Harvard World Model United Nations

General information and history

WorldMUN uses a competitive bidding process to select locations for each conference, with prospective host teams, usually consisting of the MUN societies of large universities, applying.

The conference is generally held in March.

WorldMUN uses the American style of model United Nations, with almost all delegates paired with another from their delegation (in dual delegations), with discussions occurring both inside and outside the rooms simultaneously.

Committees have in the past included committees of the United Nations General Assembly, the Security Council, the subcommittees of ECOSOC, regional bodies (such as the African Union or European Union), specialized agencies of the United Nations, crisis simulation committees and uniquely, simulations of the entire general assembly.

As most other conferences, there are also workshops, social events showcasing local culture and a global village, where participant teams can share delicacies and traditions from their home countries. In addition, WorldMUN has had many distinguished guest speakers over the years, notably Pope Francis in Rome and King Felipe VI in Madrid.

From 2016 onwards, the conference began giving out WorldMUN spirit awards to teams, for showing exceptional adherence to the spirit of WorldMUN and the United Nations. The team from Andrés Bello Catholic University (Venezuela) were the first recipients of this award.

The organization works closely with a social impact-oriented group, the Resolution Project, aimed at fostering global youth leadership. The Resolution Project was founded by WorldMUN Secretariat alumni.

The 29th edition of the conference was scheduled for Tokyo in March 2020, but it was cancelled and initially rescheduled to 2021. However, with the continued health safety concerns and the pandemic's prevailing impact on global travel, the Tokyo 2021 conference was rescheduled again to 2022. The 2021 conference happened virtually over Zoom.

Committees & Organs

General Assembly

Economic & Social Council (ECOSOC)

Regional Bodies

Specialized AgenciesAll the information from the "Specialized Agencies" and "Crisis Committees" section of this, is sourced fully and solely from the personal experience of MUN attending delegates. With many times experience in the specific committees, and vigourous preparation and research, the information comes from no digital sources, is not in anyway derived from the work of another person, is not artificially generated, is not plagarised, copied, stolen or in any way is nothing but the sole and original work of the editor and the experience and perception of professional and excelling ex-MUN and present MUN delegates. All information is factual upto the present timeline, and is in no way erroneous, contains only true and faie information for the benefit of the viewers. And thus this is the formal and legal declaration of citation and copyright of the section. All use of this work must be cited to its original author else litigative courses of action are bound to be in effect, removing, falsifying, copying, plagarising or claiming without the formal permission of the original author of this section of the wikipedia with draw into a path and process of litigation.

In MUNs, and more specifically at HMUN, specialized bodies and agencies are much smaller and fast-paced committees that are designed to meet the needs of and suit delegates with higher intellectual ability and nimble decision-making skills in specialized and skill-warranting areas. These committees simulate formal debate in the Model United Nations manner, but within a very narrow and demanding mandate. They require delegates who are able to think in a critical manner and who are able to solve issues with the help of other delegates that may be extremely difficult to resolve, usually containing many interconnected factors.

Rather than being committees of general debate, specialized bodies are those that have very specific and particular needs or demands that must be resolved. Debate within specialized agencies is ubiquitously policy-heavy and evidence-based, with a clear path toward what is encouraged to be accomplished through the resolution. Here, resolutions are extremely detailed operational plans and not just broad ideas meant to solve an issue. This means that they contain everything from who acts, how programs are funded, where they are implemented, how they are implemented, and how success is monitored, among other details.

Overall, specialized agencies warrant a higher level of research, precision, and diplomacy in order to resolve real-world problems in the most appropriate and efficient manner possible. This includes aligning national policy with the agency’s mandate, building expert-driven blocs, and proposing solutions that could realistically be adopted and implemented in the real world.

Some committees that would be considered specialized agencies include:

• UNICEF, children’s rights, health, education, and protection
• World Health Organization (WHO), global health and disease control
• UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), human rights protection and violations
• UN Women, gender equality and women’s empowerment
• UNESCO, education, culture, and heritage
• International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), nuclear safety and non-proliferation

Crisis Committees

Crisis committees are some of the most difficult, demanding, and competitive committees in MUNs. They simulate highly volatile and fragile situations, or more specifically, a crisis that is seen to rapidly change in factors and circumstances. Here, delegates must respond to unfolding events as they are presented to the committee after the commencement of formal debate, rather than follow a fixed agenda. The body operates in a state of constant uncertainty driven by frequent crisis updates released at consecutive intervals that escalate and alter the situation. The committee has a tendency to be extremely unhinged and unpredictable, which makes it difficult to adapt to. A major factor contributing to this is that, unlike General Assembly committees, regional bodies, and specialized agencies, the actual topic, basis, and circumstances of the formal debate are only fully disclosed after the committee session begins. This implies that a delegate can never be fully prepared for what is thrown his or her way, just as would be the case in a real-world developing crisis.

The delegates sent to represent crisis committees are often, and must be, extremely talented and possess an elevated level of intellect and expeditious problem-solving skills, with an undoubtedly open mindset and the ability to apply critical thinking from all perspectives when a crisis update is presented to him or her. This is essential in order to avoid developing the crisis into a fast-paced nosedive and accelerating it into a more problematic situation. Delegates must be able to think very rapidly and in ways that the average person would not, making crisis committees exceptionally rigorous and difficult to compete in, especially with reduced prior knowledge and the need to solve problems within an ephemeral time frame. In crisis committees, delegations are rarely taken up as countries, but rather as governments, individuals, or figures that are directly related to a particular crisis. At HMUN specifically, these committees usually simulate formal debate in an extremely parliamentary manner and follow a sequence that is quite unchanging and rigid, as if the cabinet of crisis members were actually responding to a real, ongoing crisis.

Debate in crisis committees is very formal and highly action-oriented, as delegates are technically responding to a developing crisis where all actions must be taken with urgency and precision to resolve the situation. Instead of long speeches and resolutions, crisis committees mitigate crises through directives and crisis notes. Success depends on speed, persuasion, and strategic thinking rather than procedural mastery, as crisis committees are highly unpredictable and do not follow a standard procedural foundation in the same manner as other committees.

It is highly unlikely that a crisis committee would operate with double delegations, as most procedures are heavily individual-oriented and benefit singular decision-makers. Managing two delegates sharing one role would be extremely difficult. As a result, double delegations in crisis committees are considered a rarity due to the committee’s complexity and demanding nature.

Overall, crisis committees require delegates to react with extreme speed and agility to constantly changing situations and crisis updates. They are generally not suited to all types of people, as not everyone can be a successful crisis delegate. It takes a combination of talent, critical thinking, hard work, preparation, research, and dedication. While increased experience in MUNs or formal debate may make it slightly easier to adapt to crisis bodies, they are widely considered the hardest of all committee types, not only in MUNs but also when compared conceptually to real-world decision-making bodies.

Crisis committees in MUNs are usually historical or based on events and crises that have already occurred, such as World War I, World War II, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Imperial Japanese Cabinet, and the French Revolution.

Some crisis committees focus on future-based scenarios, including AI governance crises, space warfare or space security councils, climate collapse crises, and cyberwarfare crises.

Others are fictional or ad-hoc in nature and often relate to national or global security, such as zombie apocalypses, dystopian world governments, corporate boardroom crises, or fictional UN emergency councils.

However, in the real United Nations, crisis cabinets always operate in the present tense and deal with real-world situations. These cabinets are composed of highly professional, skilled, and specialized individuals with strong logical and decision-making abilities. This makes crisis committees, both in simulation and in reality, not suited for the weak-minded due to their constantly changing, demanding, and exponentially volatile nature.

WorldMUN Conferences

References

References

1. Garcia, Javier V.. (6 April 1992). "Poland Hosts Harvard World Model U.N. in 1992".
2. All the information from the "Specialized Agencies" and "Crisis Committees" section of this, is sourced fully and solely from the personal experience of MUN attending delegates. With many times experience in the specific committees, and vigourous preparation and research, the information comes from no digital sources, is not in anyway derived from the work of another person, is not artificially generated, is not plagarised, copied, stolen or in any way is nothing but the sole and original work of the editor and the experience and perception of professional and excelling ex-MUN and present MUN delegates. All information is factual upto the present timeline, and is in no way erroneous, contains only true and faie information for the benefit of the viewers. And thus this is the formal and legal declaration of citation and copyright of the section. All use of this work must be cited to its original author else litigative courses of action are bound to be in effect, removing, falsifying, copying, plagarising or claiming without the formal permission of the original author of this section of the wikipedia with draw into a path and process of litigation.
3. Garcia, Javier V.. (6 April 1992). "Poland Hosts Harvard World Model U.N.".
4. (15 March 2011). "George Yeo to WorldMUN: believe in the UN". The New Paper.
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