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Committee Session II & III

Day 2 of the conference saw all the committees passing resolutions for thier first topic. Here's a summary of the committee sessions II & III:


Disarmament and International Security Committee

The Disarmament and International Security Committee (DISEC), was one of the first committees to pass their resolution. The resolution attempted to resolve the issue of blood diamonds and reflects the hard work involved in the creating and debating processes that transpired behind the doors.

The impressive speed at which the DISEC functioned at seemed to result from the large amount of personal interest that each of the delegates showed in the topic. Despite the fact that many of them were personally far removed from the issue, many delegates considered the topic of blood diamonds to be a crucial issue and were therefore enthusiastic about cooperating to come to a resolution that served to resolve the issue. The delegate of the United States said, “blood diamonds have to be regulated in order to create the equality and safety for those who are forced to work in the mines and who live in fear.” The delegate of Nigeria showed an even firmer stance on the issue, vehemently stating, “blood diamonds are just pure evil. All underground, all covered with blood. It has to be understood and stopped.” Perhaps it was this personal drive behind the delegates’ actions and words that caused the resolution to be passed in such a timely manner, and unanimously.

The resolution that was agreed upon by the committee involved clauses regarding implementing a fair trade standard for diamonds, expanding the Kimberley Process to include more issues with regards to human rights abuses, taking action to educate the public about blood diamonds, and putting certain mechanisms in place to allow experts and analysts to enter nations and observe human rights conditions in those nations.

Many delegates seemed to agree about the fact that the debate on the first issue was “slow, but steady,” as the delegate of Turkey put it. And this was evident in the flow of debate. Perhaps it was because of the lack of key nations involved in the issue, such as Zimbabwe and Angola, but for the most part, the debate was largely one-sided in that all of the nations seemed to have the same opinion. Though some delegates seemed to be disappointed by this lack of debate, others, such as the delegate of Nigeria, praised it, saying that it was now “all about cooperation! Before, it was all fighting and demanding ‘my’ resolution. Now the entire session is so calm and well-controlled.”

In addition to encouraging collaboration among the delegates, Chair Adam Gerard also stated that this new hybrid procedure “has helped delegates in college writing and to get an in-depth look at different clauses.” Hopefully, this type of procedure will also serve to be beneficial in the debate on the second topic, and that the resolution for that topic will be passed too!

by Yoonjie Park and Janette Rhee

Economic and Financial Committee

The ECOFIN session took place in a small room, where delegates stood up at their seat instead of at a podium to deliver speeches. This minor issue, however, did not impact the quality or the flow of the debate in any way. The speeches were every bit as eloquent and effective as those at the other councils. The topic that the committee first attempted to resolve was ensuring the equitable distribution of transnational natural resources.

Despite this rather difficult broad and multi-faceted issue, the delegates of ECOFIN seemed determined to resolve it. Many of them, such as the delegate of Turkey, exhibited clear opinions on the issue. He said, ”I believe that transnational natural resources should be distributed equitably, but at the same time, countries should have rights over their natural resources located in their territories.” Others, including the delegate of France, were lost at first, but slowly grew more comfortable with the topic. “I was completely alien to the topic at the beginning. But as I started my research on this topic, I understood that far in my brain, I had already formed an idea on this topic.” He concluded by saying that “more time should be devoted to natural resources.” With this determination, the delegates set to debate, most of them aware that was needed “specific measures for various aspects, such as better foreign relations to solve this problem”, as the delegate of Israel aptly said.

Their awareness of this fact was evident in the high quality clauses and in turn, the resolution for the topic that they produced at the end of two days of lobbying and debating, which was a resolution that covered many of the main problems inherently existing in the topic, as well as minor issues. It included clauses that tackled both specific and general conflicts. One such specific conflict that was addressed was the issue of conflicts over African minerals. Some of the solutions that were included regarding these more specific conflicts were devoting more UN agencies towards regulatory oversight and giving specific penalties to companies that were deemed "bad." On the other hand, more general conflicts such as the oil conflicts with the Middle East was attempted to be solved by encouraging nations "to find ways of conducting join development which decreases scarcity overall", as chair Ben Della Rocca said.

In this committee, it seemed as if the slightly modified style of debate helped in streamlining the debate and resolution creating process. As the delegate of Israel put it, “it is a very friendly type of debate because we are able to discuss ideas and merge them into better clauses. This helps each delegate, including me, learn about the various aspects of the topic before any debating.” She also mentioned,  “the whole committee becomes one team” because of this procedure, because “there isn’t much competition between delegates for we are submitting a single resolution.” Hopefully, the delegates of ECOFIN will continue to work hard and maintain this friendly and conducive environment!

by Yoonjie Park and Janette Rhee 


Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee

During the second session of YMUN Korea 2014, SOCHUM started debate on the first topic regarding foreigners’ rights in homogenous populations. A total number of 19 clauses suggesting ways to improve this problem were submitted.

Throughout the debate, it was evident that many delegates were passionate about the issue. The delegate of the United States said, “I believe that this issue is one that is inevitable and in some countries, impossible to confront. It’s a very global and timeless issue that shouldn’t be treated, but cured; we should do as much as we can for the freedom of foreigners.” Likewise, the delegate of Turkey stated, “foreigners are discriminated and exploited in many homogeneous populations. Even though foreigners are such a minority, they not only deserve equal treatment, but also affirmative action such as positive discrimination.” The other delegates too were intent on creating a comprehensive and cohesive resolution, asking crucial questions that in turn led to stronger clauses.

One of the clauses, submitted by the delegate of France, emphasised the importance of using education as a principal tool to successfully raise awareness on the issue. The delegate of Nigeria said, “the committee debated on the education of foreigners who are having trouble adapting in a country, as well as the education of citizens in homogeneous populations in order to minimise prejudice against foreigners.” A second clause that added onto this idea specifically outlined measures that would educate the public about foreigners, such as by holding academic competitions regarding the topic of foreigners that offer various prizes. Other clauses include using mass media to raise awareness on the issue itself, and creating a global conference to monitor the statuses of foreigners in nations.

During the initial few hours of debate, however, the committee met with issues regarding the procedures of the conference. Many delegates, such as the delegate of Turkey, expressed his hope for a “more American-style procedure”, because of their lack of experience with this procedure style. As a result, after a few hours of conference, chairs Hannah Gonzales and Monica Lee announced a break and requested for suggestions from delegates on how to improve the procedure style. “The chairs are trying to be flexible with the procedures in order for them to be able to communicate with the delegates better,” said chairperson Monica. 

Although it remained a hybrid of THIMUN + UNA-USA, this proved to be an effective measure, and the resolution was passed with relative ease after changes in the procedure were implemented. Hopefully, the next resolution will be as earnestly debated upon and passed with a large majority.

by Yoonjie Park and Janette Rhee

United Nations Children's Fund

As soon as YMUNs second session started, delegates busied themselves in preparing clauses and compiling them to create a resolution. Issues such as regular health checkups with maximum contribution from non-governmental organizations (NGO’s), balancing the composition of the provided food to provide sufficient nutrients for each individual, and creating a sanitary environment in ways such as but not limited to provision of sufficient clothing, enhancing facilities like kitchen and cafeterias, as well as supplying soaps and sanitizers were suggested.

“Delegates are discussing about improving conditions in juvenile centers,” Vice Chair of UNCEF explained before the debate session opened. Separating juveniles from young adults in order to reduce their stress, boys from girls, and providing proper education in juvenile centers seemed to be the driving force, in other words, the main goal of the UNICEF committee. “Because each juvenile is brought up in different environments, they learn to approach problems differently and have had different sets of responsibilities,” the delegate of Lebanon stated. Hence, she is pushing for the reconsideration of the age restriction for juvenile centers to be designated as 17. Using NGO’s as the medium in raising awareness on the necessary establishment of education programs to prevent youth from demonstrating criminal behaviors, and utilizing NGO’s to educate and enhance the communitys awareness on the effects delinquent youths can draw upon the community as well as the individuals themselves.

UNICEF debated its clauses at a quick pace as Session 3 opened, passing multiple operative clauses regarding preventive and rehabilitative centers for juvenile delinquents. A clause proposed by the delegate of Central African Republic called for NGO’s to establish separate incarceration centers for youths who had committed less serious crimes. The separation of the offenders was to ensure that the delinquents were not forming “hierarchies, with the ones who committed the most serious crimes at the top.” The delegate of France emphasized the need for proper reeducation and psychological care, especially for repeated offenders. The policy of educating the offenders and helping them reintegrate themselves back to society, the delegates hoped, would in the long run generate the most benefits for the countries.

The house, however, was not always undivided. With another clause submitted by the delegate of Central African Republic, the delegate of the United Kingdom (U.K.) and the delegate of Turkey raised points of information that questioned the plausibility and the necessity of her proposal. The proposal was to train experts in psychotherapy and education psychology to provide mental care programs to juvenile delinquents. Problems arose as the wording of the clause, specifically regarding “test requirements” to determine which psychology experts would be eligible for the job, appeared too vague. The delegate of U.K. was skeptical as to “what the tests are looking for” and “who would be administering these tests”; the delegate of Turkey strongly asserted that the idea was “not realistic to implement at this time,” with no specific sub-clauses that detailed the sources of funding for these mental care programs and the training of the psychological experts.

At the end of the day, UNICEF was able to successfully pass a resolution with — clauses that dealt with multiple social, economic aspects of the issue. The idea of setting the minimum age for criminal responsibility was no longer only a spoken proposal, but a complete operative clause with three sub-clauses, each flanked by sub-sub-clauses to tackle the most specific aspects of the issue. Multiple clauses incorporated varying approaches to better provide education and other preventive measures, while they required proper treatment of those who were incarcerated. The members of UNICEF undoubtedly met their objective of the day.

by Seoyoon Choi and Danette Chun





United Nations Development Program

With 20 minutes given to the lobbying session, delegates gathered in the small room for UNDP and in crowds passionately elaborated upon the decisions theyve chosen. Before diving into the debate itself, the Chair carefully explicated the details of the procedures. Keeping aware of time limits, speaking in third person, submitting amendments an the amount of time allocated to them, keeping all notes appropriate, extending points of information. The UNDP Chair, Joyce Xi, impeccably covered all these tedious but important details. 

As soon as the session opened, Tanzanias clause was immediately debated upon. Increasing investment for childrens education, the opportunities for women to receive loans, and even adopting group lending systems were suggested. The danger of the bank providing micro-finance was recognized, and the high repayment rate of poor clients and the impracticality of poor citizens repaying loans with high interest rates due to transaction costs, have been addressed with gravity. Tanzania strongly advocated lowering interest rates without excessive government intervention, promoting fast track licensing, and providing tax credits. Delegates discussed strategies to be used for encouraging competition such as the utilization of group lending systems, transferring of transaction costs to clients, incorporation of technology in the lending process, as well as discussions on incorporating 10% to 20% interest rate caps. Overall international cooperation in debt cancellation as well as encouraging markets competitions to reduce interest rates were acquiesced with by the majority.

The delegate of Iraq opened up Session 3 with a clause on promoting education with microfinance loans. The clause called for collaboration with multi-national governments and assistance to developing nations that lack the basic infrastructures for their education system. It was proposed by the delegate of Australia that the P5 nations, especially the United Kingdom and China, provide microfinance loans and necessary aid to these less economically developed countries (LEDCs) and help develop the education system. The delegate of Syria added that services and necessary programs other than education, such as health care, should also be encouraged and added to the clause.

Many delegates of the UNDP were also eager to propose amendments to help improve the ideas of their fellow delegates. The delegate of Vietnam called for imposing “requirements such as school attendance and vaccinations” to fund for education systems and at the same time improve the living standards of the LEDCs. Possible implausibilities in his idea were then pointed out by the delegate of Australia and the delegate of Ethiopia, such as that the “requirements” might be difficult to implement depending on the differences in circumstances for each country. Others noted that the entity that imposes these requirements and provides the loans should be a joint organization previously created by the committee, rather than designating the World Bank, the United Nations, and other institutions separately.

At the end of Session 3 the members of the UNDP successfully passed a resolution on the topic of improving self-sustainable economies through loans with seven thoroughly debated clauses. Thanks to the new debate format at YMUN Korea, each clause was heavily detailed with practical plans for the distribution of loans, discussing complex economic concepts that high school students are not generally expected to understand. “At the beginning I was confused about the format, especially because this is my first MUN experience.” The delegate of Brazil, interviewed yesterday about her first session of MUN, seemed much more confident today. “Now I’m one of the most active members speaking on clauses and asking POI’s. I really do enjoy MUN.”

by Seoyoon Choi and Danette Chun

United Nations Environment Program

When the second day of the conference began, the delegates seemed eager to reopen debate. With the topic of transnational pollution being a very broad problem with no regional boundaries, the majority of the UNEP delegates agreed that collective action was necessary.

The debate centered on making decisions concerning the environment and the potential effective measures to improve political conflicts on pollution to encourage the development of Ecocities. The delegates first started with a clause establishing a universal settlement body as a third body since none exists to help solve the pollution conflicts between nations. Then a new clause on encouraging nations in polluting regions to cooperate to solve the transnational pollution was presented. Thereafter, another delegated presented an idea on developing and publicizing green technology to establish sustainable economic growth. 

At the end of the debate, amendments were submitted to add, strike, amend, or unite clauses. One delegate encouraged his counterparts to encourage the developed countries to assist the developing countries with their infrastructure. How this was going to be done was a contentious issue. Then, USA and Argentina had an entertaining one to one debate; USA asked Argentina not to be too cynical and Argentina asked USA to not be so sarcastic and so it went on. At times, the debate overly leaned towards the reduction of pollution in general and the delegates had great ideas on prevention, though it seemed a little idealistic at times. However, they were less concerned on resolution disputes and the damage preparation. Certain delegates led the committee in bringing up good and important issues, and we hope to see more participate.

The resolution for this topic consisted of 10 clauses, with the resolution passing with 14 for and 3 abstaining. Congratulations, delegates!

by Jenny Park




United Nations Human Rights Council


When observing the UNHRC committee, the first impression one gets is that they are working as a team. All delegates worked towards the same goal of empowering the status of women in post-conflict societies. The debate centred on women’s rights and how to ensure that they are respected in the midst of social inequity and underprivileged areas after war or political unrest. The delegates came together to evaluate every idea and tried to find the best way to successfully solve the issue at hand. 

The delegates mainly focused on creating a realistic solution for all nations represented by respecting each nation’s sovereignty. If a sub-clause did not fit into their nation’s stance, the delegates submitted an amendment to strike, add, or amend said sub-clause.The delegates then went on to discuss their clauses. The clauses were mainly focused on promoting women's rights through education and edification religion and cultures. Delegates also suggested that women should be more politically aware so that they can adopt a more active role in society so that men will give them the respect the delegates aim to achieve for. But who will be educating these people? In countries with few high quality educated people, volunteers and campaigns are needed to achieve this goal. 

There were heated discussions between Western and Arab countries with the Arab countries taking a conservative stance and the Western countries taking a more progressive stance. Overall, the delegates focused on the inequalities towards women and how to solve this problem. Then finally, with only one against, the resolution was passed. Well done, delegates!

by Jenny Park

United Nations Security Council

The UNSC dove right into debate as the committee already had all the clauses ready at the start of session 2. The delegate of the United Kingdom was the main submitter of the first clause that was to be debated. With 9 abstentions, 4 for, and 4 against, the clause successfully made it as part of the resolution.

The most heated debate throughout the session was regarding the amendment that was submitted by the delegate of China. She suggested that the UNSC make a sub-committee under its wing to prevent civil wars from breaking out. However, the delegate of France was skeptical of creating another “duplication” of UNSC. The delegate of UK gave argued against this amendment. He said that the amendment was “contradictory of the initial cause”, and suggested that a different amendment be made instead.

Before moving on to voting procedure, the chairs kindly reminded delegates that they are not allowed to abstain on amendments. Unfortunately, there was only one delegate who voted for the amendment, so this amendment did not pass.

In UNSC, the Permanent 5 (P5) nations (France, USA, UK, China, and Russia) have veto power. Should one of the P5 nations veto the resolution, it fails immediately by default. Fortunately, none did so. In the end, the resolution on topic 1 of preventing civil wars passed with 16 votes for, 1 against, and 3 abstentions.

Every delegate represented his or her nation well. Islamic countries seemed inclined to work as a team and they made several “against” speeches when they deemed that the clause infringed upon their national sovereignty. In the end, the resolution passed unanimously with no major contentions.

by Zoey Ryu

World Health Organization

Delegates have raised rather novel and interesting clauses during their lobbying sessions. However the extension of yesterdays lobbying period was necessary, for there was an imbalance in the discussion, meaning delegates focused too heavily on only one part of the clause, in order to reduce the imbalance and give time to the Chair to edit each and every clause submitted. Vice Chair spoke of a particularly interesting clause constructed: delegates were planning to use identification cards to distinguish those who have been vaccinated, and those yet to receive one. Isolating those people in hospitals or institutions and leaving them to contaminate the environment and people of those facilities was something delegates were concerned about and strongly opposed.

As soon as delegates proceeded into the debating sessions, the delegate from Russia introduced her resolution and spoke of having NGOs self-volunteer in evenly distributing themselves into different regions. She claimed that vaccination is in dire need of even distribution, and NGOs that are much more prominent, can contribute to the distribution process effectively. Though there were some mistakes made during the debate, the WHO Chair politely pointed out the necessary changes to be made. He was lenient about mistakes in the beginning, but clarified instructions on rules so that delegates will be more familiar with the rules next time they speak.

Session 3 began with an operative clause regarding the issue of ensuring the full eradication of polio. The operative clause, introduced to the house by the delegate of France, was mainly concerned with encouraging nations to accept medical aid in forms of medications, health care workers, and other supplies in their efforts to reduce polio infections. The delegate of France suggested that “the fear of polio vaccinations has led to preventable outbreaks of the disease” and that nations ought to adopt vaccinations as a mandatory procedure. One of the major hindrances in eradicating polio has indeed been a religious and cultural objection to use vaccinations. The delegate of Japan suggested informing the public on the symptoms of polio with non-fatal infections, semi-fatal infections, and fatal infections “to help them differentiate their conditions from the common cold.” 

The final resolution for the issue of ensuring the full eradication of polio contained nine total clauses, all of which tackled different aspects of the problem with specific guidelines. The idea of vaccination identification cards, originally proposed during the lobbying session, had solidified into a full clause that would enable WHO and UNICEF workers in various developing countries determine which patients needed vaccinations. The committee had also provided for sanitation requirements to prevent polio outbreaks and to improve the general living conditions in these countries. Border control agents had also been tasked to “collaborate with WHO health officials to monitor the spread of the polio virus,” under a clause developed by the delegate of Russia. The hard work of the delegates throughout the day had truly had its fruit.

By Seoyoon Choi and Danette Chun

Meet the ECOFIN Chair


Benjamin Della Rocca, the ECOFIN chair for YMUN Korea 2014, is a junior at Yale majoring in Ethics, Politics, and Economics, and has been serving as the Vice President of YIRA this past year. Having served on the executive board that oversees the organization as a whole and participated in numerous YIRA constituent programs, Benjamin is familiar with the amount of time, effort and commitment that is required to organise this conference. His past experience includes helping organize high school conferences in Budapest as a secretariat member, and he applies all that accumulated knowledge whenever he commits himself to college conferences. Similarly, he makes use of all his valuable experience as a member of the competitive Model UN Team at Yale when he works alongside Miranda Melcher, the USG of Committees, to train the chairs.

As a very experienced delegate who has copious amounts of experience in both conferences held in the United States and overseas, Benjamin is able to dish out  very valuable advice for this conference. During Model UN conferences, the one most important thing that delegates must do is to make things happen to be the one that leads the committee forward, to demonstrate his or her full potential, to give speeches, as well as participate in negotiations. It is important to showcase the hard work and preparations that you have put into the conference. Because YIRA emphasizes the teaching and education aspect of its programs, Ben states, YIRA-run conferences have far more educational value than any of our competitors. As such, Benjamin is enthusiastic about helping delegates learn about the topics with more depth and breadth.

by Danette Chun

Meet the UNSC Chair


At this years YMUN Korea 2014, David Steiner an experienced YMUN chair from Silliman College, Yale University will be chairing the UNSC. He is an active member of the Yale International Relations Association (YIRA) and a member of the YIRA Board of Directors.

David has a wealth of experience stemming from his involvement in organising various conferences under YIRA, having been the Co-Chair of the Nuremberg Trials alongside Ben Della Rocca (who is chairing ECOFIN at YMUN Korea 2014), the Director-General of Committees at Yale Model Government Europe 2014, the Chair of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization at Yale Model United Nations Korea 2013, the Assistant Secretary-General of Specialized Committees at Yale Model United Nations 39, and the Crisis Director of Steel City Empire at the Security Council Simulation at Yale. He has been involved in many forms of Model United Nations in various countries for years, and clearly knows its inner workings. After considering all his excursions into new, undiscovered aspects of Model United Nations and his experience as a leader in various committees, David feels that the committee he is most proud of being a part of is the Brussels Press Corps.

In addition to this list of prestigious positions and conferences, Davids Model United Nations career in fact began when he was in high school, having attended a number of conferences each year as a delegate. He has had a diverse experience in Model UN, ranging from important roles such as Chair, Director-General, Assistant Secretary-General to being assigned to small, relatively less prominent countries when he attended a large conference as a high schooler. As an experienced Model United Nations Chair, David encourages less experienced delegates to speak as much as they can, no matter how nerve wrecking it can be. He believes that sometimes, the best way to improve at making logical and coherent speeches and to overcome nervousness is just to give speech after speech, seeing it as good form of practise.

David is very excited to part of the UNSC this year at YMUN Korea 2014. He is especially excited to discuss with the rest of the delegates a legal framework for the conduct of cyber warfare. Since no actual international legal framework currently exists, they’ll really be working on the cutting edge, and David really cannot wait to dig in.

by Jasmine Lee