A RENMUN Renaissance: it’s back!
By Ryan Ng and Aidan Lai
On the 5th of March, 296 students logged on to the seventh annual RCHK Model United Nations conference. The conference, which garnered participation from students from schools across Hong Kong, was a two-day marathon of constant debating that many MUNers were looking forward to. Being the second-largest MUN conference in Hong Kong, this event gave students a taste of the day-to-day operations of the real United Nations. However, the conference was forced online for the second year in a row due to circumstances relating to the pandemic.
“One of the biggest challenges we faced in organising RENMUN were the constantly-changing COVID-19 situation in Hong Kong,” said Maki Flauta, RENMUN’s Secretary-General. “We originally anticipated hosting the conference in-person or in the worst case, only have the Chairs and Secretariat on campus.“
To those unfamiliar with the concept, Model United Nations is a hub for students to familiarise themselves with the important work of the United Nations. In a MUN meeting, students are placed into different roles and committees and receive the opportunity to speak on their behalf. From discussions on space weapons and terminator robots to discussions about drugs and abortion legislation, MUN allows people who are passionate about world issues to meaningfully express their opinions and provide perspectives.
“RENMUN VII was absolutely spectacular,” one delegate says. “I am passionate about global issues, and I feel that this conference was the perfect opportunity for me to express my insight and opinions into issues that matter, even if the online conference format made it harder.”
RENMUN held back no punches in the wide variety of topics displayed. It featured fifteen different committees (representations of real UN councils, which focus on specific sets of issues) split between beginner, intermediate and advanced levels. Some of these committees included the World Health Organization, Disarmament and International Security Committee, and the Security Council. Over the span of the two days, each committee covered two topics, ranging from Lethal Autonomous Weapons to the excessive use of force by police.
Prior to the event, both delegates (participants) and chairs (leaders) took on the ardent task of preparing for this momentous occasion. While delegates were tasked with writing research papers and getting acquainted with their delegations, chairs drafted analytical reports and prepared the building blocks needed for delegates’ success.
“There were days when I stayed up late, writing and writing in preparation for the conference,” one chair said. “People don’t know how much effort goes into preparing for an event like this.”
Although the preparations were arduous, both groups would see it pay off, starting with the highly successful opening ceremony. As students joined the opening ceremony of RENMUN, they saw the beginning of two full days of spectacular debate on a wide range of global issues. This was only made better when Shalini Mahtani, the founder of the Zubin Foundation (an organization dedicated to improving the lives of migrants and refugees) delivered a guest speech, imploring all to take action to better the lives of our marginalized communities.
After listening to Mahtani’s powerful words, delegates scrambled off to their separate committees, filled with renewed vigour to fight for a better world and make their opinions known. Delegates began by delivering their opening speeches, where they provided their stance on the issue and mentioned potential alliances with similar-minded delegates. They then moved on to unmoderated caucus, where they wrote resolutions (solution plans to the given problem). Afterwards, delegates began a long-winded discussion on the topics and their proposed resolutions, lasting up to the entire day. By the end of the day, there was not a single stone left unturned and not a single resolution unscrutinised. Most committees, at this point, had covered their first topics; however, this was only half of the conference. Delegates logged off, only to await another MUN session the following day.
“On day one, we discussed combatting international terrorist funding, as well as issues with money laundering,” Kendo Longid, a delegate for the UNODC committee says. “As the delegate of Afghanistan and the Taliban, I supported international terrorist funding, but since pretty much no other delegate shared the sincerity of Afghanistan, I had to make a compromise and join a bloc of [less economically developed countries]. Overall, the discussion was pretty tiring, and unfortunately, our resolution didn't pass due to the [most economically developed countries] thinking it was 'too LEDC oriented'. After discussing Topic 1 (combatting international terrorist funding), we started opening speeches on Topic 2 (decriminalization of drugs) before ending the first day of the conference.”
The next day, delegates returned to their committee meetings and ensued another long debating session, moving on to the next topic. Finally, as the conference came to a close, delegates were allowed to make fun of their fellow MUNers through the superlatives and banter boxes, where they wrote witty jokes and voted on ridiculous titles for each other. At around 4:00 pm, students regrouped at the main MUN meeting to tune into the closing ceremony, where chairs gave awards for the best delegate, most outstanding delegate, and most improved delegate awards.
“RENMUN was one of the best events I’ve participated in. It had basically everything I wanted from a conference; entertaining activities, good organization and even an inspiring guest speaker to wrap it all off. It was highly enjoyable, and I would personally do it again,” Leonardo Martinello, a delegate for the WHO, said.
“In the end, I was glad to see that the late online switch didn't damper the enthusiasm and engagement of our participants,” said Flauta. “Personally, I felt that RENMUN VII was a great success and many participants have reached out and expressed the same.”
All in all, RENMUN was a fantastic experience for everyone involved — from the talented chairs whose hard work and preparation made all this possible, to the unrelentingly passionate delegates who, despite overwhelming pressure, stood firm and loudly made their opinions known. Everyone, no matter how well they did, received positive results, and to the chairs, delegates and organisers alike, it felt that their hard work was not in vain.