The Nuclear Weapons Free Zone in the Middle East has been a subject in political discourse for a long time. The 2010 Review Conference of the Non-Proliferation Treaty in New York has adopted a corresponding mandate for action and called for the establishment of a first Conference of the States of the Middle East by 2012. In this seminar, you have the chance to act as a representative of a member state of the negotiations. Preparations will be made during a series of meetings and the subject will be simulated during a final block seminar based on the "Model United Nations”. Please see poster information.
Summer Term 2010 - Students simulated negotiations on a Nuclear Weapons Convention (NWC)
On May 11 and 12, 2010, more than 30 students from different fields of study (coming mainly from the TU Darmstadt and the University of Hamburg, Germany) came together in New York for a simulation exercise of the negotiations on Articles IX (Nuclear Weapons) and X (Nuclear Material) of the model Nuclear Weapons Convention (mNWC, UN document A/62/650). This served as a side event to the 8th Review Conference of the Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT RevCon).
More info.
Winter Term 2008/09 and Summer Term 2009 - International Model United Nations (IMUN)
In the summer semester 2009 the ZNF under the lead of Prof. Martin Kalinowski organised its second Model United Nation Conference, this time international. After the success of the Simulation Conference of the Security Council on the Iranian Nuclear Programme in January 2008, an international follow-up project was started. This time the COP15 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which in the real world will take place in Copenhagen, just a couple of months later...
More info.
Summer Term 2008 - A trip to Geneva for the 2008 NPT PrepCom
The Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker Center for Science and Peace Research (Zentrum für Naturwissenschaft und Friedensforschung - ZNF) of the University of Hamburg started in the summer semester of 2008 a seminar entitled “The UN Negotiations on Science and Technology Concerns with Role-play: A Journey to Geneva for the 2008 NPT PrepCom” (Verhandlungen der Vereinten Nationen zu Wissenschaft- und Technikfragen mit Rollenspielen: Fahre zur 2008 NPT PrepCom nach Genf).
This seminar involved students from various courses to conduct interviews with diplomats attending the 2008 Preparatory Committee (PrepCom) of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) held on April 28 to May 9 at the United Nations (UN) office in Geneva, Switzerland.
More info.
Winter Term 2007/08 - Simulation Conference of the UN Security Council
On January 18-19, 2008, ZNF conducted the first simulation of the UN Security Council Conference. This was in conjunction with an intensive seminar designed for students of the University of Hamburg to play the roles of diplomats and Foreign Ministers of selected countries. They were tasked to gather information about significant issues and corresponding country positions for the purpose of deliberation.
The aim was to provide a unique setting for students to learn about the decision making process in the UN which concerns political issues and problems of the international community; and to learn how to develop and express their own opinions with a goal to convince other participants. The willingness to agree to a sort of compromise in order to arrive at a final resolution was one of the values that this seminar wants to achieve.
More info.
