As GalMUN struck the interest of many first-timers, the first event on the agenda after the Opening Ceremony and the General Assembly was a Mock Debate in each committee in order to familiarse the newcomers with the basics of debate. The subject on the agenda was a longstanding battle, ranging on years, perhaps even centuries, between two moguls of the Romanian landscape: the cities of Galati and Braila. Although this was a debated subject, we all know that the true winner is and has always been the home city of the GalMUN conference, regardless of the speeches proposed by some of the delegates.
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Awaiting the jewel in the crown of the conference, authentic academic debate, the UNODC started the day with a punishment: ✨the Rasputin dance✨, a demanding activity both on the body and soul of a true debater. With moves that would bring tears even to the eyes of António Guterres and receive roars of applause from the entire United Nations General Assembly, the day kicked off with a truly beautiful start. Roll call prepared, hearts on their sleeves, and the future of international crime in their hands, the delegates firmly but surely started verifying the quorum.
Opening speeches showcased each one of the country’s fundamental stances on the topic. After clarifying the meaning of international arrest warrants and their purpose, the delegates were able to highlight aspects such as issues with aforementioned warrants and their importance, solutions necessary for improving the extradition process, mismatches between their country’s policy and the international framework, significance of objective bodies such as INTERPOL as well as the necessity of cooperation of all states present. Another tradition present in every MUN and every committee is the classic “no I on the floor”, paired in the UNODC committee with a little twist of an “I” counter, meant to stop this habit (bordering on addiction) of delegates.
Russia’s representative’s speech truly highlighted their wish for fair treatment regarding this issue, despite the delegate of Pakistan’s act of highlighting their extensive use of Red Notices. The finale of the opening speeches approached with the hope of creating a better and safer future through cooperation and transparency, two solutions strongly promoted by the truly moving “Pledge of Allegiance” offered by the delegate of the USA.
For the shyer of delegates to speak their ideas into the world, the chairpersons proposed a session of “Aggressive Compliments” which hopefully raised the spirits and voices of certain delegates. In an attempt to advance the debate and reach suitable solutions, 3 moderated caucuses were proposed with the winner being a Moderated Caucus regarding the implication of Interpol in International Arrest Warrants.
After a long and peaceful period of academic prosperity, the time has come for the Olympics of a true MUN-er: Placard Rising. A true match of wits and many placards landing on the wisdom-filled floors of CNVA later, Saudi Arabia was declared the winner and the debate could continue adequately, with delegates already starting to propose feasible solutions. With DPRK wishing for countries to be allowed to solve their own issues internally before exposing them to an international authority and Russia sharing the sentiment and developing on the subject of helping underdeveloped countries, the USA moved the debate forward by delivering a speech regarding international trials and proposing the introduction of technology in the process.
As the final Committee Session of the day quickly approached, the chairs decided to combine a punishment for the quieter delegates with a wake-up call as delegations of Saudi Arabia and Togo were guided (forced) to perform a public-speaking exercise: yelling, With the delegate of USA volunteering to break the ice with an adequate “Hai Otelu”, the two delegates slowly but surely broke out of their shells. Deciding to leave the formal environment in order to improve the overall mood of the committee, the chairs invited the delegates to a unique session in which they were able to relive their childhoods in a series of classic games such as “Samurai”. After hi, ha, ho-ing their way to solving the issue of International Arrest Warrants, the delegates returned to the safe haven of the committee rooms where a samurai’s katana stands no chance against a chairperson’s gavel.
Matters returned to their usual course with a speech from China criticising the numerous mentions of transparency and a speech from Russia proposing fair treatment and common guidelines for all states. The delegates of Sweden and Spain insisted on working to find solutions such as creating a database that raised suspicions from states such as Saudi Arabia regarding its degree of trustworthiness. A third and hopefully lucky intervention of Qatar tried to encourage states to fight against the implication of outside bodies such as the ICC in their own country’s policy due to their “biassed past”. As such, a fruitful day of debate ended, in anticipation for a new dawn full of solutions and formatting resolutions!
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The first committee session of the 3rd day started with the delegate of the USA, who proposed solutions against international criminality and corruption, such as training law enforcement. Later in their speech, Russia stated that every country should have a database connected to INTERPOL in regards to which Egypt raised the problem of corruption.
The Commonwealth of Australia started their speech by saying that providing funds to countries dealing with poverty to ensure their technology is not necessary, for they are dealing with much more important issues such as hunger and lack of medication for people in need after which the motion regarding further discussion of implementation of a database was granted.
The motion spices up, as Pakistan is throwing great allegations against the USA: “How can we trust the USA? […] A country that brought wars and chaos into our world?”. The second session of this committee started with the USA applauding the delegates for their involvement in the earlier session and proceeded to state that the country is not planning to use artificial intelligence for their database: “It would be really unsafe”, said the delegate. As the matter of AI is brought into discussion, Australia shares their view, agreeing with the USA, that being a first in this committee. Canada adopts a peaceful approach on this subject, reestablishing a calm atmosphere in the committee room, hoping for a “middle ground” with every country present. China confesses that some points discussed in this motion do not align with their principles. They do not agree with giving money to underdeveloped countries, and, we quote: “We know best who to charge!”, firmly stating their ground on the matter of international bodies.
As we wait for the resolutions to be concretized, let’s take a look at some of the gossip shared by the delegates: “‘I’ counter: infinite”. “Some delegates are a bit harsh on the first timers”. “Smash Pakistan”, “Saudi Arabia=smash” “My grandma is more active than DPRK” “Can we complete these resolutions, cause I’m going nuts already?!” To end the third session, the UNODC were hard at work, already starting the process of building the resolution and leaving us in anticipation of the solutions they will propose in front of the General Assembly.
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The fourth day began and was shortly interrupted by an official matter. As the chairperson was substituted, the GSL resumed and the UK delegate was given the floor. Today’s subject is strongly leaning towards finalising this committee’s resolutions. For this issue, the delegates opted for an unmoderated caucus.
The time for this unmoderated caucus has elapsed and the floor was given to China. The delegation of this country stated that their concerns are not taken into consideration. The POIs came with interesting questions about the designated number of red notices. “Is this delegation aware that this clause does not impose a designated number of red notices?” asked the UK. “Is the delegation aware we are just offering a guideline?” quickly followed the USA delegate. The response they were given by the People’s Republic of China was short and straight-forward: “China knows best what to do in their country.”
“We are very happy to see these resolutions come to life” stated the French Republic’s delegation. The countries were given one last chance to speak up about their resolution. No plancards were raised, so the delegates are waiting for their resolutions while listening to “Dragostea din tei” and reading gossip. As the delegation of Germany stated, every country present and voting in this committee found a “somewhat middleground”. At the end of today’s committee session, the delegates applauded each other, as they said their bittersweet goodbyes and gave their last proof of respect. The countries present in the UNODC peacefully ended this experience, with the great resolutions mentioned above.
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