6th Heidelberg National MUN Conference 2016
will take place in Heidelberg from
Saturday to Sunday, January 9-10, 2016,
at the Neue Universität building in the heart of Heidelberg's beautiful old town.
The conference will focus on different aspects of the refugee crisis, and feature three committees:
A. United Nations General Assembly, Third Committee (SOCHUM) - Forced migration - a global solution to a global problem
(as double delegate committee) *** FEW SEATS LEFT ***
Nearly 60 million people worldwide are victims of forced migration. Despite the medial focus on war refugees, the majority of IDP persons are affected by different types of forced migration as natural disasters, forced displacement by governments etc. In addition, a major future issue will be, that through the rising sea levels and following the threat for a lot of megacities close to shores, the number of forced will continue to rise tremendously. As soon as people have to cross borders, this topic becomes highly relevant on the international agenda. The committee should deal with legal, economical and human rights issues, in order to find long-term universal solutions and measures to deal with both causes and consequences.
More info on the topic here. The Study Guide for SOCHUM is now online.
The GA committee SOCHUM will be in session in Heidelberg's spacious Neue Aula, ensuring enough space for work and debate. It will be designed as double-delegate-committee.
B. European Council - Preventing future migration crises
(as single delegate committee) *** COMMITTEE IS FULL ***
Recently the European community has faced an unprecedented influx of people fleeing war, hunger and poverty. Without a coherent strategy, it has struggled to face the challenge, leading to unnecessary suffering and rifts within Europe. To prevent crises like these in the future, the European Council has come together to discuss a unified strategy for the years to come. The major issues to discuss will be a pan European legislation on asylum, a unified foreign policy strategy aimed at preventing conflicts abroad, and a special focus on resolving the conflict in Syria.
More info on the topic here. The Study Guide for the European Council is now online.
Due to the urgent need to bring member states of the European Union on the discussion tables, around 35 delegates will work on the topic of refugees from a European perspective.
C. United Nations Security Council - Stabilizing the Middle East
(as single delegate committee) *** COMMITTEE IS FULL ***
Syria - Most certainly Syria is the central variable of the conflict in the Middle East today, but it is not the only variable that needs to be taken into account in order to bring peace to the region. Of course, the major influx of refugees is coming from Syria. Consequently it is necessary to end the conflict in Syria and improve the overall situation there, but while the whole world is occupied discussing a Syria-centrist discourse, it is of utmost importance not to lose sight of the big picture. The big picture is central in order to bring peace to this war-shaken region, as solving the Syrian conflict will not do any good, when the whole region collapses in the process. Especially neighboring countries, like the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, as well as the Lebanon, are aching under the immense pressure put on them by myriads of refugees and the hostile environment surrounding them. Therefore, the Security Council will discuss in this session which specific measures have to be taken in order stabilize and relieve the region. It is indeed correct when the media declares, the situation in the Middle East is bad, but the current situation is nothing compared to what the world would face if Jordan and the Lebanon would collapse. Dare a shift in perspective by looking at the big picture!
More info on the topic here. The Study Guide for the Security Council is now online.
The UN Security Council is aimed at more experienced delegates and will host approx. 20 seats.
Conference logistics:
Heidelberg National MUN 2016 will open its registration desk on Saturday, January 9th, 2016, at 9 a.m. The conference will close on Sunday, January 10th, 2015, at 5 p.m.
The delegate fee is EUR 15,00. Included are conference registration and materials, two lunch meals, and coffee.
Regular registration opened November 8th, and was closed on December 13th, 2015. Committee assignments have been sent out. If you have not received yours, please get in contact with us!
If you are still interested in participating, you can apply for the UN General Assembly 3rd committee - SOCHUM, until this committee is full (as the other committees already are). Delegations should shoot us a quick email at hnmun@worldmun-hd.de .