United Nations Security Council

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is a small committee comprised of the five permanent members, also referred to as the P5, and 10 other rotating members which focuses its efforts on maintaining international peace and stability through resolutions and agreements. The UNSC is the committee which has the power to establish peacekeeping operations, enact sanctions and authorize resolutions. Additionally, the Security Council is structured in a manner that provides the P5 to have veto powers on all substantive matters within the council. Delegates should be ready to engage in highly polarized and substantive debate while forming binding resolutions and agreements for all members of the United Nations.

Committee Topics and Background Guide

Topic A: Intervention in the Syrian Civil War

Topic B: Intervention in the Rohingya Refugee Crisis

Letter from the Chair

Dear Esteemed Delegates,

It is my great pleasure to welcome you to JHUMUNC XXII! My name is Leonardo Graeff and I will be your chair for the Security Council. I am greatly looking forward to tackling some of the most pressing issues of our time with you as we attempt to find complex and nuanced solutions where others have not.

I was born in Porto Alegre, Brazil and lived there until I was 7 years old, but for the last 13 years I've lived in Sacramento, California. Currently a junior at Johns Hopkins, I am majoring in Molecular and Cellular Biology and striving to become a physician. When I'm not studying for classes, I participate in a variety of activities on campus: I give tours of Hopkins, I'm a personal trainer at the Recreation Center, I sit on the university's ethics board, and I'm a member of a fraternity. In my free time I enjoy exercising, watching superhero movies, and simply reading a good book.

During high school, I heavily participated in debate tournaments and as a result only discovered MUN in college. Since then, I've competed at several large college tournaments as a member of Hopkins' competitive MUN team, HopMUN. Thus, this marks my second year as a member of JHUMUNC and my third year of MUN overall. I greatly enjoyed my position on JHUMUNC last year as a dais member in the Historical League of Nations committee and hope that this year brings similarly-fascinating debate and intrigue.

Since our topics are ongoing events, we will begin our simulation at a time designated in the background guide for the committee and assume that nothing past that point has happened. As you familiarize yourselves with these topics and prepare to debate over them, I urge you to keep in mind the gravity and reality of both situations and approach them with the intent to find solutions that promote a better world. As such, I expect the that every delegate in this committee will conduct him or herself in a respectful, polite, and serious manner.

I hope that as all of you are learning about our world and the struggles it faces as you research these topics, you begin to appreciate the role of simulations such as this committee in eventually building a better world. I am extremely excited to hear your ideas and as your chair will encourage originality and nuance throughout our session. If you have any questions, concerns, or comments, please do not hesitate to contact me at any time and I will respond to you as soon as possible.

Other than that, the dais and I are very much looking forward to meeting all of you!

Sincerely,

Leonardo Graeff
Chair, United Nations Security Council
JHUMUNC Session XXII
lweberg1@jhu.edu