Esteemed delegates, student officers, MUN-directors and guests,
On behalf of the entire MUNA staff I wish you a warm welcome to the 13th edition of our annual conference. As the preparations for MUNA 2018 are up and running, the countdown to the 20th of February has started. Over the last couple of months, the staff have been working on making this year’s conference the greatest to date. We have received an overwhelming number of applications and are welcoming two new schools this year. We wish our new participations from Ashgabat, Turkmenistan and Skopje, Macedonia a warm welcome to Model United Nations Alfrink.
Our delegates go beyond borders every year – literally and figuratively. MUNA has become an international gathering where students from all across the globe come together to discuss and solve modern-day issues. You, dear delegates, step out of your own comfort zone and re-enact the United Nations. You go beyond your own border to resolve humanity’s greatest problems. You are an example to the rest of the world. Additionally, the well-known artist Beyoncé performed in the General Assembly on World Humanitarian Day 2012 and sang her song “I Was Here”, to convey the message that we can all make a difference in this world. We, as a staff, thought this notion captures the essence of MUNA. Therefore, I am proud to announce “Beyond Borders – I Was Here” as the theme of MUNA 2018.
A powerful example of going beyond borders and making a difference is Yousif from Sudan. Due to a life-threatening conflict he was forced to leave his home country. After an incredible and exhausting journey across the entire globe to seek refuge, he decided to become a human rights activist. Yousif operates in collaboration with The Hague Peace Projects, this year’s MUNA charity. This organisation is the essence of going Beyond Borders. Their fight for human rights truly makes an impact, and we are proud to support them in any possible way.
We encourage you to make a difference too. This is the moment where you, dear delegate, step in. As Beyoncé beautifully worded in her song ‘I Was Here’, “I want to leave my footprints on the sand of time […] leave something to remember, so they won’t forget”.
You can make a change to the world. Express your opinions, voice your thoughts, go beyond your own border to come up with new solutions. Show the world we can come to consensus regardless of where we come from, regardless of our borders.
I aspire to inspire. Show the world you do too. I am looking forward to hearing your voices during the conference.
Yours faithfully,
Thomas Groenink
Secretary-General of MUNA 2018
MUNA 2018 is almost starting. Today the first delegates will be arriving from Spain.
We wish everyone a nice trip and we look forward to seeing all of you!
Short film, made by Claudia Roelfsema
While discussing global issues we should not forget the people whose everyday lives are affected by the topics that are on the MUNA agenda. We will do our best to give the people behind the statistics a face and a voice during the conference.
Make sure you check out our instructional videos on how to prepare for MUNA 2017. These will discuss policy statements, resolutions and more. Don't forget to subscribe , because more videos will follow soon!
In the last ten years MUNA has worked together with several organisations in preparation for the conference. We are very grateful for the support we have received so far and look forward to continue our collaboration in the coming years.
In the blog entries on the right you can find more information about our partners and MUNA projects as well as the latest information about the conference.
We hope that other schools will also find their way to the exciting eductional programmes our partners have on offer. Examples are the programmes of Humanity House in the Hague and the talks of Human Rights Defenders organised by Justitia et Pax .
Since 2015 MUNA joins the initiative of Join the Pipe . We were inspired by the initiative of this growing social network of water tap drinkers to promote access to clean drinking water for everyone on this earth. Have a look at the video on the partnerspage about Join the Pipe here .
MUNA supports grassroots development projects such as Burma Children and Street Survivors India . The MUNA staff works closely together with the people running the projects locally. In the coming years we hope to extend our contacts and projects. We will keep you updated about all our activities via our website.
In 2016 the MUNA staff collaborates with the Hague Peace projects in a film project you can read about on this page .
A big thank you goes out to our sponsors as well. We can't organize MUNA without their support. Especially Fonds 1818 has been a big support for us. On the sponsor page you can see a list of our sponsors.
If you would like to sponsor MUNA as well or if you would like to collaborate with MUNA, please contact us via the site.
Background informationJanuary 16th 2017
Dear delegates, student officers, MUN-directors and esteemed guests, We would like to draw your attention to the fact that we have a YouTube channel on which we will upload instructional videos to help all delegates with their preparations for the ... Read more