UPMUN stands for University for Peace Model United Nations and is the University for Peace’s Model United Nations Programme. It is part of its interdisciplinary academic activities in Peace and Conflict Studies. The University for Peace was established in 1980 as a Treaty Organization with its own Charter to support the central Peace and Security Objectives of the United Nations through a World-wide Movement of Education for Peace. In this context, the UPMUN Programme is directly linked to the mandate of the University, which reads

As such, UPMUN is quite unique the global movement of Model United Nations because it is an official programme of a University and as such it is not completely run by student but by students in cooperation with UPEACE faculty and staff as well as UN experts from UPEACE’s global network.

Following the mandate of the University for Peace, UPMUN has the following purposes:

1. To be an academic programme for peace education that aims at simulating real processes and multilateral bodies in world politics to teach students, in the spirit of the Charter of the University for Peace (UPEACE), knowledge fundamental to the fullest development of the human person and societies through the interdisciplinary study of all matters relating to peace.

2. To promote a profound understanding of the United Nations System and the processes of global governance. The Programme should also allow students to explore matters related to the reform of the United Nations System and its processes.

3. To create an interactive classroom that provides students with realistic conditions to learn through practical and first-hand experience about the essence of multilateral and institutional negotiations. The focus of the Programme is to promote student initiative and creativity within a given realistic framework. Participating students should receive an opportunity to improve their practical, personal and social skills, such as conducting essential research, drafting realistic documents, writing public statements, speaking publicly, communicating effectively, negotiating purposefully, cooperating respectfully and reaching effective agreements.

4. To strengthen the cooperation between the University and its outside world. It should bring together people from within and from outside UPEACE, so that they can get to know each other and develop a sense of respect and cooperation with each other. It should strengthen the cooperation of the University with other institutions dedicated to the promotion of peace and contribute to local capacity-building activities and knowledge dissemination projects of the University at its headquarters and elsewhere.

The Programme shall be offered to students as a short course of the University, which is called University for Peace Model United Nations Conference (UPMUNC). These short courses should take place annually and shall be prepared by a Board of Students under the guidance and supervision of the faculty of UPEACE.

Disclaimer: Although the UPMUN aims at achieving a high level of reality, the selection of simulated topics, bodies, rules and roles follows the educational and academic purposes of the Programme and is not in any way prejudgmental against the policies of States, Intergovernmental Organizations or NGOs that might be represented in the simulation.

As an academic simulation, the UPMUN has its own Rules that might differ from those of real processes and bodies for the purpose of the simulation. The most significant differences should be explained to all Participants to ensure a realistic learning experience.

The UPMUNC is primarily a role-playing simulation. Thus, all Participants should try to role-play their Roles as realistically as possible based on the UPMUN Rules and the General and Specific Role Instructions they receive.

All Participants get a Certificate of Completion at the end of the simulation if they fulfil the following requirements in accordance with the requirements for Participation.

The UPMUN Programme operates under the roof of the Department of Peace and Conflict Studies but functions independently through its own interdepartmental decision-making bodies.

The Programme is developed through the UPMUN Board of Students (Board) under the guidance and supervision of the UPMUN Committee (Committee), the governing body of the Programme. The Committee consists of the Deans and Heads of Department Programme Directors of UPEACE, the two coordinating officers and the student members of the Board.

The Committee takes all fundamental decisions on the topics and structure of the UPMUN, give guidance to the two coordinating officers and the Board, and approve the proposals of the Board.

The Board consists of the UPMUN Coordinator and six student members, including the Chair of the Board of Students, the Academic Director, the Activities Director, the Logistics Director, the Marketing Director and the Financial Director.

The student members shall be appointed through an application process open to all students from all Academic Programmes. Students are appointed based on initiative, previous experience, application and complimentary means, ensuring a regional, programme and gender balance.

The Board functions as the student pillar of the UPMUN and the student members on the Board are acting as representatives UPEACE’s student body in the Committee. The Board has the initiative of proposing the detailed planning related to any particular UPMUNC, for which it has to seek the final approval of the Committee. The Board has to implement all fundamental decisions taken by the Committee.

The Committee is supported by the two coordinating offices of the Programme, the UPMUN Academic Supervisor and the UPMUN Coordinator. The Academic Supervisor is one of UPEACE’s senior faculty members, or a special guest, with personal experience in the United Nations System. Her or his function is to guarantee a high level of realism and academic quality of the Programme and to facilitate the Development, Preparations and Actual Simulation Stages. He or she also acts as the UPMUN Secretary-General during the Actual Simulation of any upcoming UPMUNC and during the Actual Simulation, he or she shall have the final authority on the dynamic academic content of the respective UPMUNC.

The UPMUN Coordinator is a temporary or permanent member of UPEACE’s faculty and has academic and professional qualifications relevant to the Programme. He or she shall facilitate the overall coordination and supervision of UPMUN by being a member of the UPMUN Board of Students and the UPMUN Committee.

The UPMUN Programme runs through a cycle of four stages to produce any particular UPMUNC short course:

a) a Development Stage in which decisions are taken on basic issues of the Programme;

b) a Preparations Stage in which decisions are taken on preparatory issues of any particular UPMUNC, including Registration, Preparations of Delegates and General Instructions;

c) an Actual Simulation Stage in which the actual role-playing takes places;

d) a Follow-Up Stage ensures a feedback loop capturing the experience of all participants and leading back to the Development Stage.