MUN – Exciting Closing Ceremony

The day’s closing ceremony for SISMUN 2020 started off with the Under Secretary General, Seol Li, welcoming head chairs up to the stage to present a short speech and award the best delegates from each committee:

Yoonsik (head chair of the Security Council) – praised delegates and said there were numerous promising, active delegates.

Ethan (head chair of DISEC) – said delegates showed skills in leadership and diplomacy and came up with comprehensive solutions.

Camilla (head chair of WHO) – praised the amazing delegates who challenged each other.

Niamh (head chair of UNHRC) – expressed that she was proud of committee which provided a wide perspective.

Yohan (head chair of UNEP) –  mentioned the great delegates in his committee.

Jan (head chair of ECOFIN) – said the committee came up with a wide scale of solutions from many perspectives and there were many active delegates.

Nick (head chair of SPECPOL) – mentioned that many delegates displayed excellent MUN skills – respect and perseverance.

The first guest speaker was Dmitry Mironchik, Ambassador of Belarus to Sweden and Norway. He participated in Model United Nations back in 1999. Starting out his presentation, he asked us, “Is global security really at risk?”, as it is easy to believe that it isn’t for us living in Sweden, a country that has had peace for more than 200 years. Even so, he believes it’s important that we think about peace and global security. Some dangers to this include nuclear weapons, disruptive (weaponised) technologies, pandemics and catastrophic climate change. He warned us to stop taking peace for granted and apologised that his presentation was not optimistic. He finished by saying that he believes we must work to maintain peace.

The second guest speaker: captain Jennifer Jones, US Naval Attaché to Sweden. She had an exciting start with music where she gave out flowers and tomatoes to some of the members of the audience. She said that it is essential to understand that people and nations need to collaborate. In diplomacy, words are our tools and we must understand our limitations. She emphasised that you need to understand your colleagues’ culture, history and perspective. She addressed audience as students of diplomacy and future diplomats. Further, she explained that our “tools” might not always be exactly what we need but we must be flexible and adaptable – they need to be sharpened regularly. She believes the future is bright, with a spirit of co-operation.

The ceremony ended with thanks to the speakers for their insightful words. SISMUN would not have been possible without the work of Ms Khan and all the chairs and delegates that have participated. Congratulations to Seol Li, Thabang and Yoonsik for their leadership.