Model United Nations

Hi guys!

As I said in my last blog post, I’m in Boston for the Harvard National Model United Nations. McDaniel, in a strange turn of events, is representing three countries this year: Chile, Guatemala, and Paraguay. I in particular am on the Social, Cultural, and Humanitarian Committee for Guatemala. We’re discussing two main topics: famine and the rights of the migrant worker. On the first night in committee, we voted to discuss the rights of the migrant worker, which I, being a delegate of Guatemala, was disappointed about because I felt that solving some issues in famine would have solved a lot of problems to do with the rights of the migrant worker.

One thing that some people find hard with this simulation is truly representing their country. A lot of the time, we know more about the USA than about our country, and since we’ve grown up with American values, it can be hard to look at the wants and needs of another country. A school from the Netherlands was representing the US. I thought it was enlightening, however, to put myself in another country’s shoes and leave myself there–to not feel obligated to look after what I normally have to.

In the end, our committee had eight working papers, which are like drafts of resolutions, that are more for presenting ideas in written form and garnering thoughts on them. These turned into four submitted resolutions. A lot of amendments were proposed, but the chair only let six of them through in order for us to have enough time to vote. None of these amendments made it through, and consequentially, none of our resolutions passed. Despite four days of work in committee, nothing was decided upon, nothing was resolved. Though some committees did come to resolutions, a lot didn’t, which is quite depressing, but also enlightening–this is similar to the real world.

I’m so so glad that I went on the trip. The people I went with were incredible, and I’ve gotten extremely close to people I didn’t think I’d get close to, and I’m really glad.

Ema