“Be calm, have fun, and if you stress, take it easy!” By Jet Kraaijveld
Delegates from all over the world, come to The International School of The Hague to participate in MUNISH. Here are some of this years’ delegates in MUNISH XXVII sharing their experiences, opinions, and favorite moments. Paul Domin, delegate participating in APQ and 17 years old, The International School of The Hague. Floris Kersemakers, delegate participating in APQ and 16 years old, The International School of The Hague Why did you join MUNISH? Paul: “I thought it would be a fun opportunity, and I could get a lot of learning done in the time that I am here.” Floris: “I like the speaking part of MUNISH. But I really like the ac-
tivity and that you get to meet new people.” How many times have you participated, and have you always been a delegate? P: “Twice, once as an admin, once as a delegate.” F: “This is my second time as a delegate, and I was part of GA3 last year.” What has been your favorite position at MUNISH? P: “I really enjoyed being delegate last year, it was really fun and we had a really interesting topic to talk about which was the Cuba, America crisis.” F: “I have only been part of the GA committee but I would love to do the security council because that sounds pretty awesome.”
It’s fair to say that a fundamental part of the conference are the chairs themselves; not only do they coordinate everything, but they also make sure that delegates present resolutions at their finest, whilst also allowing for the debates to run smoothly. Whilst maintaining a formal attitude, they provide that the conference is also enjoyable for the delegates. Human Rights Council Chair; Wietske Anema states that one of the best things about being a chair is “being able to make sure that everyone’s having fun and everyone enjoys the debate.” In addition to that, Deputy Chair of GA1, Ron van der Horst, expresses how for him the best part of be-
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Do you want to be part of the BoD? P: “I would love to be part of Board of Directors, it seems like it could be a lot of fun, I really enjoy being a delegate though and I am going to try be a delegate in THIMUN.” F: “I would love to, that would definitely be something I would want to do, because after this I would have been delegate twice, plus THIMUN, and I would like to do something else.” What are you looking forward to most of MUNISH? P: “The munish party, it is always
What is your favourite part? P: “I really like the debating and to see other people’s views and put yourself in a country’s view although it might not be your own.” F: “The lobbying part because you get to talk to people and get to know them.” Do you have any tips for first-timers? P: “Be calm, have fun with it, and if you stress too much you will mess up even more so you might as well take it easy.”
Chairs’ Insights By Eleni Socratous
F: “Try to speak as much as you can otherwise it is no fun, even if you screw up or are not that serious about the issue, just try to speak.”
ing a chair is also “the connection between the delegates and the chair and being able to lead and guide them, especially the new delegates.” Presidents of Advisory Panel on the Question of the Kurdish Region and of General Assembly – Erich Och and Kieran SchmidtDas – have both chaired 4 conferences including MUNISH. They express how keeping the debate fun and enjoyable is not only one of the highlights of being a chair, but a challenge too, as “it is your responsibility to keep it an enjoyable time.” However, they also add that “leading people who are in the same position as we were” and “being able to lead those people through their first debates” is another highlight of being a chair. At the same time though, as mentioned by Wietske Anema, keeping control of everyone at the end of the day when everyone is
Floris Kersenmakers
tired and hungry, can also pose as another challenge to chairs. They need to keep the debate fruit ful and satisfying and make sure that the delegates come to appropriate and reasonable resolutions even when they are tired towards the end of the day. ful and satisfying and make sure that the delegates come to appropriate and reasonable resolutions even when they are tired towards the end of the day. What Ron van der Horst looks forward to the most this year’s MUNISH and his role as a chair, is not just the resolutions themselves, but also that “people who don’t speak a lot get a chance to voice their opinion” because when everyone shares their views “they get a better understanding of problems which tackle the world issues.”