightly my fault, but either way I felt like an observer because I didn’t know what resolution 1F or 1B said. Before the next conference, I will make sure that I have received the docket packet and that I have read through it thoroughly.
UN Conference Script Exercise
Chairs arrive before the conference to set up the room with tables and chairs. Chairs do roll call.
Chair: Points or Motions on the floor?
China: Motion to Change the Speaking Time to three minutes.
Russia: I second that motion.
Chair: Speakers for?
Brazil: Three is a magic number.
Syria: Three times three is nine, which is my favorite number.
Chair: Speakers against?
Israel: Three minutes is to short and the speakers may feel rushed and might not get their point across.
North Korea: Four is longer, which is better.
Chair: Let’s vote. For? (16 raise hands) Against? (8 raise hands)
Chair: Speaking time is three minutes. Points or motions on the floor?
Croatia: Motion to change the number of comments to five.
Libya: I second that motion.
Chair: Speakers for?
United Kingdom: Five is a good amount because you get enough feedback but not too much.
Madagascar: Five comments is good because its easy to listen to.
Chair: Speakers against?
France: Five is too many comments and might take to long to get through five comments.
Egypt: Five is an unlucky number.
Chair: Let’s vote. Who is for this motion? (7 raise hands) Who is against this motion? (17 raise hands) This motion fails. Points or motions on the floor?
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Chair: Points or Motions on the floor?
China: Motion to Change the Speaking Time to three minutes.
Russia: I second that motion.
Chair: Speakers for?
Brazil: Three is a magic number.
Syria: Three times three is nine, which is my favorite number.
Chair: Speakers against?
Israel: Three minutes is to short and the speakers may feel rushed and might not get their point across.
North Korea: Four is longer, which is better.
Chair: Let’s vote. For? (16 raise hands) Against? (8 raise hands)
Chair: Speaking time is three minutes. Points or motions on the floor?
Croatia: Motion to change the number of comments to five.
Libya: I second that motion.
Chair: Speakers for?
United Kingdom: Five is a good amount because you get enough feedback but not too much.
Madagascar: Five comments is good because its easy to listen to.
Chair: Speakers against?
France: Five is too many comments and might take to long to get through five comments.
Egypt: Five is an unlucky number.
Chair: Let’s vote. Who is for this motion? (7 raise hands) Who is against this motion? (17 raise hands) This motion fails. Points or motions on the floor?
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Israeli Palestine Issue Brief
1. Background Information
The Palestinian Refugees have been a situation of attention for the UN since 1948 when the first conflict between Israel and the Arabs started in Palestine. When the UN voted on splitting the country into two on May 14th, 1948, creating Israel, a war broke out between the Palestinians and the Jews of Palestine.
The term Zionism describes the movement of the Jews of Palestine returning to the Holy Land. When Palestine was split into two sections, the Holy Land was on the opposite side of the border than the majority of the Jew population. This gave the Jew a belligerent attitude towards the Arabs.
The war began when the Arabs began attacking the Jewish state of Israel. When fighting began, many Arabs who weren’t fighting fled. More Arabs followed when Haganah, the Jewish underground organization, forced them out of their homes. The Arab invasion of Israel was very unorganized and when their operation failed, a UN broker named Count Folke organized a truce in early July. After the truce was organized, the fighting continued for ten days. During these ten days, the Arab forces tried to push forward but the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) pushed them away. A second truce was organized on July 18th 1948.
This war created two distinct groups of refugees: the Arabs(also known as the Palestinians) the Jews (also known as the Zionists). During the war of 1948, which only lasted a couple of months, 700,000 Arabs fled their country heading to surrounding Arab states such as Jordan, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq. More than 950,000 Jews fled to Israel. Now almost all of the refugees in Israel have been adopted as citizens of Israel, making up more than half of Israel’s population.
After the war, the number of refugees in Israel is increasing by at least 20,000 new refugees each year. These refugees are being displaced by construction and most are ending up in illegal refugee settlements. Currently, there are around 7 million refugees still displaced. Around 67% of the original Palestinians remain as refugees.
During the Six Day War of 1967, Israel captured portions of Arab land including the Gaza Strip, West Bank, and Golan Heights in Jerusalem. The Israelis later abandoned the Gaza Strip, leaving it empty. In 2007, more than 500,000 Jews live in West Bank and Jerusalem combined. They are barred from using the public road, leaving them stranded at their camps.
The average scene at a Palestinian Refugee camp consists of slim alleyways with open sewers and one or two room houses. The houses are so frail that they are leaning on each other for support. There are no toilets or showers in the houses and often families have to change in front of each other because they have no where else to go. A normal meal in the refugee camps of Israel consists mainly of bread, olives, and olive oil.
To see more... Click here
The Palestinian Refugees have been a situation of attention for the UN since 1948 when the first conflict between Israel and the Arabs started in Palestine. When the UN voted on splitting the country into two on May 14th, 1948, creating Israel, a war broke out between the Palestinians and the Jews of Palestine.
The term Zionism describes the movement of the Jews of Palestine returning to the Holy Land. When Palestine was split into two sections, the Holy Land was on the opposite side of the border than the majority of the Jew population. This gave the Jew a belligerent attitude towards the Arabs.
The war began when the Arabs began attacking the Jewish state of Israel. When fighting began, many Arabs who weren’t fighting fled. More Arabs followed when Haganah, the Jewish underground organization, forced them out of their homes. The Arab invasion of Israel was very unorganized and when their operation failed, a UN broker named Count Folke organized a truce in early July. After the truce was organized, the fighting continued for ten days. During these ten days, the Arab forces tried to push forward but the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) pushed them away. A second truce was organized on July 18th 1948.
This war created two distinct groups of refugees: the Arabs(also known as the Palestinians) the Jews (also known as the Zionists). During the war of 1948, which only lasted a couple of months, 700,000 Arabs fled their country heading to surrounding Arab states such as Jordan, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq. More than 950,000 Jews fled to Israel. Now almost all of the refugees in Israel have been adopted as citizens of Israel, making up more than half of Israel’s population.
After the war, the number of refugees in Israel is increasing by at least 20,000 new refugees each year. These refugees are being displaced by construction and most are ending up in illegal refugee settlements. Currently, there are around 7 million refugees still displaced. Around 67% of the original Palestinians remain as refugees.
During the Six Day War of 1967, Israel captured portions of Arab land including the Gaza Strip, West Bank, and Golan Heights in Jerusalem. The Israelis later abandoned the Gaza Strip, leaving it empty. In 2007, more than 500,000 Jews live in West Bank and Jerusalem combined. They are barred from using the public road, leaving them stranded at their camps.
The average scene at a Palestinian Refugee camp consists of slim alleyways with open sewers and one or two room houses. The houses are so frail that they are leaning on each other for support. There are no toilets or showers in the houses and often families have to change in front of each other because they have no where else to go. A normal meal in the refugee camps of Israel consists mainly of bread, olives, and olive oil.
To see more... Click here
The following documents are some of the projects that Bryn and I were given to do as the chairs. Our teacher, Mr. Fisher, would call them the grunt work. We used these documents during the actual conference to keep track of points and who was there. Above you will see a picture of some of the placards made in photoshop. These were used to identify the countries when they had something to say.
attendence_form.xlsx | |
File Size: | 37 kb |
File Type: | xlsx |
participation.doc | |
File Size: | 59 kb |
File Type: | doc |