About LahnMUN

When a few students started with their work on the National Model United Nations (NMUN) in January 2000 at Philipps-Universität Marburg a set of different aims were postulated. One was certainly the participation of the NMUN Delegation 2001 in the Model in New York in April 2001. However, right from the beginning, one could say even bevor the first delegation knew whether they would participate at all, one big aim was the establishment of a tradition of participation at Model United Nations (MUNs) at our university. The first delegation (representing Canada) did very well, as did the following ones in 2002 (Nigeria), 2003 (Mozambique), 2004 (Hungary), 2005 (Sierra Leone), 2006 (Tajikistan), 2007 (Lebanon), 2008 (India), 2009 (Mexico) and just recently 2010 (Norway). In 2011, the NMUN-Delegation will represent Ghana in New York.

One way of improving our operational skills is the attendance of smaller simulations situated throughout Germany such as TMUN (Tübingen) and HamMUN (Hamburg). Impressed how valuable the German simulations are, some members of the 2002 delegation decided to organise a model themselves: LahnMUN. LahnMUN is named after the river at whose banks Marburg is situated. We hope that the town's beauty adds as much to the success of the simulation as the participants certainly will. Marburg and it's university has much to offer to visitors, and not least the various after-work opportunities.

LahnMUN shares the other German MUN's believes that practice is best achived by working together with others, hence, other universities are warmly invited to join us. Apart from that the big aim of institutionalizing the participation of students of our university at MUNs in general has led to the wish to incorporate not only those already involved in MUNs but also students that have hitherto had no contact to this kind of learning. Therefore students from all faculties and departments are called upon to enroll for this event. Pupils from various schools within and outside of Marburg have also been asked to join us in order to strenghten their knowledge on the United Nations and to trigger their interest in it. We believe that it is an interesting and rewarding mix to have pupils, students interested in MUNs and those already experienced in the world of diplomacy coming together to think about pressing conflicts and learning about the workings of one of the most inspiring and challenging international institutions.
 

When after the Second World War the United Nations were established, many beliefs were taken over from the League of Nations. Amongst them was the idea that simulations of the workings of the United Nations could be a means to open up this new organisation to the public and to interested students that might in turn not only come to see and simulate, but may also stay as diplomats and administrators. The idea of Model United Nations (MUN's) is therefore as old as the United Nations themselves.

For such a model students that ideally come from all over the world gather together to find out about the mechanisms, opportunities and limitations of such an organisation. Delegations from different universities and colleges as well as schools represent one country each. No delegation shall represent it's own country, but rather adopt a different countries views and beliefs for a couple of days. That also means that from time to time one has to represent beliefs that are not one's own, which is quite a difficult task, and can only be fulfilled with the aid of a very thorough knowledge of one's new country of choice. Remaining "in character", that is simulating the country one has been assigned to as life-like as possible, is one of the great aims of each delegation.

Each delegate sits in a committee that also exists in the real world of the United Nations and ideally the topics under debate are chosen to reflect the current discussion in that committee. The whole working process of the committee is simulated including the setting of the agenda, the formal debate in session, the informal debate (caucus), and the drafting of resolutions and the passing of those draft resolutions in a voting procedure. During the formal debate the positions of each state will be laid out, whereas in the caucus the heavy negotiations between delegates concerning details take place. The caucus is probably the most important part, as most commitments will be secured there and resolutions will be dealed out. Whereas formal debate is heavily regulated by the rules of procedure the caucus is very informal and all one has to remember is the position of the country one is representing and the diplomatic conduct that regulates in a non-written form the courtesy and politeness of behaviour amongst delegates. If a committee is able to produce and pass a draft resolution the work lying behind the delegates was difficult and exhausting but it was certainly all worth while all the efforts.

Basically all committees can be simulated, however, due to organisational reasons not all of them will be. Most certainly you will find either a General Assembly Plenary Session, or a Security Council Session along with a few Specialised Agencies, Expert Committees or International Conferences. However, whatever committee or session it is, the insight that is gained by each delegate is tremendous and is probably only outweighed by the fun each individual will certainly have in such a group of like-minded students.