United Netherlands (organization) - History

History

In 2003 two students from the Netherlands, David Vermijs and Tjeerd Tim, organized the first ever Dutch delegation to participate in the Harvard National Model United Nations (HNMUN) at Harvard University in America. After attending this international event it was agreed that students in the Netherlands would benefit from an organized preparatory track. The second Dutch delegation in 2004 was the first to receive lectures in international law, economics, politics, United Nations rules of procedure and public speaking trainings. The United Netherlands organization was officially founded in 2004 during the aforementioned events.

Due to strong interest in the United Netherlands Delegation it was decided to broaden the scope of the activities by organizing additional events, open to all students. Among the first events to take place where a symposium in 2005 and the first Model United Nations ever organized in Nijmegen in 2006: the Radboud intra-university Model United Nations (later renamed to Radboud international Model United Nations). Furthermore, the preparatory track for HNMUN was intensified and more attention was given to team-building, paper writing, debating and negotiation. The following year the 2005 - 2006 Delegation came back from HNMUN with eight individual awards and the Best International Delegation award, a feat no European delegation had been able to accomplish in at least five years.