... aka "University for Peace Model United Nations Conference"! like i mentioned briefly in an earlier post, i was representing Uganda on
the Security Council, the 15 country council of the United Nations with 5 permanent members (USA, UK, France, China & Russia) and 10 non-permanent members (at the moment, Austria, Burkina Faso, Costa Rica, Croatia, Japan, Libya, Mexico, Turkey, Uganda & Vietnam), that has primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security. What a mandate! And, as I found, it is definitely easier said than done! Our3 day UPMUNC version of Security Council was to "deal with" two issues - (1) the global economic crisis and the possible creation of a new UN council for economic security and (2) criminal responsibility in Gaza which turned into brokering ceasefire between Israel, Palestine and Lebanon.
It was pretty intense; we had nine 1½ hour Security Council sessions in the course of three days, along with the 'extras' like training, opening & closing ceremonies, keynote speakers, a diplomatic reception, social events, etc. I was really into it the first day, especially because I was nervous, trying to figure out as I went what I was doing, and learning all the modes of debate and moderated/unmoderated caucuses, points of order, setting motions and all the formal diplomatic pizazz that Peace Ed'ers never much adhere to! I quite enjoyed it at the beginning, it was fun to wear a different hat and refer to myself in the third person as "the delegation of Uganda" every time I spoke.... hehe, and it was generally just nice to be a bit more formal and academic than my Peace Ed program usually is and have that be appreciated, but by the second day, I was realizing the nitty gritty of negotiating for hostile parties to agree to ceasefire and the tediousness of drafting resolutions word by word that are acceptable to all parties... by the third day, I was completely exhausted and drained, and just wanted to please pass a resolution for world peace!
When by lunch on the third day, we still had talked in 100 circles and still had come to no resolutions, I had said "we have to pass something this afternoon, it would be so sad if we didn't resolve anything!" and someone else pointed out that sad, maybe, but maybe more realistic - the world's problems don't get solved in three days! I guess that's true - though we tried! the UNEP (UN Environmental Program) council participants stormed the Security Council at one point demanding that the global warming issues be brought up in the Security Council with 'activists' yelling to save the whales, and our council chairs escorted them out telling them sorry, people are dying as we speak and we are on the brink of ceasefire in Gaza, and making a formal media statement on how the disruption interrupted the negotiations. on a happy note, we did in the end come to agreed terms for ceasefire between Israel, Palestine & Lebanon, which for some long stretches seemed next to impossible.
"hmmmmm...." - Uganda & Russia, strategizing to change the world! 
the media team in action! 
"Israel" signing the peace dealI have to say, I learned a LOT in the 3 days and I hope our program in Peace Ed will soon move from teaching methods and critiques of formal education and deal with real conflict resolution in the world! Meanwhile, I don't think that this heated arguing debates and legal-style negotiations are for me, but I now have that much more appreciation of those students in the International Law and Settlement of Disputes program at UPeace, and kudos to those that devote themselves to this everyday in the real world!
the amazing 'UPMUNC' board (Oscar, Birta & Rawle) that pulled the whole thing together (also photo credits and thanks to Morea for a bunch of these pictures!) 
peace & love from the Security Council! :)
