The conference submerged in suspense as the delegate concluded his statement. The head table watched on as one bold hand raised, “Right to reply, your honour”. Slowly the entire committee descended into chaos as debates broke out and young envoys struggled to resolve the world’s problems.
The United Nations Organization is the most powerful inter-governmental organization in the world. Simulating the consequential actions of the UN, Model United Nations (MUN) was born.
Students role-play the nerve-racking task of national representatives in a committee of the UN, where they research on a country and participate in debate to discuss world issues, with the hope of formulating feasible solutions.
The goal is to engage young minds in debate and introduce them to diplomacy and the many intricacies related to them. MUN has existed for a long time, with the concept first being introduced way back in the 1920s as a ‘League of Nations’ simulation. The first recorded MUN conference took place in Swarthmore College on April 5th, 1947.
70 years later and nearly 14,000 km away Trinity College and Gateway College worked hand in hand with the Sri Lanka Model United Nations (SLMUN) Executive Committee to organize the first Hill Country Model United Nations (HCMUN) conference. Three years on it continues as an opportunity for smaller schools in the Central Province to experience MUN.
This year marks the second consecutive edition of HCMUN hosted at Trinity. The conference was held over the weekend of 24th and 25th of August. A preliminary workshop was held beforehand to introduce the new delegates to the concept. The sessions were held at the Junior School premises and were attended by:
- Dharmaraja College, Kandy
- Gateway College, Kandy
- Kandy Girls’ High School
- Badi-ud-Deen Mahmud Girls’ College, Kandy
- Zahira College, Gampola
Four prominent UN committees, United Nations Security Council (UNSC), United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), United Nations General Assembly First Committee (GA1) and United Nations General Assembly Third Committee (GA3) were allocated to suit the attendance. While most committees were chaired by SLMUN ExCos, three senior members of Trinity College MUN were presented the unique opportunity of co-chairing committees at HCMUN.
- Lukman Hassan (UNSC)
- Yadesh Mohandas (SOCHUM – Social, Humanitarian, and Cultural Committee)
- Sadesh Rajapakshe (DISEC – Disarmament and International Security Committee)
Apart from chairing committees, members of Trinity College MUN also secured awards in their respective committees. Thithira Jayakody won “Higher Recommendation” in UNODC and Amjad Nazeem won “Honorary Mention” in the UNSC.
This year’s HCMUN served as invaluable experience for the boys of Trinity College MUN to become better delegates and perform well at other conferences.
TCMUN wishes to thank Mr Raveendran, Mr Bilaal Marikkar and executive committee of SLMUN for the services rendered to conclude this event successfully.
Hill Country Model United Nations Conference continues to be the premier MUN platform in the Central Province and hopes to grow further to make MUN and the skills gained from it more accessible to student throughout the Hill Country and Sri Lanka
Reviewed by Lukman Hassan and Parinda Ratnayake
