Model UN Holds Spring Summit

On Wednesday, March 29, St. Stephen's Model United Nations (UN) Security Council took up the topics of international aid agencies providing abortion, international trade and alternative energy.

The Council first took up the abortion topic, where the United States launched a forceful effort to defund or limit international aid groups and UN medical teams’ provision of abortion. Specifically, the US, Uganda and Haiti called for nations to withdraw from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and close down this agency.  Despite lively and intractable debate, a resolution passed calling for increased support for UNFPA and programs for reproductive services and family planning.

Trade was the next topic, and the debate was to reconsider international trade agreements in light of current problems with the EU, TPP and a changed US economic policy. Here the US, in league with Russia, the United Kingdom and Uganda, found much more support for weakening the WTO, promoting bilateral trade agreements, punishing intellectual property theft, and creating an International Trade Ethics Council “to investigate, regulate, and maintain ethical trade practices.”  In effect, the doctrine of “free trade” was denounced and the “liberty” of bilateral agreements was encouraged.  This history teacher could not help but notice the recycling of arguments from the 19th century about the “liberty” of workers to negotiate employment free from union constraints.

In the last hour, a rather fatigued council took up the question of alternative energy. Saudi Arabia introduced a resolution that not only encouraged the use of fossil fuels but asked the UN to form an oil producing cartel of nations to regulate the international oil market. It passed with little consideration.

Model United Nations at St. Stephen's is a simulation of the U.N. Security Council, which puts students into a world of diplomacy and negotiation. Students take up issues before the UN, research those issues from the perspective of their assigned country, and seek to defend their country’s interest in public policy debate. They also seek to gain international consensus by means of drafting resolutions, political negotiations and informed debate. St. Stephen’s Model UN provides time and resources for students to engage in these activities and to learn the art and patience of procedural rules and policy development.