WorldMUN 2015 in Seoul – We MoROCKo-ed it!

Written by Katharina Brinck
Katharina is a member of Team London as well as Team Seoul

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1 city, 5 days, 21 committees, 115 countries, 2400 participants – Diverse Views, A United Vision. Shining from large banners on doors and ceilings, these words accompanied our first steps through the enormously large conference centre KINTEX at the city limit of Seoul, which shouldn’t become our second but rather our first home over the next five days. The united vision of this year’s fifteen eMUN-fellows, representing the Kingdom of Morocco, and their two faculty advisors and be.boosted coaches Rima and Tobi was clear: remember you’re awesome, trust your leadership and negotiation skills developed, exercised and fine-tuned over the last five months, and go and MoROCKo it! With this in mind, we immersed ourselves in the vividly chatting crowds of young aspiring diplomats, and five minutes and thirty new business cards later, the united vision among all delegates of (strategic) networking, intercultural exchange and WorldMUN spirit was more than apparent. Accompanied by more or less traditional Korean dances, preliminary committee block formations and last minute strategy sessions, the 24th Harvard WorldMUN was officially declared open and the Olympics of Model United Nations began.

Despite common visions, the way from the diverse views brought forward in fiery opening speeches to consensus on all-encompassing draft resolutions was challenging, exciting and intense. The six committee sessions for official debate only framed the WorldMUN work. Just as in real life, the important decisions were made during lunch and dinner breaks filled with negotiation and ally-formation, strategic bloc meetings from 7.30 am on and six social events, themed from masquerade to Gangnam style and spread out all over Seoul. Luckily, our five months preparation period had not only equipped us with skills in public speaking, diplomatic negotiation and smart leadership, but had also included Korean food, Karaoke and sleep deprivation, which is why we wandered superbly prepared through our lives at WorldMUN. Days usually started at 6am in the hostel kitchen for last minute whispering strategy sessions over toast and peanut butter, after which the (mandatory) Korean slippers were exchanged with high heels and dress shoes, and yesterday’s resolutions as well as the plans for the upcoming day were fine-tuned on the subway. While our most lovely faculty advisors Rima and Tobi not only boosted our strategies, motivation and self-confidence whenever necessary, they also ensured our survival with water rations and victory cookies during the day –whilst exceeding any recommendations for a healthy active life style with their marathon like responses to various emergency calls from all different committee rooms. After finishing up working papers and draft resolutions, the delegation of Morocco explored Korean street food or refreshed over a portion of traditional Korean Bibimbap (which by the way is recommended to be stirred thoroughly and quickly, unless you wish to be assisted by resolute restaurant owners!), before days were topped of by explorations of the dance floors surrounded by nightly Seoul.

The Kingdom of Morocco, represented by our fourteen double delegates and one single delegate, was well known and appreciated for diplomatic, rhetorical and fair leadership skills in all eight committees. In discussions about cyber warfare our delegates revealed to the Disarmament and International Security Committee (DISEC) that only a Public Health Model, in which computer viruses are treated like biological viruses, can resolve connections between an impending digital Cold War and the Common Cold. In the Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee (SOCHUM), our delegates utilised negotiation strategies, diplomatic skills and smart power to tackle violence against women. Talking about marine refugees, our delegates convinced the Special Political and Decolonisation Committee (SPECPOL) to install Ports of Humanity to allow refugees to resettle legally and skip the otherwise sinking ship. In the Legal Committee, our delegates bridged the gap between international legislation on the rights of indigenous people and missing national implementation by consulting the concerned and diversifying the dialogue. The four-step action plan of our delegates for the fight of global antimicrobial resistance was eagerly taken up by the World Health Organisation (WHO). Sustained efforts for sustainable profits were taken by our delegates to refine the Development Agenda in the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In the Historical General Assembly 1995 (HGA) our delegate put rhetorical brilliance into action when dealing with the Bosnian Crisis. Crisis prevention based on the re-emergence of Al Qaeda Cells in Iraq was tackled in the Security Council, and our delegates had a leading role in steering and uniting the committee, which eventually passed a most comprehensive 106 clauses long resolution unanimously.

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15 eMUN-fellows, 2 faculty advisors, 1 team: MoROCKo! Five months of preparation, four weekends of practical training, and countless hours of anticipation, topic preparation, vision formation, discussion and never-ending support. One week of climbing the WorldMUN stage, of putting everything into practice, and of pushing our skills and strengths to the limit and beyond. In the end, with six of us being awarded, and all of us feeling rewarded by acknowledgements of our diplomatic skills, group hugs and each and everyone’s achievements, development  and personal progress, one thing is clear: this is not the end, the world is waiting, and we’re ready to MoROCKo it!

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