Jena students represent Afghanistan, China, Mexico and Spain

Link to the original report (German language) de by Sebastian Hollstein from 11 March 2022

A week and a half ago, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution condemning Russia's attack on Ukraine. An overwhelming and extremely rare majority of 141 out of a total of 193 states voted in favor. Although no immediate action will result from this vote, its outcome is a strong indication that about three-quarters of the international community condemns Russia’s aggression. However, such decisions are often reached by an exhaustive diplomatic effort. What exactly this process looks like and what multilateral processes are behind such decisions is something that 15 prospective political scientists from Friedrich Schiller University Jena will experience first-hand in the coming week. During the World Model United Nations Conference 2022 (WorldMUN) from March 13 to 17, they will simulate meetings at the United Nations together with about one thousand students from all over the world and learn about the workings and functioning of the institution. The event, hosted by Harvard University and originally scheduled to take place in Tokyo, is once again switching to a digital format due to the ongoing pandemic.

“With 15 students, we are one of the largest delegations,” explains Franziska Sandt, political scientist and WorldMUN coordinator at the University of Jena. “That's why this year we're representing not just one country but four: Afghanistan, China, Mexico, and Spain.” The participants advocate for the interests of these countries in various UN bodies and committees. For example, they discuss government investment strategies in the General Assembly's Economic and Financial Committee and the preservation of indigenous culture in the Committee on Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Issues. At the end of the negotiations, all parties are expected to agree on a resolution jointly. Particularly talented young diplomats receive awards afterwards, for example for the best delegation.

Visit to the Afghan Ambassador in exile

The Jena students have prepared meticulously for their task. Firstly, in a seminar during the past winter semester, they dealt with both the respective states they will represent and the UN bodies and processes and the corresponding skills that are required there. For example, they practiced giving political speeches. On the other hand, the delegation traveled to Berlin shortly before the conference and, in intensive talks with the exiled Afghan ambassador, with representatives of the Spanish embassy, and with the respective country officers at the German Foreign Office, learned first-hand about the substantive positions of the states on the respective topics of discussion at WorldMUN.

Ukrainian student calls for reforms

A great strength of the Jena team is that it itself is very international. In addition to Germany, the students come from countries such as India, Colombia, and the USA. Liza Shcherbakova, a student from Ukraine, is also part of the delegation, for whom the meetings at the United Nations have suddenly taken on personal significance due to current events in her home country. “It is of course disappointing to see that the United Nations is almost helpless to stop the Russian war against Ukraine. This is largely because they are constrained by their own outdated composition. The organization needs drastic reforms to continue to fulfill its primary mission,” she says. “Does that mean we can abandon multilateralism altogether? Absolutely not. I have always been a champion of our shared responsibility to maintain world peace. For my generation, the current crisis at the UN must be a problem to solve. This is exactly why projects like WorldMUN are so important for us as students and possibly future diplomats.”

This year, the University of Jena is participating in WorldMUN for the 13th time. “Simulations of this kind are an important means for us to make principles of diplomacy and processes of international cooperation tangible and thus to convey them in an extremely lively way,” says Franziska Sandt. “With SchillerMUN, we have been hosting such an event ourselves for two years. Within the university, about 50 students slip into the role of diplomats for two days—the next time in June 2022.”