EOSMUN 2019 (22/3/19-24/3/19)

After three weeks at Reform MUN 2019, time to head for another MUN before Year 3 of university starts in a few days, it's EOSMUN 2019 with its theme The Power of Truth. EOSMUN is held at IGB International School. I'm in the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), this time I'm delegating for Bahrain. Last year at SUNMUN, I was delegating for Japan of the same council.

I wear a white dress which is one of the two flag colours of Bahrain. When I arrive at the school, UNHRC is just at the first table. After collecting my card and goody bag, I look for a seat to settle down and I mingle with the students of the school. At 2pm, delegate make a beeline to the hall for the opening ceremony.

We just settled in our seats not long and the emcees kindly ask the delegate to move in front of the hall but I stay where I am. The opening ceremony starts with welcoming remarks of the emcees and the head teacher of IGB International School. Videos of each council is shown on the screen to give a brief idea of the whole conference.

Before we head to council, we have a council picture. Usually the council pictures are taken on the last day of the conference, I guess this a first for me. Once delegates are settled down in their seats, we head into lobbying session first. I'm working on the second topic which is "Protecting Migrant Workers in the Middle East. Since I'm representing Bahrain, I work with delegates of United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, India, Bangladesh and Qatar just to name a few.

We have a small break for 15 minutes and it's back the second session of council, starting with the opening speeches, and it's back to lobbying session. Some of the delegates have their discussion outside of the classroom, they are working on the first topic which is "Privitisation in the Digital Age". We divide into two blocs of discussion.

On the second day, delegates arrive at their respective councils. Our council switch places because we had technical difficulties with the projector. Delegates continue to lobby on the topic we worked on yesterday. Before council starts, the delegate of Togo asks me what are the differences between add, amend and strike in a resolution. I have a surprise visit from Shaun, who I met during my very first MUN at MNMUN 2018.

Once lobbying time has ended, delegates return to their respective seats and debate on the first resolution of the day. Marvin, one of the secretariats, comes in and plays the roles as the delegate of the Russia Federation. The chairs are out for a moment so Marvin gives a speech on the resolution as a whole and there is no Point of Information (POI), which lead delegates "unhappy" and demand to have POI.

In the second half of council, we move on to the second topic. The delegate of Qatar starts an opening speech on the topic of protecting workers in the Middle East. The chair asks me whether I would like to accept Qatar's speech, my answer is no. In mid council, Shaun takes on the role of the delegate of the Netherlands, together, with my chair, Hydrogen, who then later switch to the delegate of Sri Lanka. Gareth and Shupriti come in as the delegate of Iraq and Iran respectively later on.

 After all that debating, it's time to head to the cafeteria to have dinner, the it's off to socials. They have two rooms, one is the dance room and the other is the common room. I try my hands on ping pong. Thanks to some of my friends who help me with the game.

The third and final day of the conference, we move on to the third and final resolution. Marvin is acting chair for the first half. Then, Shupriti comes in to check on us and delegates as North Korea. At one point, I send a note to member nations to fight against the delegate of North Korea!  Council is really heating up at that point. Finally, the resolution pass!

Delegates make their way to the closing ceremony. A video montage is shown throughout the three-day conference. Chairs and co-chairs of each council presents the award to the best performing delegates. When my name is called for the "Most Diplomatic Award" in UNHRC, I didn't see that coming! My very first MUN award in five conferences! Thank you to my chair, Hydrogen and co-chair, Alice for believing in every delegate.

I have the best time in EOSMUN, final day to enjoy the semester break before the new semester starts tomorrow. Next up, it's MNMUN 2019, it's where the passion began. Tune in to the next post of my MUN adventure.