This recap was provided by Aryaman Jalota, Secretary-General of the Singapore International School MUN (SISMUN) 2013.
Secretary General Aryaman Jalota leads the Chairs of SISMUN into the opening ceremony holding the UN Flag.
The third annual edition of the Singapore International School Model United Nations (SISMUN) conference was held on the 22nd and 23rd of February, 2013. SISMUN hosted over 350 delegates across 8 committees, all of which manifested the theme of the conference, “Bridging the Gap.”
There are a number of unique aspects of this conference that one would not have experienced at other Model UN conferences. This year, SISMUN fulfilled the didactic aspect of the platitude, “Think global, act local.” Of the 8 committees that were simulated, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) were two regional bodies home to Asia; in fact, SAARC was chaired by Pranab Mukherjee, a foreign policy analyst working for the UN in Asia. Through the simulation of these two committees, SISMUN ensured that while international issues are being contemplated in other committees, problems closer to home (India) were not ignored.
For the first time in India and possibly in the world, the world’s two major military alliances, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) were brought together at a sole platform called the NATO-SCO Summit. This SISMUN 2013 committee was the ultimate test of diplomacy because it brought together two geographical and ideological counterparts of international relations today.
What made SISMUN 2013 even more exciting was the new procedure it adopted this year, the Indian International Model United Nations (IIMUN) procedure. This new format of Model UN has brought some new and exciting motions to the attention of delegates across the country. For instance, ‘motion to challenge’ allowed delegates to settle disputes through a one-on-one debate in front of the entire committee. For more information about this procedure and its mother conference, you could visit www.iimun.in.
The students of Singapore International School hosted 20 schools from all over India for the duration of the conference. Lymm High School from Cheshire, North England also came to observe the first day of the conference for a few hours. Thus, this was the first edition of SISMUN that went international!
Delegates of the NATO-SCO Summit raise their placards to the Chair, Aryan Chhabria.
The Chair of ASEAN, Abhishek Pillai, and the Secretary General, Aryaman Jalota, share an intense conversation.
