Amidst the vast array of schools from the South East attending the 25th annual MUN conference at Felsted School in Essex, the Bede's Model United Nations (MUN) team was relatively small, consisting of nine pupils partaking were; two from the First Year and seven from both the Pre-sixth and Lower Sixth. Nevertheless, we were effective in bringing forth constructive and innovative solutions to the table. Each Bede’s MUN delegate represented one of two demanding member states: Finland and Algeria, and remarkably participated in the subsequent delegations – Security Council, UNOOSA, Human Rights, EcoSoc, Ecology and Health - as their respective countries.
For most, the morning of Sunday, the 2nd of March, began in a less than ideal way. Having to wake up at early morning hours to catch a 2.5-hour coach journey up to the radiant and sunny Felsted School was most certainly a great feat. Upon arrival, we wasted no time and jumped straight into action, combating fast-track resolutions and developing diplomatic speeches toward our committee debates. It is worth noting as well the significant opening ceremony, where we were fortunate enough to be in the presence of the guest speaker and former pupil, Mark Cutts, who is a renowned specialist in crisis management during recent conflicts and disasters, with more than 30 years of proficiency with the United Nations and other international institutions managing relief operations in some of the world’s biggest crises, including Afghanistan, Gaza, Somalia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and many more. He delivered a very thought-provoking speech where he depicted chronicles of his times operating as a volunteer in a multitude of refugee camps around the globe. He gave us a striking statistic which lamentably does not receive enough worldwide coverage, which is that an estimated 250 million children worldwide are not enrolled in school. However, one thing he mentioned that stuck with me, and I quote, is “Education is a privilege not many have, and you are one of the lucky ones.” I wholeheartedly believe this is something worth taking a moment to reflect over.
The theme of FelMUN’25 was ‘Ending the cycle between Poverty and Conflict: Breaking the Chain.’ Much like any other conference, each committee held 2 to 3 topics to debate over, such as in that of the Human Rights Committee that handled complex and sensitive topics, where I was tasked with representing Algeria. There was a singular fast-track resolution on the question of protecting women's rights to an abortion submitted by the delegate of the USA, which sadly did not pass, and another successful committee resolution proposed by the delegate of Egypt pertaining to restoring the right to vote for ex-prisoners to the House. In other councils such as UNOOSA (United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs), there were various eccentric yet effective clauses passed, like the formation of a new dialect consisting of a selection of languages, namely Russian, Mandarin… to communicate with extraterrestrial life outside of Earth. After a rigorous yet rewarding day of high-level debate, at sundown, we made our way back to the hotel nestled in the town of Braintree for a quick rest and afterwards ensured that the MUN tradition of going bowling and to Zizzi’s afterwards for a delicious dinner remained alive.
On the following day, as previously established by the heads, the committees were merged and grouped according to their designated countries, making for an amplified and enriched debating atmosphere. Bede’s delegates, such as Larissa Starkey or Boris Bland, who were in the delegation of EcoSoc, spoke eloquently and courageously delivered versatile speeches on behalf of Finland and Algeria – respectively in our joint council. Till chaos had unfolded when a petition had been constructed to sanction China and Mexico and eliminate their rights to vote due to numerous occurrences of disrespect towards other delegates. This caused great turmoil in the House, and in no time murmurs began to spread. Thanks to diplomacy and compliance on both ends, it wasn't long before the issue had been resolved. The concluding event of the day was the General Assembly, where the entire committee hall was presented with an emergency broadcast spotlighting the imaginary crisis of the takeover of the Panama Canal by unknown forces which were eventually uncovered as troops funded by the USA. Immediately, mayhem had taken over the room, and everyone scrambled to draft up resolutions and vigorously debate for the remainder of the conference.
Although this residential committee had been a nerve-wracking first for many, I’d like to emphasise the exceptional job of all the delegates and specifically mention the satisfactory turnout of awards where Larissa won as commended delegate for EcoSoc. Well done to her!
Last but certainly not least, on behalf of the MUN group, I’d like to extend my gratitude and thanks to our teacher, Ms Webster, for taking the time to organise this conference and additional housing matters as well as supplying us with guidance throughout. Additionally, I’d like to thank the bus driver, Mo, for taking the time out of his busy schedule to accompany us all the way up and entertain us with his amusing jokes!
