On April 23rd, following His Excellency Sammy Gammoh’s inspirational opening speech, MASMUN’15 was off to an exciting start. A hundred and forty delegates from all over Amman walked out of the auditorium feeling charged with new energy as they were about to dive into two days of intense debates in order to solve some of the most pressing issues plaguing our world today. Delegates representing eight different schools in Amman gathered this day to work in collaboration to come up with viable solutions for tackling global issues, and they were all ready to jump right into it. Everyone came sharply dressed, ready for work, and with the utmost focus in order to carry out their tasks.
For the following two days, our delegates sacrificed their weekends to draft possible solutions for the issues that each of their forums were tasked with solving. For example, in the General Assembly, delegates toiled over how to prevent children from being abducted into militia armies and wrestled with the ethical questions of judicial procedures regarding prisoners who have been accused of being linked to terrorism. In the UN Women forum, a first of its kind to be run at a citywide conference in Amman, the delegates heatedly debated over the possibility of legalizing abortion in the Middle East and reforming certain family laws in Jordan that subjugate women in Jordanian society in patriarchal systems.
In line with the theme of this year’s conference, the delegates, charged with a sense of duty to “protect the unprotected,” vigorously fought for the rights of the marginalized. Even when talks hit roadblocks and when debates hit impasses, the delegates persevered and found ways to diplomatically maneuver around these obstacles. Through this experience, the delegates learned firsthand just how difficult it is to work in large groups filled with countless diverse perspectives, but they also discovered that when the same diverse group of people can set aside personal gains for the sake of a cause greater than any one individual, amazing solutions can be achieved.
Mr. Ray Kim
Model United Nations Director
Modern American School
