KarMUN
Karinthy Model United Nations

What is Model United Nations (MUN)?

Model United Nations was founded as an educational organisation based on a simulation of the United Nations international system. It has been in existence as long as the UN itself, and in its former incarnation was known as the Model League of Nations. It involves universities and high schools from all over the world and motivates students to become involved in recent international issues and get familiar with the structure of the United Nations.

How does it work?

Students from high schools all over the world come together at Model United Nations Conferences to find out about the mechanisms, opportunities and limitations of such an organisation. Delegations from different high schools represent one country each. No delegation shall represent its own country, but rather adopt a different country's views and beliefs for a couple of days. That also means that from time to time one has to represent beliefs that are not one's own, examine their background, reasons and get familiar with them.

Each delegate sits in a committee that also exists in the real United Nations; topics under debate are chosen to reflect the current discussions in that committee. The whole working process of the committee is simulated including the setting of the agenda, the informal debate, the formal debate in session, the drafting of resolutions and the passing of resolutions in a voting procedure. During the formal debate the positions of each state will be laid out, whereas in the informal debates the heavy negotiations between delegates concerning details take place. The ultimate goal of a Model United Nations is to write a resolution that is accepted by the committee (by simple majority in most cases, but by special rules in the Security Council) and tackles the problems presented to the committee.

What are the benefits of Model United Nations Conferences?

Participants of MUN Conferences can:

• gain a greater understanding of the UN & diplomacy
• gain insight into public relations / international business/ politics and NGO's work
• become experts on the issues under discussion

More general/personal benefits for them is that they can:

• improve their communication, public speaking, debating and leadership skills
• practice teamwork by being part of a delegation
• be creative in finding innovative solutions to problems (even global ones)
• meet new people and make new friends
• and do all that in English

What is KarMUN?

KarMUN is a Model United Nations conference that is hosted by the Karinthy Frigyes Bilingual Secondary School (Gimnázium) Budapest each year, started in 2005. The school has offered the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme since 1992, so a major international event is not alien to them at all. Key topics of the conferences have been e.g.: ”Children”, ”Tolerance”, ”Education” and ”World Economic Crisis”.

KarMUN Home Page: karmun.hu