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Topics:

Some or all topics currently have interim links to relevant UN resolutions, media or websites. These will be replaced with ¹ú²úÂ×ÀíMUNC issue briefs in Autumn 2026.

Background:

First Committee is the principle global forum for countries to address issues of war, armed conflict and armaments. It deals with some of the same issues as the Security Council, but works more broadly to set global disarmament priorities, policies and goals. First Committee resolutions are politically and morally binding, not legally. It can request and appeal for state action. Unlike the Security Council it cannot demand action.

As the technology of war evolves, First Committee targets global attention on the weapons and policies it thinks most dangerous and destabilizing. Some governments are convinced that nuclear disarmament is overwhelming and must come before any other action. Others want to focus on more immediate killers like landmines and cluster munitions. Some believe only threats from states are the business of the UN system, others think terrorism is equally important.

Like most UN bodies, the committee tries to work through consensus whenever possible, to insure as much international support for its recommendations as possible. But often compromise is impossible, a reality reflected in voting patterns.

Topics:

• The question of Humanitarian Exceptions in UN sanction regimes
• Measures to improve the lives of women and children in rural areas

Some or all topics currently have interim links to relevant UN resolutions, media or websites. These will be replaced with ¹ú²úÂ×ÀíMUNC issue briefs in Autumn 2026.

Background:

Although is does not deal directly with international issues of peace and security, an observer could be forgiven for mistaking Third Committee for one of the most dangerous places in the UN. Differences among Member States on issues of principle and national sovereignty makes its agenda visionary and controversial. 

For Member States, Committee Three deals with some of the most sensitive issues of domestic development and national sovereignty. The Committee discusses questions relating to the advancement of women, the protection of children, indigenous issues, the treatment of refugees, the promotion of fundamental freedoms through the elimination of racism and racial discrimination, and the right to self- determination. The Committee also addresses important social development questions such as issues related to youth, family, ageing, persons with disabilities, crime prevention, criminal justice, and international drug control.

Topics:

Some or all topics currently have interim links to relevant UN resolutions, media or websites. These will be replaced with ¹ú²úÂ×ÀíMUNC issue briefs in Autumn 2026.

Background:

Special Political, GA Fourth Committee, specializes in some of the most demanding issues facing the international community, issues that divide the UN's 193 member states, including disputes over state sovereignty, shared resources and rival paths of economic and social development. Unlike the Security Council, General Assembly resolutions are non-binding, but the path they create influences everyone.

Issues focusing on peoples lacking national self-determination (ruled by other countries) are among the most controversial of all for the UN system. How do states adjust with rising demands of previously unrecognized or powerless groups? Do they give up territory, concede autonomy, or assert their sovereign authority? Should the UN create special structures to deal with such problems? How does the international community ameliorate the suffering of peoples caught up in rebellion and political turmoil?

Topics:

Some or all topics currently have interim links to relevant UN resolutions, media or websites. These will be replaced with ¹ú²úÂ×ÀíMUNC issue briefs in Autumn 2026.

Background:
The WHO is the leading UN agency combatting disease and illness. Specializing in public health, it stresses measures to ensure the welfare of all people, especially disease prevention, promoting health, responding to epidemic diseases and bringing medical services to everybody. Headquartered in Geneva, the WHO has six regional offices, 150 country offices, roughly 8,600 employees and an annual budget of USD 6.8 bn.

The WHO is governed by the World Health Assembly (WHA), which meets annually in Geneva at the Palais des Nations. Bringing together representatives of 194 member states, it is the center of this ¹ú²úÂ×ÀíMUNC 50 simulation. At ¹ú²úÂ×ÀíMUNC, the WHA follows the same rules as the UN General Assembly. Member States are presented by their Minister of Health or equivalent (for the United States, the Secretary of Health and Human Services), and public health and diplomatic officials.

Delegates at the annual World Health Assembly discuss the policy agenda for the coming year and decide which health goals and strategies will guide the organization’s public health work. The Assembly also oversees financial policies, approves the annual budget programme for WHO operations, monitors progress and devises strategies to address gaps. It appoints and directs the work of the WHO Director-General, the chief executive responsible for actual program implementation. The Director-General coordinates with member states governments, manages the work of the WHO’s regional centers and field offices.

One of the most important recent achievements of the WHO is the adoption of the WHO Pandemic Agreement by the World Health Assembly on 20 May 2025. This outlines a comprehensive framework to help countries prevent, prepare for, and respond to future pandemics, built on principles of equity, solidarity, and respect for national sovereignty.

Topics:

• Funding the shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy
• Debt restructuring and loan forgiveness for Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPCs)
• Acclerating progress toward universal access to old-age pensions

Some or all topics currently have interim links to relevant UN resolutions, media or websites. These will be replaced with ¹ú²úÂ×ÀíMUNC issue briefs in Autumn 2026.

Background:

Created in 1944 as part of the Bretton Woods system to stabilize the global economy after World War Two, the World Bank Group became the world’s largest development institution. Its principal agencies are the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), which focuses on loans to enhance the national development of middle income countries, and the International Development Association (IDA) which loans to reduce poverty in poor countries. Through its loans and loan guarantees, it helps guide global development policy.

The annual administrative budget of the World Bank Group is roughly USD 3.6 bn. The World Bank mostly disburses loans financed through private investment banks, which it guarantees. In 2024-25, the Group disbursed and guaranteed loans worth USD 87 bn, and authorized long-term commitments of USD 162 bn.

The World Bank is like a cooperative of 189 member countries. The member countries are shareholders, represented by the Board of Governors, the ultimate policymakers at the World Bank, simulated at ¹ú²úÂ×ÀíMUNC 50. At ¹ú²úÂ×ÀíMUNC, it follows the same rules as the UN General Assembly. Governors usually are member countries' finance or development ministers. They meet annually. The Board has all power over World Bank Group decisions, but delegates to the President, Ajay Banga of the United States, and its six Executive Directors.

Topics:

• Removing regulatory burdens
• Deep sea mining: potential and challenges
• Pioneering AI & Emerging Technologies
• Social inclusion and the fight against hunger

Some or all topics currently have interim links to relevant UN resolutions, media or websites. These will be replaced with ¹ú²úÂ×ÀíMUNC issue briefs in Autumn 2026.

Background:

The G20 is an Annual Summit Meeting of leaders of nineteen countries—premiers, presidents, prime ministers and one ruling prince—plus leaders of two regional organizations, the African Union and European Union. Spain is a permanent guest non-member. Meetings welcome participation of leaders from selected global organizations, including the UN Secretary-General and Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund and President of the World Bank Group. The December 2026 G20 Summit is in Miami, under the rotating host, the United States. The 2027 host will be the United Kingdom.

The G20 Annual Summit Meeting, simulated at ¹ú²úÂ×ÀíMUNC 50, has a formal annual agenda. This usually stresses issues of global economic growth, trade and financial regulation. But the annual meeting is most important as a place for world leaders to hear each other on vital issues, to develop personal relationships and explore possibilities for agreement on diverse issues. Many other G20 meetings are held for summit meeting planners (sherpas), finance ministers, sometimes for agriculture, trade, tourism, etcetera.

In some ways, the G20 is more representative than the UN Security Council, with more permanent members. It is somewhat more egalitarian, with no formal vetoes. But it is less powerful; agreements are informal, not enforceable international law. Because participating leaders mostly represent sovereign states, they cannot be told what to do. Agreements are strictly voluntary. At ¹ú²úÂ×ÀíMUNC, the G20 follows the same rules as the UN General Assembly.

The world’s most powerful club also is extraordinarily diverse, bringing the world’s greatest power, and its most extreme rivalries. Can the G20 succeed where the Security Council often fails? Can they agree on anything more than vague generalities? Can they do that much?

Topics: 

• Reforming the Common European Asylum System
• Gender Equality and Women's Economic Empowerment
• Restoring the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP)
• Advancing European climate leadership 

Some or all topics currently have interim links to relevant UN resolutions, media or websites. These will be replaced with ¹ú²úÂ×ÀíMUNC issue briefs in Autumn 2025.

Background:

The world’s most powerful regional organization represents the interests of twenty-seven member states and 450 million people. Under the Treaty of Lisbon, agreed in 2007, it has independent authority to set rules for its member states and undertake its own policies. The EU Commission (the Commission) is its highest decision-making body, simulated at ¹ú²úÂ×ÀíMUNC 50. 

The Commission meets in Brussels, Belgium and Strasbourg, France, under the leadership of Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, from Germany. The Commission directs a staff of some 32,000 officials and an annual budget of EUR 192.8 bn (USD 220 bn). Money and staff come from EU member states, under a system agreed by the Commission, mostly based on each country’s wealth and population. Voting in the Commission is based on a weighed proportional system. At ¹ú²úÂ×ÀíMUNC, though, the Commission follows the same voting and rules as the UN General Assembly.

Member states strongly support the EU, but face conflicting pressures. Previously their ranks included many of the world’s great powers. Now all risk being overwhelmed by military danger from Russia, commercial threats from China, problems like mass migration from Africa and the Middle East, and broad instability from the United States. How to guard their national identities and sovereignty, while also developing the collective power only deeper union can ensure?