To slip into the role of a delegate of the United Nations and to experience how decisions are made on the UN level, this opportunity was offered to students from four different countries from July 4 to 6 in Fulda. Under the guidance of Prof. Dr. Claudia Wiesner and Prof. Dr. Philip Liste as well as Muriel C. Pluschke and Clara Umstätter (supported by Maria Keller, Zhylien Kaja and Meike Schmidt-Gleim), the SK Department hosted an international Model United Nations (MUN), which was carried out within the framework of the PATRAPO (Practising Transnational Politics) and Transnational Governance and Human Rights (HAW International) projects. Project partners are Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain, Zagreb University, Croatia, and MacEwan University, Edmonton, Canada. In addition, a student delegation from Catholic University Lviv, Ukraine, led by Prof. Dr. Halyna Protsyk, arrived.
The project partners were represented by a delegation of three students from Canada and Prof. Dr. Chaldeans Mensah. The Canadian students led the participants as chairmen (Dais) through the conference and its proceedings. In addition to the Canadians, a student delegation from Zagreb, Croatia, was present to participate in the conference. Additionally, students from Madrid, Spain, as well as some other students from Fulda were connected online to participate in the hybrid conference. After two semesters of intensive preparation in a virtual, cross-national seminar, it was a real highlight for all participants to finally come together in person and simulate a UN conference together, as well as to exchange ideas and make international contacts.
The first Model United Nations in Fulda was opened with a speech by Professor Halyna Protsyk from Ukraine. She addressed the war in Ukraine, which was also the topic of the following conference. After her speech, some of the Ukrainian students shared their personal impressions from the war zone, which touched and affected everyone present.
Afterwards, the actual conference began, during which the approximately 40 participants took on the role of delegations of a UN member state for three days. The individual delegates held speeches, looked for cooperation partners, negotiated intensively, wrote working papers together and finally voted on the results of the draft resolutions in plenary. Finally, three resolutions on "Reducing the impact on food security from the Ukraine conflict" were adopted.
On the occasion of the event, a festive reception was held at Café Flora of the Frauenberg Monastery in Fulda on July 5. The President of the University of Applied Sciences Fulda, Prof. Dr. Kharim Khakzar, welcomed the guests present, consisting of current and former MUN participants, employees of the University and of the Faculty SK. Further greetings were given by Prof. Dr. Claudia Wiesner and Prof. Dr. Hans-Joachim Reinhard, Dean of the Faculty. In addition, a greeting from Michael Brand (CDU), member of the German Bundestag, who could not be present in person, was read out.
The conference was closed after the final vote of all delegates on the Draft Resolutions on July, 06 with a speech by Prof. Dr. Chaldeans Mensah. Finally, some students were honored with awards for especially good performances such as excellent speeches or position papers. In the evening, the delegations had dinner and exchanged ideas at the Brauhaus Wiesenmühle before leaving Fulda the next day after three eventful days.
The Fulda Team: Prof. Dr. Claudia Wiesner, Prof. Dr. Philip Liste, Muriel Pluschke, Clara Umstätter, Maria Keller, Meike Schmidt-Gleim, Zhylien Kaja.
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You can find a further report from our Canadian partners of MacEwan University here.
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