Meet the top achievers at the 20th annual session of the CO-MUN.

Eran Fernando: Best Delegate of Security Council (President of CIS MUN Society)

Imadh Bahaudeen: Best Delegate of International Court of Justice

Nishad Gunawardena: Best Delegate of General Assembly

The 20th annual session of the Colombo Model United Nations (CO-MUN) was held at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel and Overseas School in Colombo from the 28th of February to the 2nd of March this year. Imadh succinctly captured the value of such a forum, observing that it sets the youth of the country thinking about current affairs and is a breeding ground of ideas. Eran recognizes that they know there’s a lot less at stake so it’s possible to speak candidly.

Delegates of countries can be open and honest without having to be worried about the circumstances unlike their real-life counterparts. Nishad admires the fact that no one feels the need to put other countries down, and true diplomacy is thus exercised. We decided to sit down with them and ask them what they did to win these awards, what they’re looking to do in the future, as well as what sort of activities they indulge in when not simulating being some of the most powerful people on the earth.

‘How did you prepare for the conference? What topics did you handle?’

Imadh acknowledged that he had to do plenty of research, up to three hours a day. Seeing as he was in the International Council of Justice, this included reading up on law, especially the Rome Statute, which included learning a lot of Latin terms! The ICJ concentrated on the need to create a cohesive set of rules that could be universally implemented. They also analysed Libya’s judicial predicament in the aftermath of the Gaddafi regime. Eran, being in the Security Council, had to read up on the UN charter. This year he was given the unorthodox position of representing Edward Snowden in the Security Council, under the topic of Information Security. For this he had to research US policy on breaches of security as well as whistleblower protection. The other topic that the Security Council had to tackle was Intervention in conflict zones. Nishad was in the General Assembly that focused on Neo-colonialism as well as the militirisation of outer space, both extremely fascinating topics. Nishad was insistent that neo-colonisation has saturated society on a scale so large that it is hard to notice at first. He was especially ardent about the lack of information on minorities, exemplified by the unfair treatment of Diego Garcia.

What would you like to do in the future?

For the future of the world in general, as far as equal representation is concerned, Eran bluntly admits that he thinks the only way that minorities can achieve autonomy is to grow and gain economically and to acquire power. He is also aware that CO-MUN and SLMUN do not represent the whole of Sri Lanka and so he is personally working on rectifying that and bringing together students from all around the country. Of his own future, he says he’d like to study Business and Economics. Imadh would like to combine his long standing love of Mathematics with his love of engineering and biology, and take up the exciting branch of Computational Interventional Cardiology. Nishad is extremely passionate about History. He does not invest in the theory that history blindly repeats itself, but truly believes that examining the past can help prevent those very mistakes from happening. He also does not believe in the importance of the individual, unlike history books that glorify rulers and individuals. Progress comes from the people as a whole, not a handful of persons. Thus he’d like to do a degree in History.

What fun stuff do you do?

They all love playing video games, with Eran cheekily saying that they are CO-MUN delegates who argue for justice and then shoot people in games like Call of Duty. Eran particularly likes a lot of classic video games, even playing Pokémon with an emulator. They all also love reading, and Eran has an eclectic taste that includes high fantasy (the likes of Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones) as well as the classics (Mark Twain, Jane Eyre). Imadh likes fantasy as well, and is a talented artist. While he insists that it’s only for fun, one look at the logo he designed for the CIS debate team is enough to establish his knack for intricacy and detail. Nishad is, again, a fan of books about History and does not read only for entertainment. He too loves the classics, naming ‘Catcher in the Rye’ and ‘The Great Gatsby’, and he was also recently taken up with Tell the Wolves I’m Home (which he judged by its cover).

Altogether, the three of them are a captivating mix of remarkable and developing ideas as well as grounded teenagers.

By Marissa van Eyck