Model UN, Day 1 - 3/17/10

Well, it finally arrived! The trip that has had me excited and nervous for weeks. I knew that it would be loads of fun going to New York City with my fellow classmates, and I was certainly anxious to revisit the incredible city, but the focus of my thoughts has been entirely on the Model United Nations procedure. Going into this, I really had NO idea what to expect. Writing one position paper and rehearsing one debate was really of little effect, and before today I felt that I had entirely inaccurate knowledge about the purpose and the method of Model United Nations. Needless to say, I spent the bus ride down there today reading and re-reading my position paper, being very meticulous and hoping that it might give me some hint as to what I would be doing. I realized, however, that I could only draw inferences from my own soon-to-be experiences in Model United Nations, not from studying or from the advice of others.

As I went into my first of five committee sessions, this one being about two and a half hours long, I was alarmingly nervous. Amy and I were representing the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia for the Legal Committee and both of us had prepared extensively, but we were newcomers and truly had no idea what to expect. We decided to just figure out what was going on before we tried to participate, so as not to make fools out of ourselves. This really was a huge new challenge for me to undertake. I have had no prior experience in debate or international relations, just a mild interest, and now I was being thrown into this cavernous room with people I didn't know, with my only help being a girl who had as little experience as I did. Needless to say, it was very nerve-wracking.

Anyways, we got the session underway, and Amy and I were quick to understand the basic procedure. We learned the order of events, we learned about the speaker's list, and we found out how a moderated and unmoderated caucus worked. We were forced to develop this skills as quickly as possible, so that we might be able to contribute to the committee session. It was certainly very intense, and there were some moments of confusion. However, we began to understand bit by bit, and once we developed these skills of debate, we were able to comprehend what exactly was about to occur in Legal Committee.

The first issue was to decide if we were going to resolve Topic A or Topic B. Even though we had five committee sessions totaling about 20 hours, this was really only time to solve one entirely. The choice was between Topic A, the legal aspects of odious debt, and Topic B, genocide and international law. Both are issues with incredible global importance, as genocide harmfully affects millions of people and odious debt causes many poor nations to suffer economic woes. Our job was to first pick one and then debate points-of-view on the topic, finally finding definitions, laws, and resolutions. The process of picking which topic was actually rather painful. I thought it would be obvious that Topic B should be chosen. I felt that I couldn't bear the negative implications of choosing to debate odious debt first, for if this were the real United Nations, I couldn't imagine valuing money over people's lives. Even though I had studied Topic A, I knew it was wrong to vote for it to be pursued. Not only did genocide kill millions of people, but it was also responsible for odious debt. You should always rid a problem by dealing with the cause, so due to my ethical perception of the situation I was appalled when the majority of the committee chose Topic A, the legal aspects of odious debt.

There was nothing I could do about the decision except for to deal with it and debate it. I had researched the topic of odious debt, so I did feel comfortable addressing some issues. After the first unmoderated caucus, in which we can freely talk with other delegates, I addressed some points that I wanted to make sure were included in the resolution. I really only reiterated some common ideas, but I felt accomplished in that I spoke during a moderated caucus. This was really a great start to my Model United Nations trip, and after today I have gained some confidence in my voice and my opinions.