The Millennium hall at Cork City Hall is this week hosting the Davis College Model United Nations, with over 40 schools and 600 students taking part.
The Davis College Model United Nations (DCMUN) has grown in a few short years from a small gathering in the Davis College PE Hall to being the largest MUN conference in Ireland. The event is taking place this week in Cork City Hall, utilising the main hall, the Millennium Hall and Council Chambers. This year we have over 40 schools participating from Ireland and overseas, with over 600 students involved. DCMUN 2020 is by far the largest MUN conference in Ireland and one of the biggest in Europe. The reputation of DCMUN has entered the diplomatic milieu. Representatives of the Spanish embassy as well as the ambassadors of Poland and Latvia were present at the opening ceremonythis Wednesday, with Joanne O’Riordan as keynote speaker.
This year, delegates are writing and debating resolutions on issues as pressing as the Israeli-Arab conflict, ageing populations, child soldiers, genetic manipulation, death penalty, islamophobia, trade wars, organ donation, alternative energies, among many others.
Model United Nations (MUN) is one of the most popular extra-curricular academic activities worldwide. It is a simulation of the United Nations General Assembly and the Security Council, in which students represent delegations (countries or NGOs).The objective is to write clauses and ultimately resolutions that will tackle, resolve or at least minimise problems connected to pressing world issues in the areas of human rights, scientific advancement, ethics, aid, disarmament, etc. In an MUN conference, each student represents a country or an NGO. Students become experts in the delegation they represent and on the issues being debated. They then write clauses, which are debated, voted on, and included (or not) in a resolution. This interdisciplinary active develops an array of skills which allow students to perform to a very high standard and excel in their educational endeavours and throughout their adult life. MUN takes the well-known debating competitions to a more complex level, as students, based on their own research, come up with complex resolutions (following the rules of the real United Nations) during lobbying and caucusing, bringing those resolutions to debate and voting procedures, which allows them to own the procedure from beginning to end and make the whole learning process truly meaningful.