Royal Russell School MUN

GA at Royal Russell School MUN

Royal Russell School (UK) hosts an annual four-day International Model United Nations Conference each October. Royal Russell School was the first British school to set up an annual MUN conference and has been hosting their conference for over 30 years. The conference is one of the few British conferences affiliated to THIMUN.

The Structure of the Conference is Opening Speeches, followed by Committee Sessions and General Assembly with Security Council in permanent session.

Delegations comprise 4-6 students and Committee size averages 50 with a maximum of 95 delegates. The majority of delegates are housed in accommodation on the School Campus with some in local hotels. An evening entertainment programme is included.

The school is on the outskirts of Croydon, which is 20 minutes by train from Gatwick Airport and a further 10 minute tram journey from East Croydon to Coombe Lane. Invitations are sent out in March and we are always delighted to welcome new schools to our conference.

Before the MUN Conference:

  • Each school selects a country/countries which they would like to represent.
  • The Committee Issues for the Conference are sent to schools and delegations (maximum 6) research and write resolutions on their chosen Committee Issue(s) – one delegate per committee.
  • Prepare in advance your Opening Speech to the General Assembly and your Policy Statement for your committee.
  • Research and write your resolution.
  • Prepare headed note paper.

During the MUN Conference:

(1) Lobbying

Armed with their resolutions (delegates should bring a few copies of their resolutions), delegates go to informal discussion, debate and consensus building on the issues in their committee, and try to secure the support of other delegates. You may choose to take good points from other resolutions, and merge your resolution with another.
Delegates should have an electronic copy of their resolution which can be uploaded onto the school system before lobbying. The easiest way being to email a copy to their email account which they can accesses at Royal Russell.

(2) General Assembly – Opening Speeches

Each country is given one minute to deliver a speech to the General Assembly, relating to its role in the United Nations and to the issues about which it feels most strongly.

(3) Approval of Resolutions

When a resolution has the correct number of co-submittors, it is handed in to the Approval Panel of Advisors who will check the format, punctuation and grammar of the resolution: not content. If approved the Secretary General and Presidents of GA will decide whether it is to be debated.

(4) Committee – Preliminary Session

Each delegate is expected to give a short policy statement in their Committee outlining the position of his/her country to the issues in the Committee.

(5) Committee – Main Sessions

Formal debate on the issues for each Committee. At this stage amendments can be submitted. If a resolution is passed by the committee it is then eligible to be presented to the General Assembly. Each Committee decides which resolutions, in order of preference it would like debated in the General Assembly.

(6) General Assembly

Debate on the resolutions passed by the Committees