WIMUN Geneva, which received an award for Best Large Model UN Conference in 2019, was moved online due to the pandemic and transformed into a 10-day conference (from 30 Oct. - 8 Nov. 2020) unlike any that has been organized before. With close to 200 participants from 27 countries across 10 time zones, WIMUN offered 5 different simulations (Human Rights Council, ECOSOC Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, Intergovernmental Negotiations on Security Council Reform, World Health Assembly, and the UN Environment Assembly) focusing primarily on the impact of the COVID-19 impact on human rights, the control of noncommunicable diseases, global health, the falsification of medical products and its link to wildlife crime.
The conference was kicked off with a keynote from the UN Secretary-General’s Spokesperson, Mr. Stephane Dujarric and pre-recorded messages from UN Secretary-General Guterres, Director-General of the WHO, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and WFUNA President, Mr. Leonel Fernández.
In addition to the simulations of different UN entities, the online version of WIMUN provided a unique opportunity to offer a wide range of side events spread over 5 days that included experts from the World Health Organization, virtual tours of the UN, UN scholar Professor Thomas Weiss, webinars for teachers from the UN Department of Global Communications, workshops on UN careers and internships, several UN 75 dialogues, workshops on developing MUN skills, features on interesting projects started by youth, a panel discussion with former MUNers on how MUN impacted their careers, quizzes on Kahoots and much more!
While we look forward to the day we will be able to return to the in-person interaction we were used to before the pandemic, this edition of WIMUN found innovative ways use technology to capture the most important elements of our traditional in-person conference. Feedback from Faculty Advisors and delegates confirm it was a great success!
Missed out on the Conference? Registration is now open for our next conference in February 2021.