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 will consist of all states listed on the Country Preference Form that have a college delegate. In the 48th Annual Model UN Conference, the General Assembly will be a platform for all general topics dealing with technological development, and includes all delegates participating within the conference.
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. In the 48th Annual Model UN Conference, the Legal Committee will focus on discussions
around issues such as regulations, legal definitions, security, and measures of accountability
with regard to technological entities or technological development.
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. In the 48th Annual Model UN Conference, PolSec will play an important role in bringing
resolutions and discussions concerned with the use of technology, specifically artificial
intelligence, in warfare and in conflict between 2 or more member states.
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.
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. In the 48th Annual Model UN Conference, SocHum will serve as a committee focused on the discussion of how technological development can help certain regions and member states of the world, whether culturally, socially, economically, and through the promotion of human rights. The conference encourages delegations of SocHum to write resolutions about what the roles of current and available technologies are in aiding developing and undeveloped countries throughout the world.
With the theme of “Parting Ways With Neo-Colonialism: Ensuring Global Achievement through Development for All,” we thought it would be interesting to create not one but two special committees for WUMUN 49, creating spaces for conversations within and between the developed and developing nations of our world.
This year, we decided to take a contemporary approach as we have dedicated much of WUMUN 49 to giving a voice to member states that can often go unrecognized. On behalf of this year's Big Four, we are excited to announce the SIDS (Small Island and Developing States) Special Committee. This Committee comes with much excitement and anticipation for us as we are giving platforms to member states which have never before been included in our conference. Our main prerogative for the SIDS committee is for the developing world to help the developing world. We would like to emphasize the global importance of all member states and believe that the inclusion of SIDS is a gateway to a worldly perspective on many global issues. Topics can be expected to range from climate change, to human rights, to decolonization and more! No member state is too big or too small to make an impact!
The G20 is an independent organization of the world's most economically successful countries. It has 19 member states and includes representation from the European Union (EU) and the African Union (AU). The AU's addition to the G20 last year brought the total number of members to 21. The G20's goals are mostly related to global economic stability and sustainable development.
The 49th Annual Winthrop University Model United Nations program does take liberties with the inclusion of the G25 as a special committee. We will treat the G20 as if it were a committee of the UN, and increase its membership to 25 UN member states that are amongst the most economically powerful in the world. The goal of our G25 committee will be the same as that of the real-world G20: to maintain and promote economic prosperity and development across the globe.
