As I walk into the Security Council, loud voices stream out of the open door. The delegates are scattered around the room but there is a crowd forming around the delegate of the United States of Mexico. I look around and see the resolution on the smart board. Suddenly, it all makes sense – the headline of the resolution reads „The issue of Mexican drug cartels and their international impact“. While I get settled in the back, I notice the delegate of France pacing around the room. Is he nervous about the upcoming debate? Or maybe it has something to do with the person on the other end of his phone…? We will never know.
But what we do know is that Mexico will be in for a ride. Because the Security Council is on fire. Literally. The oxygen in this room seems to have evaporated in .2 seconds after starting the day and it must be about 29 degrees Celsius in here. But the delegates still fight for what they think is right. Even though most of them probably haven’t slept very long, since MUNs are usually a good excuse to party for a few nights straight. As long as the delegates are still going to attend tonight’s planned party… But that doesn’t seem like a problem as the delegates keep on ordering so much coffee that I wonder how soon one of them is going to start bouncing around like a gymnastic ball. I am pulled out of my thoughts when I hear someone speaking loudly again. It is Mexico – he is in a heated argument with one of his fellow delegates and emphasises that “We have to fight now!”. During the last five minutes of Lobbying, Nigeria and Côte d’Ivoire try to help the delegate of Mexico get a rough understanding of the situation in Mexico and its connections to other nations, since the delegate had to fill in spontaneously for another student that had gotten sick shortly before the conference. For not knowing what he was talking about, the delegate of Mexico did a great job. He defends his country with everything he has and pleads for more friendly help regarding this issue, despite his earlier exclamation. Côte d’Ivoire, who thinks that “The USA has the biggest military and should just go in [to the cartels] and kill everybody” doesn’t agree.
The discussions don’t become any calmer when the committee moves into Time in Favour of the resolution as a whole. There are a lot of amendments that make the delegates’ emotions rise and fall like a roller coaster. It is during such a psychologically challenging time that the USA tries to sneak in a subclause into an amendment that would allow building The Wall. Thankfully, probably due to chugging coffee, the delegates’ heads snap up as they hear this and promptly voice their complaints about this subclause. In the end, the USA has to sit back down defeated and Mexico sighs in relief.
But this is only the beginning. The debate continues being tense as every nation tries to get the best deal for themselves out of this resolution. At one point China is judged for still having labour camps to which the delegate replies: “They’re not labour camps! They are reinstating-the-Chinese-values camps!” Well, if you say so…