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What is MUN?

MUN is an educational activity where students role-play as a delegate of a country to simulate a United Nations conference. Basically, it’s a mix of debate, international politics, and (mostly serious) role-play, designed to build leadership, cooperation with others, and global awareness.

Roles

There are 3 different roles in MUN conferences. Keep in mind that all of those roles are important in different ways meaning no roles are superior to others.

Delegates

In MUN, a delegate is someone who represents a specific country. They debate on behalf of their assigned country in a civilized, professional manner (No shouting or fighting).
Throughout the conference, they will:

make allies and opponents,
have the right (but not the obligation) to vote for an amendment or resolution
give a well written speech on the podium.

Chairs

Chairs are basically the ones that run the conferences.
While Chairs tend to be experienced delegates, it doesn't mean they are superior and better than you.
They are there to:

make sure the conference goes smoothly,
keep track of time,
enforce the rules and evaluate the delegates (So they know which to give awards to).

Admins

Admins are basically the behind-the-scenes workers.
They make sure the conference runs smoothly by:

facilitating note passing between delegates (since delegates are not allowed to talk directly to other delegates and the Chair),
help with the room setup
give support to delegates and chairs if needed.

However, they cannot vote or speak at the podium, but they can observe the committee.

Most best delegates start from here, so they can learn to read the room and formulate arguments. Admins also happen to become the snack-fetchers for the committee room sometimes.

Committees

In MUN conferences, there will be varieties of committees that you either get assigned to or choose. Some committees are beginner friendly while others are pretty difficult to debate on.

GA Committees

In the UN, there are six committees of the General Assembly. Since MUN simulates real UN meetings, it’s not uncommon that you will be assigned to one of these committees. Each committee has a different purpose and areas of topic to focus on, distributing the workload effectively.

DISEC

DISEC stands for Disarmament and International Security and is the first committee of the UN General Assembly, so is often represented as GA1, General Assembly 1.
It handles:

Peace and security (Like trying to stop war threats)
Disarmament and weapons of mass destruction (nuclear weapons)
Global security cooperation (e.g., tackling terrorists)

In short, DISEC handles security.

ECOFIN

ECOFIN stands for Economy and Finance and is the second committee of the UN General Assembly, so is often referred to as GA2.
It handles:

International Economic Cooperation
Sustainable development
Globalization and trade
Helping underdeveloped nations grow (Like Syria after the war ended)
Solve World Debt (The debt is over 300 Trillion in total. Yes, with a T!)

Note: ECOFIN is not responsible for sanctions against specific nations, that’s the Security Council's job.

(So, sorry Timmy, no spamming sanctions on North Korea just because you "feel" like it.)

In short, ECOFIN handles the economy.

SOCHUM

SOCHUM stands for Social, Humanitarian, and Cultural Committee and is the third committee of the UN General Assembly and hence the name: GA3 It focuses on:

Human Rights (looking at you, North Korea and Eritrea)
Humanitarian Issues

It usually cooperates with other committees like HRC (Human Rights Committee) and UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees).

In short, SOCHUM handles Human Rights and Refugees.

SPECPOL

SPECPOL stands for Special Political and Decolonization Committee and is the fourth committee of the UN General Assembly.
It focuses on:

Decolonization (like Morocco with Western Sahara issues)
Peacekeeping missions (looking at you… Cyprus and Turkey)
Special Political Issues

In short, SPECPOL handles political issues.

Administrative and Budgetary

Administrative and Budgetary is the fifth committee of the UN General Assembly. It’s basically the finance department of the UN.
It deals with:

how the UN spends money (like peacekeeping operations, refugee camps, and more)
contributions from every nation
basically anything related to finance

In short, Administrative and Budgetary handles the UN budget.

Note: In most MUN conferences, this committee is often excluded because it’s difficult and boring (unless someone decides to cause chaos). It’s usually not worth including.

Legal
Legal (Yes, it’s actually a name) is the sixth committee of the UN General Assembly.
It deals with:

International Laws
Drafting and interpreting treaties (Even the ones that were at least 1,000 years old)
International terrorism laws
Treatment of diplomats and embassies (Looking at you, Russia…)
International crimes like genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity

It also works closely with the ICJ (International Court of Justice).
In short, it focuses on laws.

Note: Like Administrative and Budgetary, many MUN conferences exclude this committee due to it being too technical and overwhelming.

Specialized Committees

Specialized Committees are committees that are not part of the six main General Assembly bodies but still simulate important UN or non-UN organizations. These committees are added to the MUN program for many reasons. One of the reasons is to make MUN more engaging for students, further boosting its popularity. Specialized Committees can be invented and created by MUN conferences themselves, so there are no fixed numbers. Most are usually difficult but fun for many delegates.

SC

SC stands for Security Council and is a UN committee outside of the General Assembly.
It handles international peace and security issues like:

Wars
Terrorism
Conflicts (Like Kashmir conflicts)
Nuclear weapons (North Korea)
Basically any topics that are so urgent that it’s a matter of global safety.

It’s like DISEC but there are many huge differences:

SC handles urgent ongoing topics
The resolution, if passed, is legally binding (Meaning nations cannot ignore it, at least on paper)
Contains 15 members (5 permanent members and 10 elected members), way smaller than DISEC
Fast pace and the MUN procedure is a bit different
And yes… the Veto Power, which 5 permanent members (US, UK, France, China, and Russia) can reject amendments and even the resolution as a whole.

CRISIS

CRISIS is another specialized committee that handles very urgent scenario in real time . It has its own procedure and offers a lot of flexibility to delegates.

Scenarios can be:

Fictional (Zombie apocalypse, Titans attacking)
Modern crisis (Cyber warfare, Taiwan dispute)
Historical (Cuban missile crisis, Space race, WWII)

What’s the difference between CRISIS and GA committees?

Differences are:

The procedure is different (straight to debate, fast pace, constant crisis updates)
Delegates have flexibility to make creative solutions
Delegates act as leaders of their own nation (so you can make domestic reforms… or start WWIII)

Note: This committee is insanely popular so being a delegate of CRISIS is like winning a lottery ticket, especially at another school’s MUN conference.

ICJ and ICC

ICJ stands for International Court of Justice while ICC stands for International Criminal Court.

What's the difference?

The ICJ handles disputes between two UN-recognized nations like:

Border disputes
Diplomatic disputes
Interpretation of treaties

The ICC, on the other hand, gives trial on individuals who committed horrific crimes like:

Genocide
Crimes against humanity
War crimes

Procedure is pretty much the same as how a legal court works.

Note: ICJ is more common than ICC in most MUN conferences.

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Delegates