Who can forget Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto’s historic speech in the Security Council in 1971? Or who has not listened to Emma Watson’s electrifying speeches about feminism in the United Nations (UN)?
COVER STORY
Who can forget Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto’s historic speech in the Security Council in 1971? Or who has not listened to Emma Watson’s electrifying speeches about feminism in the United Nations (UN)? Whether UN has lived up to world’s expectations or not, it has been an important platform for debating and discussing global issues.
I remember we had this amazing chapter on UN in Nigel Kelly’s History and Culture of Pakistan and how our teachers would emphasize on the importance of this organization. I didn’t even bother to prepare this chapter for my exam which I regret now. At that time, UN felt like an overcomplicated organization, and I still find myself struggling to understand how it actually functions. Realizing the importance of this international organization, educational institutes all around the world organize Model United Nations (MUN) for their students where they role-play delegates to United Nations and simulate UN committees. This sounds intimidating!
For the past few years, universities in Pakistan like IBA, LUMS, SZABIST, University of Karachi have been running Model United Nations (MUN) in their own capacities. The purpose is to actively engage students in debate and train them to be better leaders. But unfortunately, not everyone can participate in these university-based MUNs.
In 2013, Aqib Khalique - a young enthusiastic debater - organized Karachi Youth Model United Nation (KYMUN) for the first time. Aqib shared, “Since I was a prominent debater and popular among my peers, my work got noticed and around 300 students registered for the first KYMUN conference.”
While talking about the significance of MUNs in Pakistan, he said, “In schools, we don’t talk about politics and the challenges we face as a global community. We just want young people to get a degree so that they could get a good job and earn a decent salary and that’s it! If youth is to be relied on for a better future of our country, then we must also educate them about politics.”
This year Aqib and his team had their sixth KYMUN conference in Karachi. Students from various educational institutes, including schools and colleges, role-played delegates for committees like Security Council, The Hague Conventions, Arab League, the Special Political and Decolonization Committee, etc. I knew KYMUN was just a setup and delegates there were just actors, but it actually felt like a giant UN.
Even if it’s just a role-play, students understood the whole idea behind this activity and took it seriously. Delegates had prepared their topics really well! They knew what budget was allocated to health ministry in Punjab; they were well aware of the condition of the people living in rural areas; they had kept track of CSS results. And, whatever they shared in their committee sessions was backed up by statistics and facts.
A delegate from Security Council shared, “Even in this hypothetical situation, we want to learn to empathize with others. We were in the middle of light-hearted discussion, when a Somalian representative mentioned that in Somalia, life is cheaper than water; we all felt ashamed even though we were just Pakistanis role-playing different countries”
Presidents and vice-presidents of the committees were not just encouraging delegates to share their ideas with others, they were also helping them understand global politics. I was quite impressed when the President of the Security Council figured out that the students were confused; so, he stopped everyone for a while to explain few things like: what buffer zones are and how black markets work and affect international relations. Well, you can’t learn everything through role-plays; you need lectures, too.
There are no better places like these to raise awareness regarding women rights - and especially when the audience is youth. So, UN Women had to be there. To hear boys and girls talk about sexual objectification, domestic violence and socio-economical challenges men and women face in our Pakistani society was really inspiring.
United Nation’s agenda is to create healthy communities and strengthen connections between the countries around the world. No matter how hard things get inside the conference hall, we would come out as friends. “At KYMUN, we want delegates to socialize; if there are 60 people in the committee, we want them to know each other by the end of the conference,” John Hussein, the Secretary General of KYMUN shared.
- S.G
Raza Hasan, Lahore-based lawyer
“MUNs are a great way of enriching the learning experience of the students. During this exercise, they get a chance to discover themselves. You would hear participants say that they have become more confident or they just discovered they have good persuasion skills, for example.
“Our youth is smart and is always willing to learn new things; if we invest in them today, then they can handle challenges in the future.”
Aqsa Gaad, a participant
“KYMUN is one of the best experiences of my life. I thoroughly studied Iraq’s position in the current world; and, I converted my research into a speech so that I could easily convey my ideas. It’s like walking in the shoes of a politician - a surreal feeling! But when you see that your social skills are being honed and developed during the process, you know your hard work has paid off. I would recommend everyone to attend a model UN once in their lives.”
