THE NINTH ANNUAL ALABAMA MODEL UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE
Abigail Kappelman, Under-Secretary-General of General Assemblies.
ALMUN IX General Assembly Staff Members
LETTER FROM THE UNDER-SECRETARY-GENERAL OF GENERAL ASSEMBLIES
Dear Delegates,
Welcome to ALMUN IX, and welcome to participation in General Assembly committees. My name is Abigail Kappelman, and I will be your USG of GAs for this conference. I am a sophomore from Austin, Texas. I am double-majoring in International Studies, with a focus on Latin America, and in Microbiology. I hope to pursue a career in global health policy. Since middle school, Model United Nations has played a huge role in helping me discover my interests and in improving my diplomacy skills.
This year at ALMUN, we are excited as always to have each of you dive into your countries’ positions and represent their interests accurately and dynamically. As your USG of GAs, I challenge you to delve even deeper into the potential for diplomacy and mutually beneficial interaction that Model United Nations presents. I cannot wait to see what this conference brings out in all of you.
We have started a new tradition at ALMUN: to center our conference and committee topics around a larger shared theme. Developing a conference thematically, we believe, allows for more critical thinking because of the connections that are drawn between committee topics. A theme also creates relationships between delegates outside of committee, and especially allows for conversation between delegates in different committees, because of common knowledge over a topic. Further, making delegates in different committees think critically, from different angles, about the same theme allows for greater potential for comprehensive solutions.
The theme for ALMUN IX is “Movement.” The idea for this theme arose from the question: What moves along with people? Such a question was raised as Secretariat discussed the prevalence of issues such as refugee crises, immigration, the global spread of disease, global trade, and ideas and the internet. Though committee topics and background papers have not been released yet, when selecting committee preferences, please think about how each committee, based on its role within the United Nations, might discuss topics related to movement. For example, what aspects of movement might the Disarmament and International Security Committee (DISEC) cover, and then how might the focus of discussion surrounding movement differ for the Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee (SOCHUM)? How might a developed country approach movement, as opposed to a developing country? We look forward to seeing how you approach these issues that are continuously challenging our rapidly changing world this February.
Best of luck,
Abigail Kappelman
Under-Secretary-General of General Assemblies
University of Alabama ‘19
almun.usg.ga@gmail.com
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