Mission Report
The United Nations General Assembly meeting, which was held on June 15th 2021, was conducted to discuss the issue of the COVID-19 virus and to collaboratively tackle this global crisis. In the speaker’s list, countries such as China, India, and the United States brought up important points of discussions regarding the distribution of vaccines, the politicization of the pandemic, as well as the future plan for cooperative economic recovery. The Republic of Fiji also took the spotlight to bring up immediate concerns regarding the economic degradation that has affected every country, particularly countries which more so rely on the service and tourism industry for their economic prosperity such as those of the pacific island nations.
The fruitful debates were about the production and distribution of vaccines, secondary humanitarian issues, and eventual economic recovery. To interject, the Republic of Fiji expressed the importance of utilizing the COVAX vaccine distribution initiative multilaterally. Moreover, Fiji also encouraged the intellectual property sharing of vaccine production knowledge during this time of crisis. The most highly contentious issues discussed in the draft resolution were the decision of whether the distribution of vaccines should be conducted multilaterally through global initiatives like COVAX or through bilateral means, which is argued to operate at a quicker pace. The decision was made to mention both options as alternatives to distributing method as Russia proposed. China also contended with calls to conduct another investigation over the origin of COVID-19 brought up in clause five of the draft resolution. Finally, China proposed a joint amendment between the Republic of Fiji and the People’s Republic of China on sub-clause a of clause 7 where Fiji recommended an additional clause c stressing immediate plan for economic recovery and China motioned to omit the supposed accusatory phrasing in clause six over the matter of violation of human rights and political oppression. Both of China’s the call to omit the call for additional investigation and the omission of condemnations of human rights were outvoted against China during the general voting. However in a friendly amendment, Fiji’s proposal of an additional sub-clause C regarding immediate economic recovery had passed by the end of the debate.
From this Model United Nations General Assembly, by representing a delegate of the Republic of Fiji, a relatively small nation, I learned some countries can be very dependent on one certain industry and be vulnerable once a crisis arises. In this case, Fiji and pacific island countries were dependent on its tourism and Fiji needed to represent their interest as a region in this case. I also learned that arguments must not only have strong arguments but also clear evidence backing it to convince other nations of your point of view.