My First MUN Experience at Pathways Noida

The PSNMUN was held on 31st January-2nd February. That was my first MUN and I have to say, it was one of the best experiences of my life. From walking into the committee to walking out, it was a real game-changer for me. The opening ceremony saw the introduction of the Executive Board of the UNSC, UNHRC and the UNEP. Each committee had its own respective agenda that they needed to tackle by the end of the three days.

I, myself was in the UNHRC alongside 49 other committee members. Some experienced, some were stepping foot into a committee for the first time. With the introduction of the agenda and the GSL, the debating began immediately. I was so surprised by the level of knowledge that each delegate possessed, I thought it was going to be very tough going for the next three days. However, that ceased to be the case with my Executive Board. All of them were experienced enough to know that every country had a say in these matters and gave everyone their chance in the spotlight.

The first thing that the committee established was the General Speakers List. This was by far the most dangerous place to be, should you have chosen to yield to points of information. Your nation would always be attacked by the members of the opposing bloc and you had to be ready to face whatever would lie ahead of you.

With two Blocs formed, primed and ready to go at each other with all the research they’d collected, the debate began. With the majority siding in favor of the topic, my bloc (the opposition) should’ve felt weaker; however we fought long and hard to fight for our topic. The heated caucuses were the most exciting for me. But it remained to one of the most dangerous places to be attacked. With statement after statement, you could always expect to receive an attacking statement on your nation’s view of the topic. In the case of the UNHRC, it was Capital Punishment. The Bloc in favor of keeping it, undoubtedly had more experienced MUNers but the numbers were against us.

As well as the debate, there was the always controversial chit-passing which proved to a strong point for many but fatal for others. The word: controversial is just about right, to describe the chit passing that happened in the various committees. We saw a couple of sparks flying between delegates, and some very well worded arguments that left other delegates clueless as to how to answer.

However, there was a sudden entrance of our Secretary-General who was ready to give us a crisis about a 14 year old girl who had recently been stoned to death in North-West Afghanistan and that they boy she had the affair with, was already engaged but had been sentenced to death in a prison in the same province, which was controlled by the Afghan Government and US Afghan Forces. I was glad to hear of the crisis, despite the incident that occurred, because we finally had to chance to come to a unanimous decision about the resolution as well as putting our skills to the test for a real-life situation.

My bloc had shared some ideas with the opposition during the un-moderated caucus. We had to come to a resolution to solve the crisis and we had finally come up with 2 of them, which fulfilled both of the blocs’ needs. But ultimately, the other bloc had plans of their own and in the end, their resolution was more fulfilling to the crisis.

Sadly, we had come to the end of the MUN as soon as we had given the final resolution to the Executive Board. But at the end of the day, I had made many new friends and maybe some mortal enemies.  But regardless of that, the PSNMUN, was very well handled. From the ever-patient Executive Board to the Conference Staff, everything was well organized for the thirteen  schools that participated in the MUN. With this being my first, I’m sure I’m already hooked onto the concept and will definitely look forward my next MUN and would recommend anyone to try it out. One thing I’ve learnt here is that; regardless of the fact that you might be more insignificant or a huge superpower, you can still make a difference to everything that happens in the committee. So this is definitely a place where you can raise your voice for the various happenings all over the world.

I would definitely recommend the MUN to anyone who is willing to voice their opinions and I myself, would definitely go for my next MUN!

Advitiya Narang

Form 9 A

 

 

The Delegate of Togo had a wonderful experience and really enjoyed the first ever attended MUN of her life. The pace was set with a fantastic opening ceremony which included percussion and more music. It was great to know that twelve schools from the NCR were participating in the event.

Chief Guest Ms. Rona Rathod,
Pol.Section, US Embassy, New Delhi
Our Executive Board was already present in the committee room when we reached there. The first sentence of the Executive Board of  the United Nation Security Council in the morning made us realise that we needed to be very attentive and that at the same time, we could expect to really enjoy and learn from MUNs.

Sitting on a desk with the flag of my country and a placard with my nation’s name made me feel all important. Just the very presence of my country’s report in front of me, all the information that I had gathered about Togo before the MUN and the presence of other delegates, all equally well prepared, gave me butterflies in my stomach.
 

The agenda of the UNSC, was “Peace building in Afghanistan from 2014”.  The three days of PSNMUN took us through a range of situations. We were                                                              Executive Board

discussing, debating, found ourselves in the middle of a crisis; we collaborated, lobbied, hollered, negotiated – basically, had a crash course in aspects of diplomacy – very ably guided by the Executive Board, who taught and trained us on the go.

The last session of our MUN ended with laughter and praise for the Security Council participants  and the Executive Board. We went for the closing ceremony where the dancers performed wonderfully and left us stunned. Everyone was happy with results. There’s always one winner but here everyone was a winner as MUN -ing is not easy but we accomplished and took the best out of it. I fell in love with MUN and hope to participate in as many MUNs as  I can. The delegate of Togo shall remember this experience for her entire life, thanking everyone who gave her this opportunity and also the ones who were a great help! 

Taapsi Kohli

Form  8A