The MUN Conference in the hills: Hill Country Model United Nations 2018
Sasanka Meegamarachchi and Muqaddasa Wahid
The workshop for the HCMUN was held on 27th of July 2018 at Trinity College, Kandy with the participation of many novice and experienced MUNers. At the workshop, the delegates were briefed about the conference proceedings, tips on making their speeches better and how to focus on other delegates’ speeches and to counter argue them.
Then came the day the Kandy MUNers were eagerly waiting for, the second edition of Hill Country Model United Nations Conference. Following its success after the first edition of Hill Country Model United Nations (HCMUN) last year, the executive committee of Sri Lanka Model United Nations in collaboration with the MUN Clubs of Trinity College, Kandy and Gateway College, Kandy brought out a bigger and better version of HCMUN this year. HCMUN is a regional MUN conference that is especially aimed towards the youth in the central hills.
It gives an opportunity for the MUNers in the central hills to do MUN in the comfort of their familiar surroundings.
This year’s HCMUN was held at Trinity College Kandy on the 28th of July 2018. The committees that were simulated at HCMUN were General Assembly 3, United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) and United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC). Delegates at HCMUN discussed a wide range of topics ranging from importance of protecting cultural heritage sites in time of conflict, impact of climate change on world heritage sites to combatting and eradicating child marriages. These issues are some of the most pressing, hidden global issues and as hoped, HCMUN brought these issues to light and got the youth to come up with solutions borne from discussions, debates, negotiation and compromise. HCMUN 2018 saw a participation of eager young diplomats from the central hills, a mix of experienced and novice MUNers. The Executive Committee of Sri Lanka Model United Nations chaired the committees that were simulated during the conference. Trinity College, Dharmaraja College, Gateway College, Kandy, Royal International School, Kurunegala and Zahira College, Gampola were the schools that participated at HCMUN 2018.
The conference commenced around 10AM and the head tables at each committee made sure that the proceedings went smoothly without any issue. At HCMUN, even novice MUNers aged 12, were doing a good job going against the more matured and experienced debaters. This proved that HCMUN provides more exposure to novice MUNers and helps them to improve their skills. The delegates debated passionately and came up with excellent resolutions which displayed the diplomatic skills of the delegates. Since all good things must come to an end, after hours and hours of debating, the conference came to an end.
In UNHRC, the Delegate of Germany swept the Best Delegate award which the Delegate of Korea won Higher Commendation. In GA3, the Best Delegate award went to the Delegate of China whilst the Higher Commendation award went to the Delegate of Belgium. In UNEP, the Delegate of Belgium won Best Delegate and the Delegate of China won the Higher Commendation award. The head table made sure that these awards were given out fairly and was according to a properly organized point system.
Venuri Kalinga, the Secretary General commented that the MUNers from the central hills were “Very wonderful, passionate young people who are interested in making a difference and also understands that the world we live in is constantly changing and we have the right to speak about change.” A conference of this magnitude wouldn’t have been executed smoothly if not for Malaka Samarasinghe, an Executive Committee member of SLMUN 2018, who was mainly instrumental in coordinating with the MUN clubs of Trinity College, Gateway College Kandy and the Executive Committee of SLMUN 2018, to ensure its smooth execution.