Minister Alfred Bosch today presided over the opening ceremony of the 14th session of the Catalonia Model United Nations (C'MUN), an event for university students that has been held annually in Catalonia since 2006. Two hundred and fifty university students of nearly 50 different nationalities and from all of the world's continents are taking part in C'MUN 2019.
Minister Alfred Bosch today presided over the opening ceremony of the 14th session of the Catalonia Model United Nations (C’MUN), an event for university students that has been held annually in Catalonia since 2006. Two hundred and fifty university students of nearly 50 different nationalities and from all of the world’s continents are taking part in C’MUN 2019.
 
The opening ceremony for the 14th session of C’MUN, organised by the United Nations Association of Spain (ANUE), was presided over by the Catalan Minister for Foreign Action, Institutional Relations and Transparency, Alfred Bosch, ANUE president Eulàlia Pascual, and the director of CosmoCaixa and the Science Communication Area of Fundació “la Caixa”, Jordi Portabella.
 
Minister Bosch thanked the organisers for their work, which he said helps Catalonia strengthen its international position in human rights, the culture of peace, and peaceful conflict resolution.
 
Bosch urged the participating students to go back to the founding values of the United Nations and promote and defend those values everywhere.
 
The minister said that defending UN values means defending democracy and human rights. He also told participants that they are the future world leaders and urged them to take on the challenge of doing better than present-day leaders.
 
Bosch called on the participants to take an interest in Catalonia – “an open society, a good place to work, a prosperous country” – and advised them to think globally and act locally.
 
The Model United Nations (MUN) is a simulation of specific UN bodies for university students. In the simulations, which are held around the world, students assume the role of representatives of UN member states and intergovernmental bodies to debate issues on the international political agenda.
 
At C’MUN 2019, the committees that will engage in debate are the Human Rights Council, UNHCR, the European Council, NATO, the United Nations Security Council, and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
 
Committees made up of 50 to 60 students are assigned specific topics. Participants debate these topics over the course of three days, following exactly the same process as the diplomats who represent these bodies, and draft resolutions on the assigned topics. The resolutions adopted by the committees are sent to the United Nations Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth, Jayathma Wickramanayake.
 
The United Nations Association of Spain has been organising C’MUN since 2006, and the event is a key pillar supporting the achievement of its objectives. Catalan institutions have always been involved in C’MUN, and hundreds of university students from around the globe take part each year.