On 2 December, Bede’s Model United Nations (MUN) Team visited Benenden School to compete in their MUN conference.
The 28 strong Bede’s team arrived at Benenden to face around 370 delegates from 22 different schools. This meant that there was more competition to be recognised and fewer chances for us to represent our nominated countries in debate. Some of us were new to Model United Nations,for whom this would be the first conference. While most of us were delegates, Zoe Whittington chaired the Women’s Committee and Noor Rahman chaired the SPECPOL (Special Political and Decolonisation) Committee.
We represented the countries of Iran, France, Sudan and Ukraine, all of which differ in their approaches towards certain issues. While Iran focuses on blending religion, modern politics and tradition, France upholds democratic freedoms. Similarly, Ukraine works on strengthening democratic institutions and Sudan pushes for democratic reforms. During the Opening Ceremony we listened to the Secretary General for Benenden speak about multilateralism and encouraged every delegate to cooperate in a productive and amiable manner, while still representing their countries beliefs, in order to solve the pressing issues at hand. After the Opening Ceremony, we split off into our separate committees to debate a variety of topics, from prevention of an arms race in outer space in the DISEC (Disarmament and International Security Committee), to the question of freedom of expression and religious beliefs in fundamentalist states in the Human Rights council.
To commence the individual debates, every delegate delivered their policy statement about their particular country’s beliefs on the topic of the debate. Immy Oscroft defended Iran’s beliefs in the Human Rights Committee by proposing an amendment condemning western countries for negative propaganda, which she succeeded in getting passed. In the Historic Security Council, I debated the issue of the USSR’s deployment of nuclear missiles in Cuba in 1962. This was complicated by the numerous communist countries in the debate, who of course supported the USSR, and, strangely, the United Kingdom delegate, who decided to also support the communist states. Joseph Berry made a speech on behalf of Sudan, making the claim that the Xinjiang Uyghur situation is false and has been created through western propaganda. He made this potentially controversial claim in the Human Rights Committee and received many questions afterwards.
It was a very successful conference for Bede’s, with three delegates winning awards. Emilia McLelland won the Commended Delegate award for her work in the Environment Committee when representing France. She argued for protection of the layer of the economy that relies on the existence of diesel vehicles. Harrison Odendaal was awarded Highly Commended Delegate for his speeches and raising Points of Information while representing Iran in the Women’s Committee, where he argued to protect Iran’s culture and beliefs. Prithvi Ann Sharma-Joehnk was also given a Highly Commended Delegate award, while representing France in the ECOFIN (Economic and Financial) Committee. Prithvi collaborated with other delegates to achieve net-zero emissions globally.
Finally, we would like to thank Mr McIntosh and Ms Webster for their efforts in organising this opportunity for us, and taking us to the event. It allowed us to practise our debating skills, become more confident when speaking in front of a larger audience, and develop communication and negotiation skills during informal lobbying.
