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Posted on November 04, 2015

Winning team, Russia

The Department of Political Sciences’ annual Model UN debate, held on Wednesday 14 October, took the form of a UN Security Council simulation. The assigned theme for the deliberation, which forms an integral part of the second-year International Relations curriculum, was "Elect the Council: Towards a legitimate and effective UN Security Council".

The assigned theme for this year’s deliberation positions read:

"Elect the Council proposes to do away with permanent seats on the UNSC and the veto and to move towards a system where countries are elected to the Council bound to four technical requirements for candidacy. A new Council will consist of 8 countries elected for five-year terms and 16 countries elected for three years respectively, thus a UNSC of 24 members.

"The Current 15 Permanent and Non-Permanent Security Council Members: Five permanent members: China, France, Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Ten non-permanent: Angola, Chad, Chile, Jordan, Lithuania, Malaysia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Spain, Venezuela."

The aim of the debate was to consult on the details of a reformed UNSC and then to establish a broad-based global partnership of civil society organisations that would work with states to create an enabling resolution by two-thirds of the members of the UNGA, including the P5 members, to reform UNSC in line with the global norm of elected representation.

The Elect the Council debate touched on important themes related to Security Council reform, among them:the principle of elected members to the UNSC; the number of countries per member on the UNSC; size of the Council; criteria for membership; duration of elected terms; and interim/transitionary arrangements.

Our young delegates, presented a stimulating simulation and, above all, really enjoyed themselves, showing themselves to be convincing and inspiring. We hope they reflect on this day for the many days ahead in their academic and professional careers.