The delegation of Ukrainian Catholic University students won an individual award at the prestigious international educational conference where participants simulate meetings of various bodies of the UN system – “National Model United Nations” (NMUN). UCU team was recognized with a special award – Outstanding Position Paper Award for the preparation of their position papers.
UCU team at the National Model UN in New York. From left to right: Maria Yegorycheva, Margarita Savchuk, Halyna Protsyk, Taisiia Obod and Maksym Rokosovyk
“National Model UN” is the oldest and largest global Model UN conference in the world, which has been operating since 1927. Every year, it organizes several global conferences for university students from more than 120 countries. These are students from leading universities who practice Model UN as an academic course, a student club or an extracurricular activity.
Thus, “National Model UN” is the main platform where youth diplomacy develops. Many countries train personnel for their diplomatic resources through this program.
The UCU team took part in the “UCU National Model” as a separate delegation for the second time. Before that, UCU students represented Ukraine together with colleagues from Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.
UCU team on the National Model UN. From left to right: Taisiia Obod, Maksym Rokosovyk, Margarita Savchuk, Maria Yegorycheva
Four Ukrainian teams were represented at the National Model UN this year for the first time. In addition to UCU, delegations from National University of “Kyiv-Mohyla Academy,” Alfred Nobel University and Kyiv School of Economics also took part in the event.
“We have been preparing for National Model UN for about 6 months. Students study the rules and procedures, research the agenda of their committee, form the country’s position based on public policies, write draft speeches and discuss strategies for discussions and negotiations. But all this preparation is only the tip of the iceberg. Because when you get into your committee, which consists of 150-250 people who have gone through the same preparations and training, who have the same desire to prove themselves, then competitiveness and ambition sometimes go overboard despite the generally accepted rule of conduct – to strive for cooperation and mutual understanding,” said the delegation’s trainer Halyna Protsyk, Deputy Vice-Rector for Global Outreach and Internationalization and a lecturer at UCU.
This year, UCU students represented Brunei Darussalam in Asia. They served on two committees – the Committee for the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and the Committee on the Environment.
UCU team at the National Model UN in New York. From left to right: Maria Yegorycheva, Margarita Savchuk, Halyna Protsyk, Taisiia Obod and Maksym Rokosovyk
Halyna Protsyk noted that work at the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Committee is a constant balance between security, trust and political sensitivity.
“The topics of nuclear disarmament, verification and nuclear-weapon-free zones require precision, restraint and very well-thought-out wording,” the delegation’s trainer emphasized.
Taisiia Obod, a 4th-year student of the “Ethics-Politics-Economics” bachelor’s program, took part in the National Model UN in New York for the second time. This year she was the head of the delegation. She worked on the Committee for the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons together with Maksym Rokosovyk.
“Historically, Brunei Darussalam had nothing to do with nuclear development, weapons or even nuclear energy, but even from this situation we came out on the interesting side, because Brunei is part of the association of states that signed The Bangkok Treaty (Treaty on the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone) aiming to secure the region as a zone of peace, freedom and neutrality, which meant the establishment of a nuclear-weapon-free zone,” Taisiia Obod said.
Working on the Committee for the Environment is different. The committee works in the field of global environmental policy: it formulates recommendations, promotes scientifically based solutions and sets the direction of international cooperation in the environmental field.
“It is interesting to see how the mandate shapes the very nature of the discussion, because in fact it requires slightly different strategies of behavior,” said the deputy vice-rector of UCU.
The individual award won by UCU students marks the quality of preparation before the start of the conference. This year, out of almost 3,000 participants, only 124 students received it, which is about 4%.
This means that the students managed to demonstrate a deep analysis of topics, work with real UN documents, form the country’s position taking into account geopolitical constraints and adhere to high standards of academic integrity.
National Model UN in New York
Position papers are evaluated on several key criteria:
• Position (35%) – How the position is formulated and whether it is conceptually sound, alludes to or indicates what actions (or inaction) the delegation will call for in committee and is relevant to the topic at hand;
• Supporting Information (25%) – How much the arguments are based on real policies, international documents, institutions and context;
• International Diplomacy (15%) – How positions are presented in a way that would make them potentially palatable or understood by other delegations and the international community, how well the relative importance of positions to the delegation are presented, the extent to which they come off as credible and how rhetoric is used to make potential actions appealing to other delegations, including based on characteristics or regional/bloc ties;
• Clarity and Conciseness (15%) – How informative and substantial is the position statement throughout, avoiding “filler” language, how well other delegations will be able to understand the positions being stated and the coherence and consistency between those stated positions;
• Overall Impression (10%) – How the position statement demonstrates knowledge of the topic, committee and international systems.
Summarizing the work of UCU students on the National Model of the United Nations, Halyna Protsyk noted: “Not only is academic thinking developed here, but also a culture of responsibility for the world in which we live. We especially felt how important it is to be here right now. To talk about Ukraine as a subject and driver of change. To be the voice of truth about what reality is and why Ukraine has a unique experience that no other country in the world has. And at the same time – learn to listen to others. Because global solidarity begins with the transformation of hope into action. This is precisely the mission of UCU Global 2030.”
UCU students together with colleagues from other universities at the National UN Model
For UCU students, participation in the National Model UN was a valuable experience.
“After the National Model UN event, we have a lot of new acquaintances, emotions and thoughts. We had the opportunity to see how an institution with global influence works, understand its strengths and weaknesses. For Ukrainian youth, such opportunities are extremely important, because it is we who will create Ukraine’s future. To understand how to be effective in a political, economic or cultural world order, it is worth knowing clearly what its basic architecture is. Such models, which focus on various critical social topics, are perhaps the best opportunity for researching this,” shared Margarita Savchuk, a 3rd-year student of the Ethics-Politics-Economics bachelor’s program.
Maria Yegorycheva, a 3rd-year student of the “Ethics-Politics-Economics” bachelor’s program, added that for her, participation in the conference is, first of all, about the opportunity to be heard among 3,000 students from all over the world.
“During these five days, we proposed solutions and agreed and talked about values that will continue to cultivate outside the walls of the conference hall. We discussed how Model UN is about change, influence and ambition. The best reward for me is to know that every year, by representing the university in a dignified way, we increase the number of Ukrainian students who will be able to create the future at events of this scale,” said Maria Yegorycheva.
“The most important thing you get at such events is getting to know each other. When you go to lunch with Colombians and have dinner with Americans and Italians, you find new social capital that can help your country years later,” shared Maksym Rokosovyk, a 4th-year student of the Ethics-Politics-Economics program. “In addition, between formal sessions and after official meetings, you have the opportunity to talk about how students live in Ukraine during the war and thus promote the Ukrainian agenda and spread the values of love and justice.”
Meeting with the Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the UN
The Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the UN, Ambassador Andriy Melnyk, also met with the teams of Ukrainian students. The press service of the Permanent Mission of Ukraine to the UN reported that there was a frank conversation about what usually remains behind the scenes of diplomacy: how selflessly the Ukrainian delegation works at the UN, despite all the difficulties of both an internal nature (personnel shortage, limited funding, etc.) and external factors (war fatigue, shift of focus to the Middle East, etc.).
Meeting with the Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the UN
Andriy Melnyk shared with the students how Ukrainian diplomacy is winning the support of member states step by step in the fifth year of the Russian war. He also expressed hope that the new generation of Ukrainians will be even more effective in championing national interests on the world stage. The ambassador invited the delegates to join the ranks of the diplomatic service after completing their studies.
Photo: Facebook of Halyna Protsyk and the Permanent Mission of Ukraine to the UN
