HOW MUNA OPERATES
The Model United Nations Assembly, or MUNA, is just what the name suggests; a reproduction of the United Nations General Assembly. Approximately sixty to seventy UN member nations are represented in MUNA by two grade 11 and/or grade12 students. The Rotary Clubs from the United States (Minnesota, North Dakota, and Wisconsin), from Canada (Northwest Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan) - as well as some of the local Winnipeg high schools - select, sponsor and send students to Winnipeg every year to participate in MUNA.
An agenda of topics, closely related to issues before the current UN General Assembly, is prepared for debate several months in advance of the MUNA event, which takes place each year in the month of May. Participating students are expected to diligently acquire information on agenda items about the policies of the country they will represent.
Such information can, of course, be acquired from local library resources. Students in the US could contact the embassy of the country they are scheduled to represent in Washington, DC, and Canadian students could do the same in Ottawa for official information. Other sources for such information are the Debates of the UN General Assembly, the UN website at http://www.un.org/ , the United States United Nations Association in New York, United Nations Association in Canada in Ottawa, and/or the websites of the countries concerned. If all else fails, please contact Rotarian Rais Khan, a member of the MUNA Committee, at raiskhan@shaw.ca. Students should not try to second guess the policies of the countries they represent!
When delegations are advised of their country assignment, they will also be informed of the resolutions on which they are slated to speak, either in the Assembly during the opening session or in Committee. On the second day of the MUNA event, each of the agenda items is presented to the General Assembly for final debate and vote.
The above outline is explained in greater detail in the following pages. Questions that remain unanswered should be directed to the Chair of the MUNA Committee.
c/o
Rotary Club of Winnipeg
The Winnipeg Convention Centre
375 York Avenue
Winnipeg, MB R3C 3J3
E-mail: muna2012@mts.net
