COMUN, or Colombo Operated Model United Nations, is a prestigious student-organised MUN conference that unifies local and international schools all over Sri Lanka. The main objective of COMUN is to host a conference where students can actively participate in a simulation of the different committees that make up the United Nations. The students assume the roles of real diplomats and represent various countries to gain an insight into the world of diplomacy and tackle the global issues our world faces through pragmatic solutions. Using the critical tools of passionate debate and reasoning, we aim to instil instrumental skills such as negotiation and diplomacy in our delegates to provide a well-rounded, educational, and engaging experience.

The relevance of COMUN in OSC is immense as it is one of the many activities that make OSC unique, providing its students with an opportunity like no other. Through COMUN, students are able to interact with like-minded individuals from around the community, share thoughts, opinions, and ideas in an open public forum, learn about the workings of major organisations such as the UN, and so much more. With nearly 400+ delegates and 30+ schools attending, COMUN is one of the most renowned and very first MUN conferences in Sri Lanka.

This year marks the 30th session of COMUN, an occasion of great importance to the OSC and international/local school community in Sri Lanka. Every year, one of the first steps in planning the conference is the appointment of the Secretary-General, the organiser and the head of the conference. This year, I have been appointed the position of Secretary General, which is not only a great honour but a massive responsibility.

Early Stages of Being the Secretary-General

Considering this is the 30th session of COMUN, I am striving to fulfil my role successfully to make this conference as memorable and enjoyable as possible. Part of being able to achieve this goal has been stepping into the role with both feet, ensuring I am optimising my time and getting a move on what needs to be done.

My first goal as the Secretary-General has been to appoint the Secretariat. This refers to the group of students from various schools that would occupy some of the highest positions in the MUN structure. The selection process for such a group requires thoroughness and organisation in the way in which I choose to carry it out. My first step was to send out an introductory email to the Faculty Advisors of each school, introducing myself and informing them of my new role. Included in this email was the link for applications for the Secretariat that would be communicated to all the necessary students. Though this process is relatively straightforward, I found it to be quite technical and thought-out in contrast to the average email I send on a school day. Since the information I was conveying was extremely important, I wanted to ensure it was expressed as clearly as possible.

After the applications were out, I was left with the task of evaluating each one in order to decide which applicants progressed to the next step: the interviews. This was a challenging but educational experience for me as it gave me a glimpse of how an administrator operates and helped me cultivate a real-world skill. Overall, my introduction to my position has consisted of a lot of growth and learning as I am picking up a lot of skills as we progress. The next initiative for COMUN in OSC is going to be this year’s Unity in Diversity Day which I will dive into a bit later, so stay tuned.