The General Assembly (GA) of the Winthrop Model UN runs very much like the General Assembly of the United Nations, which is comprised of 193 Member States. The GA is the main body that debates policies and discusses issues that affect all Member States. Winthrop's GA Plenary will occur Wednesday night with all Collegiate Delegates and Friday with all High School Delegates.
The Legal Committee at Winthrop's Model UN Conference runs much like the General Assembly.
There will be set resolutions, written by high school delegates, to discuss and a
straw poll vote will decide which one to talk about first. Each resolution will be
discussed until it is voted on or tabled. In the United Nations, the Legal Committee, known as the "Sixth Committee" or GA-6, focuses on aspects of the law at the international
level, international terrorism, the administration of justice, and the protection
of peacekeepers and diplomats abroad.
Winthrop MUN's "PolSec," is modeled after a combination of the United Nations' General Assembly First and Fourth Committees. These committees deal with subjects pertaining to decolonization, peacekeeping troops, nuclear weapons, disarmament, and matters of war. This committee is essential in keeping international peace and security.
Sometimes called "SocHum," the Social and Humanitarian Committee is the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly. This body focuses on social problems, humanitarian aid, and human rights issues with help from the Human Rights Council. Issues under the realm of GA-3 are indigenous rights, elimination of racism and discrimination, rights of women, rights of children, refugees, and prisoners of war. A very useful resource for this committee would be the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Often considered the strong hand of the UN, the Security Council consists of 15 Member States, five of which are Permanent Members and 10 non-permanent members who serve two-year terms on the Council. Each Council member has one vote; but if a Permanent Member (China, France, Russia, the UK, and the US) votes "no," they invoke the "power of veto." "Veto power" is given only to the Permanent Members (P-5) and just one can strike down any resolution to be passed, even if all other Council Members vote "yes."
The Security Council at Winthrop actually writes resolutions, rather than debating pre-written resolutions. This body is given the duty to determine threats against and maintain the peace, recommend action, use military force against aggressors; the Security Council ("SecCo") is the only UN body allowed to take punitive action against a Member State. More details about the workings of the Security Council are available on the Delegates page.
With the theme of “Back To The Future: Studying Our Past To Secure Our Future,” we wanted to pay homage to the history of the United Nations and the Winthrop University Model United Nations Program. This year is the 80th Anniversary of the United Nations General Assembly and the 50th Anniversary of the Winthrop Model United Nations. As a result, we decided to devote two of our special committees to the historical time periods which started it all. This is the first time ever that the Winthrop University Model United Nations Program will be hosting Historical Security Council. In fact, honoring the United Nations history and the Winthrop Model United Nations history, we will be hosting TWO Historical Security Councils. Historical Security Council 1946 is set in the year of the first United Nations General Assembly while Historical Security Council 1976 is set in the year of the first Winthrop University Model United Nations Conference. We will also have a third special committee: Human Rights Council. Human Rights Council is the perfect special committee that encapsulates a key purpose of the United Nations, cited in its charter: to reaffirm the faith in and uphold fundamental human rights.
In honor of WUMUN 50 we wanted to bring it back to what started it all with two special Historical Security Councils. Our first Historical Security Council is dated the year that the first ever United Nations General Assembly was held: 1946. This Council functions similarly to the Security Council. However, instead of debating and creating resolutions related to current events, you will be acting as a member state in the context of 1946. What is unique about acting as a delegate of this time period is that delegates will know the events that have taken place since then. So, delegates understand the actual results of conflicts during this time. However, having this knowledge does not necessarily mean that a member state has to follow every single action in the same exact manner as their member state did historically. There is room to be creative in your debates, resolutions, and discourse. However, it is imperative that in doing this delegates still remain in the character of their member state in the context of that time period.
This Council has 20 member states, each of which act as a single delegation. Five of these member states are permanent members, six of these member states are non-permanent members who were on the Security Council in 1946, and nine of these member states were selected to be added to the Winthrop University Model United Nations 1946 Historical Security Council in order to give more opportunities for delegates as well as open the debate to member states who were in the midst of significant occurrences during the time period.
In honor of WUMUN 50, we wanted to bring it back to what started it all with two special Historical Security Councils. Our second Historical Security Council is dated the year that the first ever Winthrop University Model United Nations Conference was held: 1976. This Council functions similarly to the Security Council. However, instead of debating and creating resolutions related to current events, you will be acting as a member state in the context of 1976. What is unique about acting as a delegate of this time period is that delegates will know the events that have taken place since then. So, delegates understand the actual results of conflicts during this time. However, having this knowledge does not necessarily mean that a member state has to follow every single action in the same exact manner as their member state did historically. There is room to be creative in your debates, resolutions, and discourse. However, it is imperative that in doing this delegates still remain in the character of their member state in the context of that time period.
This Council has 20 member states, each of which act as a single delegation. Five of these member states are permanent members, six of these member states are non-permanent members who were on the Security Council in 1976, and nine of these member states were selected to be added to the Winthrop University Model United Nations 1976 Historical Security Council in order to give more opportunities for delegates as well as open the debate to member states who were in the midst of significant occurrences during the time period.
The Historical Security Councils will be simulated in 1946 and 1976, so they will function uniquely. With this in mind there will be a Historical Security Council 1946 and 1976 addendum, which will be posted to the Winthrop University Model United Nations Website soon.
This addendum will cover:
It is crucial for WUMUN's 50th Anniversary to have a council that examines human rights issues, especially in a time where our world is facing a surge of complex challenges that require international cooperation. We want to engage the next generation of leaders with this council and have conversations regarding human rights violations, member state accountability, and solutions for member states that are currently involved in global conflict.
“The Human Rights Council is an intergovernmental body within the United Nations system responsible for strengthening the promotion and protection of human rights around the globe and for addressing situations of human rights violations and making recommendations on them. It has the ability to discuss all thematic human rights issues and situations that require its attention throughout the year.” OHCHR
In honor of WUMUM 50 we decided to have our third special committee be one which embodies the fundamental purpose of the United Nations. The Preamble of the United Nations Charter States that the United Nations will serve to “to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small, and…to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained, and…to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,” (UN Preamble). All of these aspirations are ones which are found in and can be strived for in the Human Rights Council.
The Winthrop Model United Nations Human Rights Council has 40 member states, each of which can act as a single delegation or double delegation. Twenty-nine of these member states currently sit on the United Nations Human Rights Council and eleven of these member states were added to the Winthrop University Human Rights Council to give more opportunities for delegates as well as open the debate to member states who are currently in the midst of human rights crises.
List of Current Member States on the United Nations Human Rights Council: https://www.ohchr.org/en/hr-bodies/hrc/current-members
