Finally, it was there – the moment (or rather the days) we had been waiting for. When we sat in the opening ceremony on Sunday, March 24th, overviewing a grand ballroom in which hundreds of people were chatting excitedly, we felt that this was what we had been preparing for since octobre.
After the opening ceremony, our delegates immediately went into their first committee sessions. Speeches were held, votes cast and finally the agendas were set. The small committees, as well as some of the larger ones, even got as far as forming the first working groups and brainstorming ideas for possible resolutions.
Monday found our delegates bright and early in the morning at the Bahraini mission in New York, where a real Bahraini delegate took time from her schedule and answered all of our questions on Bahrain and its position on various topics – e.g. the close relationship of the Bahraini government with civil society and the balancing act of supporting the local economy and creating living space for the people. She also gave our delegates and overview about the work of a diplomat at the UN in general.
Tuesday proved to be the longest day at the conference, with three 
intervalls of approximately three hours in committee. The day turned out to be psychologically and physically straining, but also very rewarding, since we got a lot of work covered. Especially those working papers who were told to merge by their respective chairs and directors were actually grateful for the long and numerous committee sessions scheduled for the day.
Wednesday marked the last official day in committee and thus the last opportunity for a final sprint towards the allegorical finish line. Frantically typing we finished the last sentences on our working papers, in order for them to be accepted as draft resolutions. Once the papers got accepted, they were open for all of the other members of the committee to read. During the last official hour of the committee sessions we voted upon the presented draft resolutions. Almost all of them were accepted by their respective committees as resolutions – the hard work definitely paid off!
On Thursday we visited the UN in New York, where the closing ceremony took place. There, all our work was rewarded when the delegation of Bahrain, respresented by the University of Tübingen, was recognized with an Honorable Mention Award for excellent diplomatic conduct. Furthermore, we want to extend our congratulations to all of those who also won an award for their position papers or a peer award for their outstanding diplomatic work!
What is left to say is that overall, the experience was very challenging, since it was necessary to adjust to a variety of characters, to stay in our role as delegates, and to negotiate resolutions that were beneficial both to our own countries as well as our cooperation partners. But on the other hand, we gained a lot of experience – the close proximity brought us as a delegation closer together as a team and we got to know people from all over the world.
Since this will be most likely the last post from the 2018 delegation, we want to seize this opportunity to thank our faculty advisor, Bettina, as well as our head delegates Nora and Jovana for all the advice, patience, and knowledge they lent us. We do know that all three of you put a lot of work and effort into the project – we really appreciate all that you have done for us and are grateful for the elaborate preparation preceding the conference (as well as the sweets you brought us during the committee sessions in New York 🙂 ). Thank you!
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On our first day in Geneva, we started with a guided tour through the Palais des Nations. The Palais des Nations is the European headquarters of the UN. Afterwards, we visited the German Permanent Mission in Geneva and had a meeting with a real diplomat, who has been working for Germany for years. He gave us a detailed insight into the work of a diplomat and into the working processes withing the UN, which was very interesting for us. The last stop on Thursday was the ILO (International Labour Organization), where we were told about the tasks and the goals of the ILO and how the different actors – states, employers, employees, etc. – come together and work on improving the working conditions for all.
There, we got an introduction into the action processes and protocols that inure in case of emergency – like the Ebola outbreak a few years ago. We were also introduced to another part of the work of WHO – mitigating the risks of health hazards like smoking with the help of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). In the afternoon, our next stop was the IOM, where we were lucky enough to get an expert for each of the three topics our delegates of the IOM will discuss in New York. Therefore, we learned a lot about Migration in Libya, Climate Migration and Cross-Border Displacement, as well as IOMs work with Civil Society. Our final appointment led us to the OHCHR – the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. There we were told about how the UN and
their network of state and non-state actors controls the implementation of Human Rights in the member states of the UN and helps improving living conditions. To relax after the long day we went to the Lac de Genève where we enjoyed delicious cheese fondue – at least those of us who eat cheese.
The topics before this General Assembly were:
To help the Tübingen NMUN delegation 2018 in improving our body language, speech structure, and presentation skills, Dr. Marco Behrmann of Cevey Consulting visited us on Sunday, February 4th. After a short introduction concerning the theory of speaking successfully, he challenged us to write two speeches within ten minutes and to present them before the group. The first speech dealt with randomly assigned topics like foreign language lessons in elementary school, the influence of chocolate, or speed limitation on Autobahnen. The second speech was based on the research we have done on our Position Papers and was set in a certain scenario – e.g. that we had to convince uncooperative delegates of our position in a firm, but diplomatic manner. The feedback we received, additional to the training, has certainly helped us become better speakers and will prove invaluable during our time in New York.
It had been quite a while since our delegates were able to practice negotiating and public speaking. So it was overdue that we participated in another Model United Nations Simulation, to keep these skills as sharp as possible. In this case, we attended the Hohenheim Castle MUN (HCMUN), which was hosted in the Hohenheim Castle by the Club of Hohenheim. The main difference to our internal simulation from November was, that this time there were delegates from other universities, namely Heidelberg and Hohenheim, participating as well.
