Cultural difference isn’t worlds apart for students at Model UN

(This article was originally published in The Under Age on 28 May 2014)

The Lower House of the Parliament of Victoria fell silent as the Secretary General ascended the podium and sat down. “Please take your seats”. The sound of over 80 teenagers sitting echoed through the hall as the Model United Nations Assembly for 2014 commenced.

Organised by Rotary International District 9810, the Model United Nations Assembly (MUNA) provides Year 10–12 students a chance to experience what it would be like to partake in a United Nations Assembly. Dressed in cultural attire from their respective countries, each team of two —representing a different member nation — prepares speeches and debates on a wide variety of topical issues.

Speaking from their respective countries’ point of view, each team attempts to persuade the other member nations to vote in favour of their opinions and beliefs.

“MUNA challenges our youth to respect and tolerate differences of race, religion and nationalism whilst retaining their own individualism and the best of their national traditions,” Joe Somers, Chairperson of the Rotary District 9810 MUNA Committee, toldThe Under Age.

He explained the concept started in Canada, where young people wanted to simulate the debates of the United Nations Assembly. It was introduced to Australia by the Lake Cargelligo Rotary Club in NSW in 1980.

“Each year MUNA has a slightly different flavour. This year the delegates got into debate very early and most teams got involved in the action on day one,” said Somers.

Somers explained the resolutions debated in MUNA are a mix of those based on actual resolutions debated by the UN, and those proposed by the teams.

“The debates reproduce genuine UN debates often with a fine flow of points of order, motions of dissent and bloc walkouts,” he said.

Resolution topics discussed this year included violence against women, population control and refugee intake.

Paige Arnel, who represented South Africa, had nothing but praise for the weekend.

“MUNA was an amazing experience! It was incredible being able to sit in the Legislative Assembly and debate topics that are relevant today,” she said.

When asked of any challenges in participating in MUNA, Paige recounted: “Representing a country, especially a developing country, was quite hard at times. Although for the majority of resolutions South Africa shared out personal views, their culture and way of life is very different to ours.”

Zachary Steenhuis represented Iran over the weekend, and was also glowing in his recount of the experience.

“My Weekend at MUNA was one of the greatest weekends I’ve had in recent memory,” he said, but explained it had been challenging.

“Admittedly it was a difficult country to represent due to religious beliefs, but it was a great challenge … The hardest part of the weekend was standing up to talk, but that turned out to be the most enjoyable part. Without a second thought I would definitely do it again.”