Welcome!

It is my pleasure to invite you to participate in the 8th annual Paris Model United Nations (PAMUN) conference, to be held on December 5-7, 2008 (Friday to Sunday). The conference will be held in the Paris headquarters of UNESCO, overlooking the Eiffel Tower and the Invalides, in the 7th arrondissement.

In 2006 and 2007, PAMUN gathered 800 participants, from 60 schools, 25 countries and 3 continents, and has become one of the foremost conferences in Europe. Founded as a one day conference for half a dozen schools in the Paris area, it has grown very quickly without loosing its conviviality, and provides the delegates with an incredible intellectual experience in Committees and a memorable social experience of Paris. PAMUN is affiliated to The Hague International Model United Nations (THIMUN) and therefore promotes the educational aims of THIMUN.

The conference is designed for High School students, aged 14-18, and will be conducted in English.

PAMUN 2008 will have 7 committees and a General Assembly (please refer to the issues on the agenda).

Delegates will not be expected to draft resolutions prior to the conference, as in the PAMUN structure resolutions are being built as a joint effort during committee sessions. But they should be fully informed about the issues they will debate and the position of the country they represent, and they should be ready to engage during the conference in drafting resolutions proposals and seek constructive compromise. It is however strongly recommended that delegates come to the conference with 2-3 formulated clauses on one of the issues on the agenda, to facilitate and render more efficient caucus time. Crisis scenarios are also run in all committees!

We hope to see you all in Paris in the fall,

Ouriel RESHEF
MUN Director

 

 

Letter From the Secretary General

Delegates, Student Officers, Administrative Staff and MUN Directors,

Today, as Secretary General, I have the honor and privilege of inviting you to the VIII Annual Paris Model United Nations Conference. There are many Model United Nations conferences in the world, but PAMUN is special and different in many ways. First - and most obviously - it is in Paris. The setting in the capital of France is an incredible prestige and advantage for an international conference. The city itself is one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world and attracts schools and delegates from all over. Also, Paris offers us the great opportunity of holding the conference in the headquarters of UNESCO. Such a great background combined with the knowledge and creativity of motivated delegates will enable us to achieve our ultimate goal: negotiating as world representatives to provide resolutions to some of the most controversial issues in the world.

The theme of this year’s conference is “Dependence, Independence, and Interdependence”.  This is in fact at the very core of the development of international co-operation. The insistence on sovereignty often induces a one-sided relationship between countries: powerful and powerless, developed and less-developed, rich and poor, with often the appearance of one-sided dependence. Today, in our globalized world, it is our task as future leaders to figure out the intricate balance between depending on another country and being depended upon; interdependence is the key. All countries will have to learn how to accept the necessity of interdependence, without infringing national sovereignty…

Participating in a Model United Nations conference is a remarkable experience for all those who take part in the event. The members of the Executive Team are given the opportunity to look at the conference from a completely new perspective, given “power” along with “responsibility” over the entire conference. The Student Officers face a similar challenge concerning delegates. It is the chairs’ responsibility to guide the delegates through the debates and to keep order in the house; things that are essential in creating a productive conference. The most important and rewarding experience is being a delegate, representing a country to defend its national interests on a given issue. MUN conferences exist for the delegates, and their outcome is ultimately determined by the delegates. Meeting up with fellow students interested in similar areas from all around the world to debate and draft resolutions is something that stays in the memory for a long time. An MUN conference serves to train the brightest minds of our generation in learning how to reach consensus and make the world a “better place”.

Once again, as Secretary General, it is a great honor to invite and welcome you all to PAMUN 2008. We will try our best to make the conference an experience that will stay with you for life - a memory that you may one day look back into and smile with pride and excitement. I look forward to meeting the future leaders, and, of course, the future that will be created by us during the conference.

Yoonji WOO
Secretary General