Newsletter October 2021
Distinguished Delegates,
We are happy to welcome a great number of members joining us for this semester of MUN! Grateful to have started off the academic year with many wonderful events, this newsletter looks back at what our Team has been up to over the last few weeks.
Rookie Session
On the 30th of September, we hosted our yearly Rookie Session. Introducing Model United Nations to such a large crowd of interested students of the University of Zurich is always thrilling. We are excited that so many of you have joined our weekly sessions as well! In addition to getting a deeper insight into how we run our debates and what our board members’ jobs look like, our rookies had the chance to practice holding an opening speech on the topic of “Refugees Camps and the Right to Adequate Shelter” right then and there.
We are looking forward to riveting debates with our new rookies this year!
- Lorenz, President
First Weekly Session
On the 6th of October, we officially started with our weekly sessions and our first debate on the topic ‘’Refugee Camps and the Right to Adequate Shelter’’. We were able to welcome a record number of interested students in our first session. Not only were we impressed by the turnout, but also by the quality of the speeches given by our rookies. It is safe to say that the expectations of the two chairs and the whole board were greatly surpassed. In light of this superb start, we are excited for the upcoming weekly sessions and are looking forward to hearing your persuasive speeches.
- Ridika, Head of Operations
Theodor Curti Moot Court 2021
The first edition of the Theodor Curti Moot Court took place from the 2nd to the 3rd of October at the University of Zurich. This joint project between the MUN Team UZH and St. Gallen MUN was co-organised by Tim Hetzer, August Norup and Lorenz von Arx representing the MUN Team UZH and by Niklas Graefen, Cédric Schaad and Lorenzo Tanzi representing SGMUN respectively.
The case discussed before the International Court of Justice was "The Matter of Hong Kong".
The first day was full of intense and profound legal deliberations, mostly surrounding the Sino-British Joint Declaration of 1984, while the second day was the parties' chance to strengthen their case by questioning witnesses, volunteers from both MUN societies. Hours of intense debate and testimony came to a close with the reading of the court's decision.
Thank you to everyone involved in organising and all participants for making this new MUN experience possible!
UNYA General Assembly
On Sunday, the 3rd of October, MUN Team UZH had the pleasure of hosting the biannual UNYA General Assembly in Zurich. UNYA is the umbrella organisation for Swiss MUN societies. While the General Assembly included some contentious points of discussion, the BBQ afterwards was held in good spirits and comradery. The event gave some of the newly elected board members from all over Switzerland a chance to meet and exchange ideas.
Furthermore, we would like to congratulate Natalie Joray, Aral Berke Arbatlı and our very own Amin Tlili for getting elected onto this year's UNYA Board. We wish you all the best for your upcoming endeavours!
Scavenger Hunt
Last week we held our third annual scavenger hunt through Zurich. Both returning and new members fought in a battle of wits and brains to see who would eventually come out on top.
Thanks to a record turnout, we were able to divide everyone into seven different teams, each representing a European country. This time around we selected Sweden, Portugal, Russia, Austria, Bulgaria, Iceland and Albania. Each team was sent to their respective country’s consulate before heading out into the city to look for some of Zurich's most iconic landmarks. Despite a few hiccups here and there, all teams managed to solve the riddles and follow the clues. An encrypted message written in Cyrillic turned out to be every team’s Achilles’ heel, and a chess puzzle connected to a map caused some degree of confusion as well. Slowly but surely, everyone managed to solve their final clue, only to be redirected to our beloved scavenger hunt home, the Oliver Twist Pub in the Niederdorf. There, all participants enjoyed a lovely evening together before heading home.
The winning team will be announced later today at the weekly session (Wednesday, 20th of October), so make sure to be there!
Once again, thanks for joining the scavenger hunt in such great numbers. It was a wonderful event to organise and, as always, a great evening spent with our lovely members.
- Eliseo, Head of Events
Under-Secretary-General Application ZuMUN 2022
It is your turn! Our team for ZuMUN 2022 is growing by the day and we are inviting all of you to take part in making ZuMUN 2022 the best Swiss conference yet!
We are looking for motivated team members to join our departments! You do not need tons of experience, even if you just started with MUN we will welcome you in with open arms. All you need to bring with you are some ideas and enthusiasm!
The following departments are open for applications:
- Socials
- Speakers & Ceremonies
- Committees & Chairs
- Fundraising & External Relations
- Food & Logistics
- Marketing
- Delegates & Registration
If you have any questions about the departments or anything else, do not hesitate to contact me via the Whatsapp group chat, the ZuMUN Instagram page or at info@mun-uzh.org. I look forward to reading your applications and would love to welcome you into our team!
Your ZuMUN Co-Secretary-General
Manuel
We look forward to making progress in our weekly sessions and are excited for upcoming events and conferences!
See you soon,
Your Board
Lorenz, August, Darya, Ridika, Patrik, Eliseo, Amin and Jenny
Copyright © *2021* *MUN Team UZH*, All rights reserved.
Our mailing address is:
info@mun-uzh.org
We would like to thank Swiss Re
for being our main sponsor this year!
