I entered the conference very intimidated. Within minutes of the first day of committee, words like “caucus” and “unmod” were thrown around, it’s safe to say I was far from my comfort zone. I was on the Human Rights Council, and our topic of discussion was – International Organizations in solving extreme poverty. Daunting, I know.
Initially, I assumed the best thing all of the delegates could agree on was that extreme poverty needed to be solved. With over 40 countries and nearly 80 delegates, I just couldn’t imagine a resolution that everyone could agree on. With some of the most daunting and rigid personalities I’ve ever met, we worked and debated over policies and amendments and clauses for the next 3 days.
Throughout the meetings, different committees submitted different ‘working papers’ that represented ideas they wished to be added to our final resolution. And with over 7 submitted working papers, 3 potential resolutions, and one-too many delegate raps, we ended up with resolution B3 : clause to end poverty.
If you asked me if this were any way possible at the beginning of the weekend, I would have told you no. However, by Sunday, each and every country could agree on this document in front of us. Each paragraph, clause, sentence, and word had been delicately chosen to accommodate all of the delegations. I was surprised by our resolutions real-world approach and the unanimous decision to pass it. This got me thinking. While although each delegate was not from their actual country, each person stuck by the actual policies and views of that nation. And after 3 days, we had a solution to poverty that might just actually work.
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