GENERAL
ASSEMBLIES
Ghosts in the Machine of Government:
United Nations Global Commission on Cybercrime (UNGCC)
In an age where political dissent can be silenced with a single breach and elections manipulated from other countries, one force threatens global democracy: cybercrime. The United Nations Global Commission on Cybercrime (UNGCC) brings together member states to confront the rising danger of politically motivated cyber threats, such as attacks that undermine institutions, erode civil liberties, and blur the boundaries of international law. From election interference and digital disinformation to the weaponization of spyware and cross-border surveillance, the stakes are high and the threats are increasingly complex.
Delegates will explore the legal grey zones around foreign meddling in democratic processes, the militarization of critical electoral infrastructure, and the accountability of states and non-state actors alike. At the heart of this debate lies a core tension: how to reconcile national security with human rights, transparency with intelligence, and sovereignty with an interconnected digital landscape. With real-world cases spanning from the Pegasus spyware scandal to cyber-harassment during #EndSARS, and the manipulation of voter data through Cambridge Analytica, this commission challenges delegates to build the legal, ethical, and political architecture needed for a more secure and just cyber future. The conflict unfolds in cyberspace, but its impact is felt in every corner of society.
The Price of the Perfect Gene:
United Nations Genetic Ethics Negotiation Entity (UNGENE)
The genetic revolution is no longer science fiction, it’s shaping the future of health, identity, and inequality. As gene editing, embryo screening, and advanced therapies evolve at fast speed, the world faces an urgent question: who gets to decide how far we go? At the United Nations Genetic Ethics Negotiation Entity, delegates will tackle the ethical, legal, and political dilemmas that define this new era.
From the $2.1 million price tag of life-saving treatments to the quiet rise of genetic privilege, the line between healing and enhancing is growing dangerously thin. As access to biotech remains concentrated in wealthier nations and among the elite, genetic inequality threatens to mirror, and deepen, existing global divides. UNGENE also examines the unchecked power of biotech giants, the gene patents, and the exploitation of indigenous DNA. With case studies ranging from Africa’s genomic justice initiatives to corporate embryo screening in the U.S., this committee confronts the clash between innovation and accountability. Should there be a global body to regulate human gene editing? Can international norms overcome national interests? The decisions made here will shape not only bodies, but the balance of global power.
No Nation Owns the Ocean, But All Try:
Panel for Equitable Maritime Advancement (PEMA)
What happens to the ocean outside of national jurisdictions? Beneath the surface of the world’s oceans lies a new frontier of conflict, competition, and opportunity. As nations race to assert control over contested waters, extract deep-sea resources, and navigate legal grey zones, the Panel for Equitable Maritime Advancement brings together the most urgent issues in maritime law, sovereignty, and global equity. Disputed Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) have become flashpoints for geopolitical tension, with artificial islands, overlapping claims, and naval presence pushing the boundaries of international law.
As states test the limits of UNCLOS, the need for clearer legal frameworks has never been more urgent. Beyond national borders, the seabed is quickly becoming the next site of global extraction, raising complex questions about corporate accountability, environmental ethics, and the future of the International Seabed Authority (ISA). Who profits from the deep sea, and who protects it? Meanwhile, flags of convenience allow vessels to dodge taxes, labor laws, and legal scrutiny, fueling illicit trade and human rights abuses on the high seas. In the ungoverned depths of our world’s oceans, PEMA confronts a defining question: will the seas serve only the powerful or the world?
Building Bridges Among the Stars:
United Nations Space Exploration Council (UNSEC)
It’s 2060, and nations as well as private companies have successfully launched missions to Mars and the Moon. What began as exploration is now a race for control, profit, and permanence and interstellar travel shifts from science fiction to political reality. The rules of the cosmos are no longer hypothetical, they’re overdue. As the final frontier becomes the next economic battleground, the United Nations Space Exploration Council convenes to confront a new era of power, ambition, and responsibility beyond Earth. From SpaceX’s Martian ambitions to mining ventures near the Moon’s south pole, space is becoming a site of corporate control and geopolitical competition. UNSEC tackles the urgent need to regulate private actors, enforce labor and human rights in off-world colonies, and ensure transparency in missions beyond Earth orbit.
Jurisdictional chaos also looms. Who governs the Moon and Mars? What laws apply to crimes in orbit? Looking ahead, the council also explores ethical boundaries of interstellar expansion: terraforming, resource extraction, and who gets a ticket to the stars. Space is no longer a distant dream. It is a contested, inhabited, and profitable domain, and UNSEC is where humanity decides what future we take with us to the stars.
The Earth’s Final Verdict:
United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP)
In an era where oceans rise, forests burn, and the most vulnerable are left behind, one force stands between irreversible damage and collective action: environmental law. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) brings together the international community to confront the deepening ecological crisis with the urgency it demands. This committee will analyze global environmental challenges through a legal perspective, using international agreements and frameworks to protect ecosystems under threat and defend the rights of marginalized communities who are most at risk. From collapsing climate systems and forced ecological migration to unchecked plastic pollution and corporate secrecy, the issues are complex, and the need for global accountability is urgent.
Topic 1 addresses the global climate emergency, delegates will explore how legal tools and international cooperation can advance meaningful climate action. A key focus will be transparent climate data initiatives and technologies that monitor and predict climate impacts. The committee will examine how Traditional Ecological Knowledge can enhance these systems, from satellite monitoring and early warning signals to sustainable infrastructure for adaptation and resilience. Protecting Indigenous land rights and ensuring fair access to climate technologies will be essential to an effective legal and ethical response. Topic 2 explores plastic awareness and accountability, considering how global education efforts, access to environmental information, and media engagement can hold corporations accountable and reduce the flow of plastic into vulnerable regions. At the core of this debate lies a pressing choice. Can nations reconcile economic development with ecological protection, equity with enforcement, and short-term solutions with long-term survival? The future of our planet depends on the answers.
IT’S YOU VS. THE ALGORITHM:
Panel on Autonomous Corporations, Media Accountability, and Norms (PACMAN)
Special Legal Subcommittee on Corporate Law in the Digital Entertainment Economy
In a future where games are created by machines, characters are shaped by algorithms, and storylines evolve without human input, one question challenges legal systems across the globe: Who owns a world when no one made it? The General Assembly’s Panel on Autonomous Corporations, Media Accountability, and Norms brings together member states to examine the shifting legal ground beneath the digital entertainment economy. In an age where artificial intelligence is transforming the creation, distribution, and monetization of the gaming industry as we know it, this special subcommittee on corporate law will explore how international legal standards can uphold accountability, protect creative rights, and confront algorithmic bias in increasingly autonomous industries.
In topic 1, delegates will focus on legal accountability in the digital entertainment sector, investigating how corporate behavior in gaming and media can be regulated across borders. This topic challenges delegates to design international legal frameworks that demand transparency, promote fairness, and prevent exploitation in digital gaming workspaces. Topic 2 explores how our present world is one where AI creates characters, writes dialogue, and generates entire experiences, resulting in the unraveling of authorship. Delegates will debate how intellectual property law must evolve to address nonhuman creativity, user modifications, and consent in generative media. Central to this conversation is cultural equity and the power dynamics of automation.
Qualified, Just Not Chosen:
Global Economic and Labour Development Assembly (GELDA)
In an era where automation accelerates, inequality deepens, and the promise of decent work slips further from reach, one force stands between exploitative systems and equitable progress: global labour and economic policy. The Global Economic and Labour Development Assembly (GELDA) brings together the international community to confront the moral and material questions that define the future of work. As economies are reshaped by artificial intelligence and shifting supply chains, delegates will examine how inclusive growth, social protection, and fair labour standards can anchor economic development in justice and dignity.
Topic 1 addresses youth, automation, and the future of work. Delegates will explore how education systems, public policy, and technological innovation can secure sustainable employment for youth in a rapidly changing digital economy. Topic 2 focuses on gender equity and fair work in global supply chains. This topic will address gender disparities in international labour systems by examining wage equity, safe working conditions, corporate obligations, and the care economy. Delegates will consider how international labour law and multilateral accountability mechanisms can be used to elevate women’s rights in global production, from affordable childcare access to inclusive union representation. The future of work will not be written by technology alone, it will be defined by the policies we choose, the people we protect, and the justice we pursue.
Her Battle, Our Global Blueprint:
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)
In an era where policies are written in conference rooms far removed from the crises they claim to solve, where the most vulnerable women are spoken for but rarely heard, one force stands between institutional neglect and real protection: lived experience. The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) brings together the international community to challenge a system in which laws are too often shaped by those untouched by their consequences.
In topic 1, delegates will discuss migration and trafficking, they’ll confront how disconnected policymaking continues to leave women migrants and survivors of trafficking unprotected. The committee will assess how to build legal systems that reflect real risks and lived harms, ensuring refugee protections, cross-border cooperation, and survivor-centered justice. In topic 2, delegates will examine how legal and social barriers continue to undermine the rights of women from marginalized communities, often by excluding them from the processes that shape their lives. This topic addresses how political exclusion, healthcare inequity, financial marginalization, and intersectional discrimination persist when decisions are made without those directly impacted. At the heart of this committee lies a crucial truth. No policy can be just if it is built without those it is meant to serve.
HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT THE GENERAL ASSEMBLIES?
Reach out to our Co-Directors of General Assemblies, Harmanpreet Pahwa and Agata Capomasi, at ga@utmun.org.