Vancouver 2012

The WorldMUN 2012 in Vancouver is history and therefore five exciting conference days. Without doubt the most intensive time of the 10-day study trip of the delegation to Canada. The seven delegates put all their diplomatic skills to work in the committees to include the position of South Sudan in the final documents as best as possible. After an impressive opening ceremony on Sunday evening where the delegation got to know the first students from all over the world, the work in the four committees started on Monday morning.

SSW

The Special Summit on Water (SSW) - in which Jörg and Christian represented Angola and South Sudan - was a "sub-body" of the General Assembly. It was the first time, that the SSW was simulated at the WorldMUN conference- Focus of the summit was the topic of "Global Sustainable Water Management". Majorities quickly emerged that were quite similar to those in real international diplomacy: the African Union allied itself with other developing countries and G77 countries, while the western industrialized countries developed a separate draft resolution. After intensive negotiations, it became apparent that the drafts supported by large parts of the committee were more difficult to put together than expected. Thus, the work became more and more differentiated and more and more groups stiffened to cover special topics of a possible draft resolution; which ultimately resulted in the fact that on the last day of the conference more than 12 "draft resolutions" were drawn up, of which only two made it into the voting process. As representatives of South Sudan and the Republic of Angola, Christian and Jörg held close ties to their neighbouring countries and the African Union, which had a solid majority in the vote. Fortunately, the committee was able to agree on a resolution shortly before the conference ended.

SOCHUM und WHO

Delegation at SOCHUM
Image: WorldMun Jena

In the Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee (SOCHUM) Alisa Weinhold and Franziska Sandt represented the interests of South Sudan on the subject of "Primary Education Development". In cooperation with other African countries, as well as China, Russia and the Netherlands, there was primarily a discussion about primary education in fragile and conflict-prone countries. This suited South Sudan very well and so Alisa and Franziska were able to get actively involved in the draft resolution, which was adopted by the committee on the last day as a resolution.

Janine Dersin represented South Sudan in the World Health Organization (WHO), which dealt with the subject of "contraception in developing countries". The focus of the debates was on improved educational opportunities for men, women and children, capacity building and the expansion of infrastructure, as well as the financing of these measures to prevent unwanted pregnancies and the spread of diseases such as HIV / AIDS, particularly in developing countries. After four extremely exciting and productive days, the WHO adopted a comprehensive resolution that was approved by the various countries. From Janine's point of view, it is particularly gratifying for South Sudan that, together with other African countries, she has brought up her point on the issue of contraception in conflict areas, which has been assessed very positively by the WHO and included in the final resolution.

SPECPOL

The Palestine issue was discussed in the Special, Political, and Decolonization Committee (SPECPOL). Since this topic specifically focuses on the Middle East, the group of main actors was limited. Friederike Selle and Franziska Rode worked closely with the allies of South Sudan, Israel and the United States to ensure that a resolution should end violence and advance the peace process. With other African countries, the South Sudan delegates prepared amendments that were to expand the draft resolutions by proposing an economic incentive for the cooperation between Israel and Palestine. As there was still no agreement on one of the three working papers in the committee on the penultimate day, Friederike and Franziska - together with the German delegation and Mexico - tried to combine ideas from the three other drafts in a fourth working paper. The latter could be shared by many delegations. Ultimately, the negotiations at SPECPOL remained so realistic that no resolution on the topic was passed.

Thanks to the many committed delegates in the committees, the four days of negotiation were extremely productive for everyone. In all four committees, the Jena delegates were able to bring their ideas to bear in the resolutions or draft resolutions, which can be regarded as a great success, considering that South Sudan has not been a member of the United Nations for even a year, and also at WorldMUN was represented for the first time.

In addition to the work in the committees, the excursion to Whistler was an experience which none of the delegates will quickly forget. The largest ski area in North America, which was the venue for the 2010 Winter Olympics was one of the biggest highlights. With the lighting of the Olympic flame, Jörg, Christian, Alisa, Franziska, Janine, Friederike and Franziska came to the end of their very personal "V-Project", which presented them with unexpected challenges and a lot of fun. The insights into the work of the United Nations and the contact to many young people from all over the world have ensured that the seven delegates from Jena see the world with different eyes in the future.

The WorldMUN conference was a unique opportunity for everyone to gain a deeper insight into the processes of international diplomacy and to experience it for themselves. Over the five days of the conference, delegates became ambassadors for South Sudan and learned what it means to look at the issues in the committees from the perspective of one of the poorest countries in the world. Stephen Toope, President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of British Columbia, therefore aptly quoted an old Indian saying in his closing speech: "You can only understand one if you walk 100 miles in someone else's shoes."