Until OxIMUN 2012

About OxIMUN

Quick Links: Committees - Our Theme

Set in several of Oxford's most beautiful colleges, the Oxford International Model United Nations Conference offers delegates a unique opportunity to debate in the historic surroundings and rich cultural environment of one of Europe's oldest universities.

OxIMUN will run from Friday 2^nd November until Sunday 4^th Number, 2012. The conference is open to both delegations and individual delegates currently undertaking undergraduate or postgraduate study. Unfortunately, we are unable to accept individuals who are still attending secondary/high school.

OxIMUN is internationally renowned for its high standards of debate and its extremely well-organised programme. For this year's conference we expect approximately 500 delegates from across the world, bringing with them an unrivalled diversity of views and backgrounds. OxIMUN aims to provide ample opportunity for debate and maximum participation for each delegate. With its committees ranging in size from 15 to 50 delegates, OxIMUN is tailored to the experienced delegate as well as to those new to MUN, as our Directors are always ready to provide assistance

Committees

The committees simulated at OxIMUN 2012 are listed below. We have strived for a balance between small and large committees; global and regional; new and old; and for a large range of issues to be debated that relate to our theme of Developing Global Partnership. Further information relating to each committee can be found at the Delegate Centre. The committees are:

GA Committees:
Economic and Financial
Social, Humanitarian, and Culture Committee
Special, Political and Decolonisation
Legal Committee
Human Rights Council

Principal Organs:
International Court of Justice
Security Council
Historical Security Council

Other UN Bodies:
United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization
United Nations Development Program
World Health Organisation
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
18^th Conference of the Parties to the Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP-18)

Regional/Non-UN Bodies:
Arab League
Association of Southeast Asian Nations
Council of the European Union
Group of Twenty
Crisis Cabinet

Each committee will have 1 director, and between 1 and 3 co directors depending on its size. Each delegate represents a country on a committee, with up to ten representatives comprising a country delegation. In committee sessions, specific topics of current interest and international importance are discussed with a view towards passing a resolution on the issue. Delegates put forward working papers and draft resolution that can be debated and later amended so that, through compromise and consensus-building, a resolution with majority support can be achieved. Resolutions passed in selected committee are then discussed in the plenary General Assembly on the final day, where they must pass with a two-thirds majority.

Our Theme: Developing Global Partnership

Of the eight Millenium Development Goals agreed upon by the 193 member states of the United Nations and at least 23 international organizations, we feel that the last goal - to develop a global partnership for development - has been debated the least by the international community. Indeed, if more is not in this area as well as in the other goals (to eradicate extreme poverty, reduce child mortality rates, fight disease epidemics such as AIDS, etc.) our target of 2015 will not be reached. Official development assistance stands at 0.31 per cent of the combined national income of developed countries, still far short of the 0.7 per cent UN target. Access to the Internet continues to expand, but is still closed to the majority of the world's people. Developing countries are gaining access to the markets of developed countries, but more needs to be done.

In order to do our part to develop a global partnership to help solve this issues, we have decided to devote OxIMUN this year to help further the debate surrounding this particular goal. The United Nations lists 5 targets within this goal tha we hope delegates will keep in mind:

• Develop further an open, rule-based, predictable, non-discriminatory trading and financial system
• Address the special needs of least developed countries, landlocked countries and small island developing states
• Deal comprehensively with developing countries' debt
• In cooperation with pharmaceutical companies, provide access to affordable, essential drugs in developing countries
• In cooperation with the private sector, make available benefits of new technologies, especially ICT