Hope College | Model United Nations

As the largest branch of the United Nations, with all member nations having a seat and a vote, the General Assembly provides an opportunity for any nation to speak its mind on current issues involving the entire world. Although limited to an extent by its lack of genuine power to enforce mandates, through suggestions, recommendations, and other subtle pressures, the General Assembly does maintain a certain amount of power due to the sheer immensity of its size and scope.

In the HCMUN, the General Assembly is divided into two tracks: introductory and advanced. The Advanced General Assembly is, as the name implies, a step above the Introductory General Assembly in that it assumes a higher level of seriousness and knowledge, as well as a greater willingness to portray one's particular nation in an accurate way. During the morning of the conference, every nation will have an opportunity to submit a resolution for the consideration of the steering committee, which will then select a number of resolutions for the consideration of the Assembly as a whole. Those who choose to submit resolutions for the consideration of the Assembly should have completed a resolution for their particular topic prior to the conference. In addition, the delegation (each country's delegation will be represented by four delegates, with two delegates in each committee) should be prepared to present their resolution to the other nations and caucus for their support. In the afternoon, the Assembly as a whole will convene and the resolutions selected and sponsored will be presented and voted upon.

Formed right after the end of World War 2, the UN along with its Security Council still retains some of its characteristics from that era; while some of them may be continuing to function there are some that have come under great scrutiny and questions have rose of whether changes should be brought to the Security Council or not. For example, the special privilege of the veto was given to only 5 countries right after the war to make sure Germany and Japan stabilized and did not seek revenge during the aftermath of the war. But that was in 1945 and it is 2011 now and we can see how this special privilege is seen more of as a tool or self-interest rather than peace building.

In a world that has come a long way since the last great war, are privileges life the veto still necessary or should amendments be made to Article 27 to suit the modern world appropriately? In similar matter there are issues regarding whether, basing on economic and social development, if the permanent seats of the Security Council should still be left for the 5 major nations or if it is time to make changes and open the permanent membership to other developed nations as well.

When trying to understand Sustainable Food Production, you must first look at sustainable agriculture. Sustainable agriculture is the idea of harvesting food in a safe and environmentally friendly way. It is supposed to be safe for not only the people and animals but also for the environment they live in. Sustainable food production looks at many different aspects including air pollution. Air pollution comes from waste on the farm, and the fuels that are used to power the farm. By cutting back on these things in order to be more sustainable, it makes a large difference for the global society. The global society is responding to this development. The United States President Barack Obama has announced a stronger development for bio fuels. Africa recently launched a program model to follow Latin America’s example for developing more sustainable food production. Sustainable Food Production is a major issue in the global community. Each country must play their part in this very important global development.

Advanced General Assembly (AGA)