The Harvard International Relations Council (HIRC) is a non-profit organization that seeks to promote awareness of international relations based out of Harvard University. As several semi-independent but centrally administered programs, the IRC focuses on a number of different outreach areas in an attempt to engage and inform people on international issues and policy-making. Programs within the IRC include: Harvard Model United Nations (HMUN) Harvard National Model United Nations (HNMUN) Harvard Intercollegiate Model United Nations (ICMUN) Harvard International Review (HIR) Harvard Program in International Education (HPIE) Harvard International Relations on Campus (IRoC) Model Security Council (MSC) The IRC is also the largest student organization at Harvard College, and the largest student nonprofit a registered 501(c)(3)The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin – Public Browse and Search The organization is run entirely by undergraduate students, and it is an affiliated non-governmental organization with the United Nations Department of Public Information.
Leadership The IRC leadership is divided between a board of directors and IRC Central. The board of directors is a group of members that collectively oversee the 6 individual programs and manage the direction of the organization. Members include one program head from each of the six individual programs and a number of elected members by the IRC body. The board of directors then vote on the appointment of the IRC President.
IRC Central Staff is chosen by the IRC board of directors and hold their corporate position until the election of a new board of directors. These officers head operations that allow to promote international education and social impact, to manage its programs in a financially sound and sustainable manner, and to maintain its status as a non-profit corporation and an accredited NGO.
Harvard Model United Nations
Harvard Model United Nations (HMUN) is one of the oldest Model United Nations simulations in the world having been founded in 1953 when the Harvard student group that had been simulating the League of Nations since the 1920s decided to start a new simulation to reflect the new organization that had been established at the end of World War II.http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=491141 Every year, students from around the world attend the conference, which is currently held at the Sheraton Boston Hotel in Boston, Massachusetts. The next session of Harvard Model United Nations will be the seventy-second session, and it will be held from January 25 to January 28, 2024. Due to conference expansion, HMUN 2024 will be the largest conference in its storied history, with over 4,000 participants in attendance. As such, the conference will also hold committee sessions at the Boston Marriott Copley Place.
Like many Model United Nations simulations, HMUN offers committees in four main categories: The General Assembly (GA) The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), including an NGO Program Regional Bodies, like the African Union Specialized Agencies (SA), which include unique standing committees like the Security Council and also include crisis committees (centered around a developing crisis) and the Press Corps.
Delegates may be tasked to represent countries or role-play famous individuals and cabinet members, and must work to solve problems through debate and compromise to achieve policy-making goals while still representing the interests of their assigned role.
Staff The HMUN 2024 conference has a staff of over 200 Harvard undergraduates.
Staff members are organized into three groups: the Secretariat, the Senior Staff, and the Junior Staff.
Secretariat The Secretariat consists of the top-level officers of Harvard Model United Nations who oversee all branches and activities of the conference.
There are ten Secretariat members: the Secretary-General, who is responsible for the conference as a whole, the Director-General, who is the administrative head of the conference, the Comptroller, who is responsible for conference finances, and seven Under-Secretaries-General in the various branches of the conference: Administration, Business, Operations, and the four Substantive organs which include the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council, the Regional Bodies, and the Specialized Agencies. The DG, Comptroller, Administration, Operations, and Business organs comprise the executive organs.
The Secretary-General is elected annually in March by the Board of Directors of the International Relations Council and the outgoing staff of the previous conference. He or she is traditionally a member of the past year's Secretariat, along with the Director-General. The remaining Secretariat members are appointed by the Secretary-General in coordination with the Secretary-General of HNMUN. For HMUN 2025, Calvin Osborne will serve as Secretary-General and Nicholas Yang will serve as Director-General.
Senior staff The senior staff, like the secretariat, includes both executive and substantive staffers.
On the executive side, senior staff are the direct deputies of their respective USG. Each organ has several senior staff filling various responsibilities:
Director-General Organ: Deputy-Director-General: General assistant to the DG on hotel and tech-related issues. Officially in charge of the conference when the Secretariat is in meetings or otherwise unavailable. Senior Director of Security: Manages security staff and operations. Director of Technology: Manages computer labs and provides technical support. Director of Special Projects: Occasionally appointed to work on long term conference-related projects.
The Administration organ has several directors of administration who are the immediate assistants to the USG and who respond to questions about the conference and manage conference registration, and the business organ similarly has several directors of business, responsible for ad sales and conference amenities like catering. The comptroller organ has two assistant comptrollers.
On the Substantive side, senior staff consists of committee directors, who are the substantive authorities for each committee and prepare the study guides that serve as the foundational documents for delegate preparation, and crisis directors, who coordinate crisis scenarios on continual crisis committees.
The Operations organ includes Technology directors, Directors of crisis and Multimedia who handle presentations, and Directors of Substantive support.
Junior staff Again, junior staff vary from organ to organ, and can be split into executive and substantive staffers.
On the executive side, each organ has specialized assistant directors (ADs): the DG organ has several ADs of security, the administration organ has several ADs of Administration, the business organ has several ADs of Business, and each of these ADs assist their respective senior staff and USG with their duties.
On the Substantive side: moderators moderate debate and enforce the rules of procedure, and assistant directors prepare supplemental research and assist committee directors with running each committee
The Substantive support organ has similar assistants to the committee directors.
Awards Like most Model UN conferences, HMUN recognizes exceptional delegates and schools with awards at the end of the conference. Awards are given to the delegates who demonstrate strong preparation, excellent speaking skills, adherence to national policy, and exceptional abilities of compromise and negotiation, and they are awarded by the directors of each committee. The number of awards on a committee varies by size, but each committee gives out at least one of each of the following awards: Best Delegate Outstanding Delegate Honorable Mention Diplomatic Commendation
Unlike many conferences, HMUN does give Verbal Commendations.
Based on the number of delegates receiving awards, awards are then given to the delegations that represent the best collection of delegates.
Harvard National Model United Nations
Harvard National Model United Nations or HNMUN is the longest running college-level Model United Nations simulation in the world and among the largest in the United States. HNMUN is an annual four-day event held in February, composed of three thousand university students of which half tend to be international students, often from over 40 countries. The conference is held every year at the Boston Park Plaza.
Awards are conferred upon individual delegates in their respective committees and to delegations in the categories of best small, best large, and best international delegation.
In 2012, a regional HNMUN was established, Harvard National Model United Nations Latin America, held in a similar fashion as Harvard World Model United Nations. Daniel Ennis and Victor Arruda will serve as Secretary and Director-General for the 2025 edition.
In 2024, the second regional HNMUN was established, Harvard National Model United Nations Africa, in Nairobi, Kenya with Chukwudi Ilozue and Oscar Berry serving as founding Secretary and Director-General.
HNMUN Conferences