The small country of Qatar was home to the entire world last week, when more than 300 delegates from 22 countries gathered at the Doha Marriott for the third annual Model United Nations Conference, sponsored by the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service Qatar.

Students took on roles as foreign diplomats and participated in simulated U.N. debates to discuss the most pressing global issues of the day, including the spread of the global AIDS epidemic, NATO’s mission in Afghanistan, progress in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and rising tensions between China and Taiwan.

Prior to arriving, students must study the country they are representing and gather information in order to accurately speak on behalf of the views of their member nation.

The three-day conference opened with a ceremony and speech presented by career diplomat Andrew Natsios (CAS ’71), former director of USAID and special envoy to Darfur.

“The issues these students are discussing are the same issues that are confronting our governments’ leaders today. As future world leaders, it is important for them to learn that it is possible for common solutions to be found among people of different backgrounds,” Mehran Kamrava, director of the Center for International and Regional Studies at SFS-Qatar, said in a press release.

In the previous two conferences, members of the Georgetown International Relations Club have been sent to Doha to help manage the conference. Monica Munn (SFS ’09) was one of the students who traveled to Qatar for the first Model U.N. conference.

“The Model United Nations is a great opportunity for students to really explore the different perspectives of various countries and cultures,” Munn said. “The varying spectrum of issues discussed, from freedom of press to the status of women, really allow these students from different backgrounds, both conservative like the Middle East and liberal like Europe, to get a better grasp of this world.”
— Lin Chen