- Moscow International Model United Nations
-
Moscow International Model United Nations (MIMUN) is the most authoritative and large scale Model UN in Russia, conducted annually in Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO – University). It is a combination of a scientific conference and a role play, where university and high school students simulate the work of different UN bodies in several United Nations official languages. When participating in MIMUN students gain diplomatic, leadership and public speaking skills, master their knowledge of foreign languages and learn to compromise.
Contents
History
MUN in Russia
The first Model UN in the West was held in 1953 in Harvard. The first MUN in Russia was organized in January, 1990 by a group of MGIMO and MSU students. A grant contest under the aegis of the Peace Fund was held.
Some 300 delegates took part in the new Model, each fourth among them being a foreigner; simultaneous interpreting into the English language was provided. This first tryout appeared to be successful – and the Model UN Movement in the USSR was born. The Models’ history is as it follows: at first, college students in the USA began to simulate the American Senate’s work. Then, when international organizations came into being, students started to simulate the proceedings of such organizations. Now the models of such type (mostly these are Model UN conferences) have spread all over the world, from the UK and France, to China and Egypt. One of the major models in Europe is The European International Model United Nations (TEIMUN) in The Hague.
The first Model UN in Moscow took place in 1990.
Model UN in MGIMO-University
The first time a Model UN took place in MGIMO was in the year 1999 when the UN Security Council’s meeting was simulated. After that many delegates were enthusiastic to continue development in that field. The following year 300 delegates took part in the conference, a third of them being foreigners. MGIMO Model UN has been navigated regularly ever since, and every year it enjoyed even more delegates and simulated the proceedings of more UN organs.
Collaboration with United Nations Association of Russia has made a major contribution in the MGIMO Model UN’s status ascension. The evidence of international recognition of MIMUN have become the visits made to the conference by the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in 2004 and by Deputy Secretary General Kiyo Akasaka and the foreign minister of Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov in 2007.
The next conference will take place from 11th to 15th April 2011.
Structure
Moscow International Model UN – 2011 includes simulation of the following United Nations’ organs: General Assembly, Security Council, Economic and Social Council, International Court of Justice, The First and The Second General Assembly Committees, Human Rights Council and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Since the year 2011 Moscow International Model UN will be held in three of the UN official languages: Russian, English and French.
Organizers
Moscow International Model UN is one of the programs of UN Association - Russia and is held in cooperation with MGIMO-University. Practical set up and organisation of the Model is directed by the student Secretariat which changes annually and functions under the supervision of a Honorary President of the World Federation of United Nations Associations, head of the organization and scientific student arrangements sector of MGIMO-University, Model UN coordinator G. M. Kovrizhenko. Today the Secretariat of Moscow International Model UN not only navigates the annual conference, but also helps organize arrangements of such in other Universities and schools of Russia.
Participants
Any University, as well as senior high-school student (no younger than 9th form) may take part in the Model, regardless of country of residence. In order to register, a delegate is to fill in the registration form, having chosen a committee and written an essay on the agenda for the position paper beforehand.
Every spring about 500 participants come to Moscow from different Russian cities, countries of CIS and other (which include the USA, the UK, France, Germany, Austria, China, Ghana and many others). Model UN participants – both the delegates and the observers – act as the official representatives of the UN member states who have come to the conference to discuss the questions on the agenda of their committee. During the simulation the delegates are not to defend points of their own, but the official position of the country represented by them. Adopting a resolution is the ultimate aim of each committee, which is only possible to attain via reaching compromise between the interests of all the states represented in the organ.
See also
Russian MUNs
● Saint-Petersburg Internaional Model of United Nations
● Moscow Russian State University for the Humanities Model UN
● MSU World Politics School Model UN [1]
● Yaroslavl Model UN [2]
● St. Petersburg International Student Model UN [3]
● Belgorod Model UN [4]
● Novosibirsk Model UN [5]
● Far East Model UN [6]
● Cuban State University Model UN [7]
● Krasnodar Model UN [8]
● Tyumen Model UN [9]
● Model UN in Nizhny Novgorod [10]
Foreign MUNs
● Berlin Model UN [11]
● Odessa Model UN [12]
● Belarus Model UN [13]
● Budapest Model UN [14]
● Rome Model UN [15]
● Far East Model UN in San-Francisco [16]
● Bonn International Model UN, Germany [17]
● London International Model UN [18]
● Harvard National Model UN [19]
● Kiev International Model UN [20]
● Oldenburg Model UN [21]
● Geneva International Model UN [22]
● Vienna International Model UN [23]
External Links
Categories:- International organizations
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
