The Opening Ceremony of BERMUN 2012 was held at the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung

Six Schiller students participated in the 2012 Berlin Model United Nations (BERMUN) at the John F. Kennedy School in Zehlendorf from 14 to 17 November. This was the first time Schiller took part in the conference, which brought together over 700 students from 80 schools from around the world. Each school was assigned a country to represent, and each student served as a delegate to one of the committees or bodies that make up the United Nations, e.g. Human Rights Committee, Environment Committee, Economic and Social Council, etc.

The central theme of this year’s conference was Media Without Boundaries: Solving or Creating Problems? Within each committee, issues were defined which students researched in the weeks before the conference. Our delegation, representing the Republic of Korea, studied topics ranging from preventing cyber-warfare to guaranteeing human rights for refugees.

What happens at a Model UN conference?

MUN conferences are held around the world at schools and universities.  The biggest conference in Europe takes place each year at The Hague in the Netherlands. The BERMUN conference at the John F. Kennedy school is now in its 21st year. During the three days of an MUN conference, delegates lobby to find a group of like-minded delegates representing countries with a similar stance on “their” issue. Each group writes one or more resolutions, which must follow strict rules concerning form and content. (For a sample resolution, click here.) The resolutions are then debated and revised in the committee until all delegates of that committee vote to accept or reject each resolution. Getting “your” resolution passed is the main goal of the conference. Reaching that goal involves networking, critical thinking skills, willingness to compromise, good English listening and speaking ability...and a good measure of fun.

Working on a resolution in the Political Committee

The fun culminates in the closing ceremonies, held this year at Berlin-Brandenburg International School in Kleinmachnow. Delegates looked back over the three days, celebrated their successes, and shared some of the high points of the conference in a video made by the Press team, which is available here. Then they went home to change out of their “smart business” attire and head to the Ballhaus Mitte for the traditional BERMUN dance.

Our Ambassador delivers her opening speech for the Republic of Korea

Schiller Meets Mandela

The Schiller delegation represented the Republic of Korea (South Korea). After our Ambassador presented her short speech at the opening ceremony, the delegate representing the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) briefly took the floor to announce that his country was the only real Korean democracy. This rivalry, which continued throughout the conference, was particularly ironic considering that North Korea was represented by the Nelson Mandela School of Berlin, an international school that offers a program similar to the SESB.

Guest Presentations

To help delegates make informed decisions about the issues they were dealing with, each committee enjoyed presentations by guests who are experts in their field. This year’s guests included

• Dr. Thomas Schildhauer, researcher and an executive director of the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society GmbH,
• Mary Elizabeth Murphy, head of  an Amnesty International group focusing on human rights education,
• Charles Hawley, co-founder and editor of Spiegel Online International,
• Olaf J. De Groot, Senior Research Associate at the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) in Berlin
• Nicola Liebert, spokeswoman for the International Labour Organization in Germany, and
• Kazi Imran Aziz, Java developer.
  
  

Time to vote! Delegates hold up their country placards to vote on an issue in the Special Conference.