GenevaLunch - A group of university students from around the world cemented new friendships over weekend fondue after the annual Harvard MUN (World Model United Nations) conference closed Friday. The conference, attended by 1,700 people, was organized at the International Conference Centre in Geneva by EPFL students with some Geneva students participating. In recent years conferences have been held in Sharm El-Sheikh, Edinburgh and Beijing.
Students participated in debates using UN conferences as their model. They were assigned topics by the organizing committee that ranged from "Afghanistan - combating communicable disease in a post conflict country" to "The rights of migrant labourers."
Harvard WorldMUN began in 1991 when a group of Harvard students sought to create a forum to bring together students interested in global affairs to debate international issues. The first WorldMUN conference was held in Poland (1992).
"It is fantastic that we were able to host it here in Switzerland, especially as it is the second time that Geneva has done so, which no other city has done," says Cyrielle Hanser, president of the Geneva conference. She is a fourth year EPFL student. "We are delighted that is has gone so smoothly."
Cyrille Gattiker, also an EPFL student and head of public relations for the conference, says "The Harvard team who came over to monitor the debate said it ‘was one of the best conferences they had been to' and that it was extremely well organized."
The Swiss host country students raised money to sponsor students from Senegal, making it possible for them to join the conference. "They were keen to participate but simply didn't have the funds," says Gattiker. "We felt that it would be unfair for only the rich countries to be able to send their students and it certainly would not have been in the spirit of the United Nations. We hope we have set a precedent for the next host country to do the same."
A bonus for visiting students: Geneva and Switzerland trips that included hiking and sample Swiss food, plus other events that were organized outside conference hours. These included visits to EPFL to meet some of the campus's hundreds of international students. (continue reading)→