The JunesMUN 2011 took place on the 26-27th of February in Zurich. Every year, the conference gathers a steadily increasing number of participants, with around 120 members from the 10 Swiss MUN teams gathering this year at the University of Zurich.
The JunesMUN is the official conference of JUNES, the Swiss United Nations Youth Association, the umbrella organization for all MUN associations in Switzerland. Organized every year at the beginning of the spring semester, it offers a perfect opportunity for members to refresh their rhetoric skills before heading to international conferences. As the only national-level MUN simulation held in Switzerland, it also aims at creating a platform for members of the Swiss MUN teams to interact and get to know each other.
The theme of the JunesMUN 2011 was “The Deiss Year”, in honor of the former member of the Swiss Federal Council Mr. Joseph Deiss, who has been elected by the General Assembly to preside its fifty-sixth session. The conference aimed at celebrating this unique expression of Switzerland’s contribution to the UN system by debating some of the topics Mr. Deiss has selected as his priorities during his term in office. In his acceptance speech to the General Assembly on the 11th of July 2010, Mr. Deiss has explained that he would like to work towards tackling the challenge of climate change, address human rights issues, improve preventive measures against financial crises, stand against the threat of terrorism, and strengthen fragile post-conflict states. Drawing from these pressing issues, the JunesMUN 2011 conference offered the following committees and topics:
Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP/UNFCCC), debating “Implementation of Emission Targets”;
United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), debating “Sexual Minorities”;
Disarmament and Security Council and 1st Committee of the United Nations General Assembly (DISEC), debating “Post-Conflict Weapon Management in the Caucasus”;
Legal Council and 4th Committee of the United Nations General Assembly (LEGAL), debating “Recognition of New States”;
United Nations Security Council (SC), debating “Terrorism in the Middle East”;
Group of Twenty Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (G20), debating “Protecting Developing Countries During the Current Financial Crisis”.
Delegates were greeted at the University of Zurich with a speech by Mr. Ralf Heckner, head of section of the UN Coordination within the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, Political Division III.
This year, 20 members of ETH MUN took part in the debates, representing various countries and positions within their committees. The delegation performed outstandingly, with no less than 50% of all diplomacy awards of JunesMUN 2011 earned by ETH MUN members. Congratulations to the delegation for this achievement!
In order to relax after a day of intense debates, the committee dinners were followed by a special MUN Party on the ETH campus for a night of blue-helmeted celebration.
by Lydie-Line Paroz