The United Nations Secretary General and Director General convened the deliberations of the General Assembly and the Security Council, which had delegates from around 100 nations. The International Criminal Court also held its proceedings and the Iranian and American Joint Crisis Cabinet also met during the time!
In case you are wondering what all this is about, these events were part of the Model United Nations or MUN hosted by the National Law School, Bangalore. MUN is a student body which simulates the workings of the UN for educative purpose.
First of its kind in Bangalore, the MUN saw delegates from all over the country and Pakistan. At MUN, students assumed the roles of various ambassadors to the United Nations and they participated in detailed discussions of International affairs on the similar lines of UN sessions. Their agendas included global issues like hostage crisis in Iran, danger on Somalian coasts, nuclear disarmament and human rights of terror suspects. Students, who acted as delegates of various nations, went through arduous discussion and lobbying before reaching consensus.
“In our first attempt itself, we got accreditation from UN for this MUN. As students, we were excited about this.The MUN was very different from the normal college fest and was educative in nature. Discussing affairs confronting world leaders, lobby groups and various political situations compelled us to get into the character of the ministers we represent,” says Tasmeen Deo, who has assumed the role of Secretary General of UN.
World Press, a simulation of world journalists, kept an eye on the delegates and followed up all the sessions during the model UN. Paroma Mitra, one of the journalists, says, “I never thought that reporting would be so thrilling. We tried to imitate the press in full and also acted as paparazzis. We even reported gossips and covered Page 3 events. We clicked the photos of delegates enjoying the party and followed them everywhere. When one of our delegates lost his iPod, we came out with a detailed report of the incident.”
Hassan Ghani, a student of the Lahore School of Economics, came all the way from Pakistan to take part in the MUN. “Even after attending a twelve hour gruelling sessions of the Joint Cabinet Crisis, I am still not bored. The sessions passed off very well. On the sidelines of the meetings, we also had great fun. We danced to Bollywood music in the slow music party. We went out for clubbing and had a candle light dinner. All the time, we remained in focus because of the press people who always watched our activities and were trying to get scoops. It was really amazing,” says Hassan.