Students practice UN-diplomacy in New York
Four students took part in the most prestigious Model United Nations (MUN) in New York, joining over 3000 students from around the world in the role of United Nations diplomats.
In April, the United Nations (UN) became real life for four master's students from the Department of Social and Cultural Sciences and their faculty advisor, Muriel C. Pluschke. Together they travelled to the National Model United Nations (NMUN), which took place at the Hilton Hotel in New York. For six intense days, they negotiated, gave public speeches, worked on (draft) resolutions and networked with 3000 other students from more than a 120 countries who had travelled to the high-level MUN in the United States.
The Fulda UAS delegation represented Guinea-Bissau, a small country in West Africa. Saodat Gazieva negotiated in the General Assembly First Committee (GA1) on “Confidence-Building Measures in the Regional and Sub-Regional Context” and on “Promoting Nuclear Disarmament and International Security”. She stated: “Global peace is not going to negotiate itself and I think we did a huge and important job by showing our skills, our public-speaking skills, our policy-affair-skills and I would say that this is a great opportunity and I hope next generation of Fulda-MUN is going to enjoy also!” Sarah Namala was responsible for the General Assembly Second Committee (GA2), working on the topics of “Promoting Sustainable Production and Consumption Patterns” and “Closing the Financing Gap to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals”. Raquel Campomanes was the representative for the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) which had the topics “Achieving Universality of the Chemical Weapons Convention” and “Preventing the Use of Chemical Weapons by Non-State Actors”. Last but not least Head-Delegate Francesca Sangiovanni negotiated in the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) on “Transforming Food Systems to Prevent Biodiversity Loss” and “Environmental Recovery in Areas Affected by Armed Conflict”. “I have had the chance to interact with other people that have the same interest at heart and it has been a challenge in a way but at the same time it has brought me so much!”, found Francesca at the end of the conference.
The students did session days of 10 hours and more, lasting from 8am until 10pm at times. In addition to these hours and hours of committee meetings, alternating between formal sessions with many speeches and informal sessions where draft resolutions were written, They did several meetings and visits with partner universities and diplomatic staff. Prior to the conference, preparatory online meetings have been held with the Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU) and MacEwan University Edmonton, Canada.
In New York, the Fulda delegation members met with Dr Halyna Protsyk from Fulda partner university Ukrainian Catholic University Lviv, and Dr Chaldeans Mensah from Fulda partner university Mac Ewan in Edmonton, Canada, and their students. Dr. Mensah also was awarded the Judy Eaton Service Award 2025 for his work at NMUN. Muriel C. Pluschke met these colleagues several times in person. The delegations were even able to visit the Permanent Mission of Ukraine to the UN together. Furthermore, new contacts were made to the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy (NaUKMA) with faculty advisor Oleksandr Kraiev.
After an intensive week of international diplomacy, NMUN NY 2025 ended with the Closing Ceremony in the General Assembly session room of the real United Nations building facing the Hudson River. Moreover, the Fulda delegation did a very informative visit to the Permanent Mission of Germany to the UN, where the Fulda students got deep insights into the current work of the UN and the challenges diplomatic service is facing.
The Model Games aim at innovating teaching and facilitate knowledge transfer. To this end, seminars on MUN and MEU are provided, in addition to regular excursions to MUNs. The next round of seminars starts in the current summer term.
A television report on NMUN NY 2025 can be found here: “Wie die Jugend-UN Weltpolitik analysiert” Click here
More information on NMUN NY 2025 can be found here.
A spirit of international cooperation
Across the three days of the conference they discussed the following topics: I. Protection of Journalists in Armed Conflicts, and II. Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in the GA; I. Fostering Sustainable Management of Chemicals and Waste, and II. Promotion of Sustainable Extractive Industries in the UNEA; and I. Addressing Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in Conflict, as well as II. The Situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the Security Council. Thereby, they passed two resolutions in the GA, five in UNEA, and one in the Security Council.
The conference was opened on Friday, 17th of January, afternoon with a welcoming note by Prof. Dr. Achim Kemmerling, Vice Dean for Internationalization and Advanced Education of the Faculty of Economics, Law and Social Science and Vice Director of the Willy Brandt School for Public Policy.
He claimed: “We are very much aware how big politics plays a role in small places”, referring to the various cities that delegates came from, like Bamberg, Paderborn, or Wurzburg, which are not state capitals, but can play an important role. Kemmerling furthermore reminded the approximately 150 delegates to “stay humble”, adding that they “have knowledge that is often missing” but evermore needed in world politics.
Two delegates from Erfurt spoke in the opening ceremony as well, highlighting the “spirit of cooperation” of the MUN and the need for “peace, cooperation, and common goals”. They said that students will “step into the roles of diplomats” for the weekend and that they will be the “future decision makers”, who might not hold political power yet, but are nevertheless not powerless. The delegates stressed: “Do not let anyone tell you that you are powerless!”, adding that even by holding a speech or just being attentive and engaging with the world around students could have an impact themselves.
The participation of the five students at EfMUN was prepared and organized by Muriel C. Pluschke. The next conference to be attended by a Fulda delegation is NMUN New York 2025 in April, the biggest and most prestigious MUN worldwide.
MUN is part of the curricula of ICEUS and MAHRS, the next two-semester cycle will start in the summer term 2025, organized by Prof. Dr. Claudia Wiesner and Prof. Dr. Philip Liste.
