Saturday, February 25th, 11:30. A group of people dressed in suits, ties and high heels meet in the piazza of the Eurocampus. The reason for this? Students of international schools respond to the urgent call of the Secretary Generals of the Second Annual Shanghai European Model United Nations to meet and reflect on hot issues of actuality in the General Assembly, the European Union Council and the Security Council. Dreaming of becoming a diplomat in the United Nations, the apprentices of international diplomacy seem to hold the future of the world in their hands as they solemnly take on their role and discuss issues like regulating the exploitation of the resources in the Earth’s poles, countering cybercrime and regulating the consequences of the Brexit.
Debates begin formally. Delegates draft resolutions carefully and considered each amendment meticulously… until the Secretary Generals storm into the committees to announce crisis situations! European politicians adopt nationalist policies, thus interrupting free trade; New York City is cyber-attacked; and Russia plants nuclear weapons in the Arctic Circle, threatening the safety of the United States and of Europe. Under the urgency of the crisis, all the rules of the game are rearranged and the cards of international relations flip. Dices are fixed and every throw becomes riskier as alliances change and countries that maintained a friendly relationship declare war with each other. In the General Assembly, Russia, New Zealand and Iran allied in a war against Israel. In the Security Council, the committee jeopardizes the balance of power by unanimously kidnapping the delegate of Italy…
The tragic turn of events seem to bring the world to its annihilation. Order is finally reestablished at the closing ceremony, when presidents of committees report the successful resolutions that have been passed before the games began. Unexhausted lists of thanks are addressed: to the administration staff, the media staff, the participating delegates and their MUN directors, the schools’ headmasters, the Secretariat… and the Secretary General “officially pronounces the Second Annual Session of the European Model United Nations closed!
