SiliconTech organized the 5th edition of the Model United Nations (SITMUN 2023) from 24 – 26 February 2023.
Silicon Institute of Technology Model United Nations (SITMUN) is a simulation of the United Nations where students play the role of delegates from different countries and attempt to find solutions to rising global issues through research, drafting, lobbying and debating.
The objective of SITMUN is to help the students gain a better understanding of the current events, international relations, diplomacy, and the agenda of the United Nations. It also helps them develop their skills in public speaking, decision-making, negotiation, situation analysis and critical thinking.
This year, the conference had three committees and one international press. The committees were United Nations General Assembly Disarmament and International Security Committee (UNGA DISEC), United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and World Health Assembly (WHA).
The agenda of UNGA DISEC was to discuss the issues related to espionage and surveillance. The committee also deliberated on malicious cyber-attacks along with the frameworks for weapon control system. The delegates of France accused Israel of using Pegasus spyware to gather information about the French officials, including their President Emmanuel Macron. The United States of America and Denmark were also called out in the forum for spying on the internal affairs of the European Union which is a violation of the diplomatic norms. The delegates of Germany emphasized framing of rules for developing and using the LAWs (Lethal Autonomous Weapons).
As part of UNHRC discussions, member states discussed the plight of women and children as well as the use of religion to disseminate propaganda and disrupt the harmony. The delegates of Austria claimed to have protective laws against terrorism and extremism which was refuted by the delegates of Italy. The delegates from Sweden emphasized a new law passed in their country to criminalize hate crimes. To counter this, the delegates from Syria responded by saying that recently a copy of the Holy Quran was burnt by a protestor in front of the Turkish embassy symbolizing hate against the Islamic religion and its practitioners. The member nations then discussed some practical solutions that could be implemented to overcome these problems.
The agenda of the WHA was to deliberate on surveillance, risk assessment and response systems in the healthcare sector. In this committee the delegates of Sweden emphasized on how they implemented the COVID-19 symptoms tracker during the pandemic, the delegates of Netherlands highlighted the measures they have taken to augment their healthcare services and the delegates of Iceland shared their best practices to ramp up the accessibility of primary healthcare services.
The participants of the international press worked as unbiased journalists to report on the proceedings of the committees and capture photographs of the entire event.
A total of 160 delegates from SiliconTech and other colleges and universities including Jadavpur University, Banaras Hindu University, Indian Maritime University, Chrisitan Medical College, Vellore, IIT Bhubaneswar, KIIT University, SOA-ITER, SOA National Institute of Law, SCB Medical College and Hospital, NIIS Group of Institutions, University Law College, Madhusudan Law University, Ramadevi Women’s University, BJB Autonomous College, PN Autonomous College and Bhawanipur Education and Society College attended this conference. The event concluded successfully with a closing ceremony and prize distribution.
