From 9-11 March 2022, students from the 10th, 11th and 12th grade attended the Model United Nations at the University Rey Carlos III. We met up with people from all over the world in order to debate about current affairs and experience, how a real session of the United Nations representatives looks like. 

Each of us was the government delegate of a certain country – like Finland, Iceland, Ghana, Japan or Turkey – and had to represent its political agenda on two topics: “Equal treatment of LGBTQI+” and “Human Trafficking and criminal networks” in the UNHCR Committee.

After arriving at the University on the first day, our committee got together and started to get to know each other. After that, we were quickly reminded of the procedure for debate and the official rules and started, after a short coffee break, with our first topic. Every delegate started explaining their countries point of view on the issue, and alliances started forming. 

 During lunchtime, we ate in the university cafeteria and had some free time, starting to bond with the other students. In the afternoon, we had another long session, fracturing the initial topic into its core components and discussing the different aspects individually. After a tiring, but satisfying day everyone returned home to return well rested the next day.

On the second day of the MUN we started working on solutions to incorporate in our final resolution. There quickly formed two groups, proposing very different resolutions. Following that, the representatives of both resolutions started looking for support amongst the other delegates, and we proceeded to vote on the resolutions. Unfortunately for the entire committee, no resolution passed. After having lunch, we started debating the next topic, finding common ground in a short amount of time.

The third day, the chairs made a surprise announcement by changing the topic due to current events in the Russia-Ukraine crisis. This change of plans was accepted with enthusiasm amongst all delegates, which led to specific proposals in no time. A resolution was formulated in combined efforts and voted by an absolute majority, which fortunately, passed. In the afternoon, all topics had been debated and the delegates decided to pass to emptying the gossip box, where everyone could throw in slips of paper with nice or teasing comments about the chairs or other delegates on it.

We finished our three day experience with a final ceremony, in which the best delegates were rewarded for their outstanding efforts during the MUN.