Committees and Conference Structure
This year PAMUN will be hosting 10 (!) committees, each addressing topics ranging from the Rohingya crisis to food security, and from intellectual property and biodiversity to sustainable marine resources. We have worked to represent some of the most important issues of our time, and a quick look at the complete list of issues will reveal its inspiration in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), hence a Sustainable Development commission, as well as in legal concerns, hence the presence of UNODC among our new committees. Some SDG and UNODC topics are also spread out in other committees, as appropriate. The list as a whole seems to be compact and coherent.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ), which has become a permanent feature of PAMUN. This committee is guided by a completely different set of rules, which are the “rules of the court”. There will be between 11-15 judges, all working towards the common goal of coming to a consensus on a contentious issue between Ukraine and Russian Federation, in a way that is truly unique within the MUN circuit. Students interested in Law in general, and in International Law in particular, should be strongly encouraged to apply. Advocate positions are open to students with very strong research skills, capable of both close analysis and broad synthesis, and proficiency and ease at oral exposition of a tightly woven argument. Students serving on the ICJ will have opportunities for a lot of “action” in this small committee, and it is a nice “perk” to have a seat, whether as a Judge or as an Advocate in this prestigious committee.
ICJ Judges will be appointed with all other Positions on September 29. This year we were able to appoint the two ICJ Officers from among our ASP students. Therefore, only the 4 advocates will be appointed in June to give them more time to prepare their case.
This year the Special Conference will be tasked with reconsidering the role and function, as well as the powers and jurisdiction of the ICJ, and we look forward to some creative ideas from this committee .For the first time in many years, we have been able, thanks to some room-reshuffling at the Mutualité, to add a tenth committee to our conference. We will therefore have both an UNODC as well as UNCTAD, both welcome additions to our conference.
ECOSOC has 54 members, but room size at Mutualité restricts this committee to a smaller number. A similar restriction will also apply to the Special Conference and UNODC. All other committees will be capped at 145.
The list of committees in PAMUN 2018 is therefore as follows:
- Security Council (Restricted Committee – 15 members)
- ECOSOC (Restricted Committee – 45 members)
- ICJ (Restricted Committee – 11-15 judges and 4 advocates)
- Special Conference (Restricted Committee – 36 members
- UNODC (Restricted Committee – 50 members)
- Political Committee (Intermediate-Restricted – 110 members)
- Environment Committee
- Sustainable Development Committee
- Human Rights Committee
- UNCTAD
Note: please refer to <Country Lists> for the list of UN member states, and for membership in restricted committees.
Countries not members of any restricted committee:
- Angola
- Antigua and Barbuda
- Argentina
- Armenia
- Bahamas
- Bahrain
- Bangladesh
- Barbados
- Belize
- Bhutan
- Botswana
- Brunei Darussalam
- Burundi
- Cabo Verde
- Central African Republic
- Comoros
- Congo
- Croatia
- Cyprus
- Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
- Djibouti
- Dominica
- Dominican Republic
- Estonia
- Eswatini
- Fiji
- Gabon
- Gambia (Republic of The)
- Georgia
- Greece
- Grenada
- Guinea
- Guinea Bissau
- Haiti
- Honduras
- Hungary
- Iceland
- Jamaica
- Jordan
- Kiribati
- Kyrgyzstan
- Lao People’s Democratic Republic
- Latvia
- Lesotho
- Liberia
- Libya
- Liechtenstein
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Madagascar
- Maldives
- Mali
- Malta
- Marshall Islands
- Micronesia (Federated States of)
- Monaco
- Mongolia
- Montenegro
- Mozambique
- Myanmar
- Namibia
- Nauru
- Nepal
- New Zealand
- Niger
- Oman
- Palau
- Panama
- Papua New Guinea
- Paraguay
- Saint Kitts and Nevis
- Saint Lucia
- Samoa
- San Marino
- Sao Tome and Principe
- Senegal
- Seychelles
- Sierra Leone
- Singapore
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Solomon Islands
- South Sudan
- Sri Lanka
- Suriname
- Syrian Arab Republic
- Thailand
- The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
- Timor-Leste
- Tonga
- Trinidad and Tobago
- Tunisia
- Turkmenistan
- Tuvalu
- United Republic of Tanzania
- Uzbekistan
- Vanuatu
- Yemen
- Zambia
- Zimbabwe