UCC International Relations Society, UCC’s premiere Model United Nations group, recently attended the St.Andrews Model United Nations Conference in St.Andrews, Scotland. The delegation attended the conference, which began on the 30th September, as it is the first major Model UN conference of the academic year. The conference, which entered its fourth year in 2016, is also known as SaintMUN, and is used by many societies to ‘blood’ new Freshers in competitive collegiate MUN.
The conference was attended by 90 delegates total, split between 6 committees, with those committees being: ECOSOC, the Human Rights Council, the African Union, the Commission on Narcotics and Drugs, Historical Crisis Committee and Ad-Hoc Intelligence Agencies. Speaking to Decorum Delegates, a MUN conference review site, UCC head delegate Rob O’Driscoll was quoted as saying: “A widespread array of topics were on offer. The conference was accessible to beginners as well as experienced delegates.” Topics for the aforementioned committees included the humanitarian crisis in central Africa, the eradication human trafficking, addressing the threat to national sovereignty caused by development aid, re-defining the relationship between China and Africa, countering threats imposed by the introduction & popularization of designer drugs, the cybersecurity of Five Eyes (an intelligence sharing system between UK, USA, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand), and a historical debate on gang violence in New York in the 1920s.
The UCC delegation featured a mix of seasoned Model UN competitors and fresh faces, including the aforementioned Head Delegate Rob O'Driscoll, Express Staff Writer Eoin Doyle, and freshers Beth O'Reilly & Caolán McCarthy. With this being the first MUN of the 2016/17 year, and with two proper weeks of MUN events being ran by the Society before making the trip to the Scottish competition, one would be fair in assuming the delegation might not be the most successful. However, this couldn't be further from the truth, as the Corkonian delegation returned from the land of tartan & battered Mars Bars with 6 individual awards, including three awards for 'Best Delegate'.
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