MUN News

Last month, members of The High School Model United Nations team arrived at a Dublin Airport filled with thousands of Ireland rugby fans wearing green who were travelling to Paris.  Our destination was London and after a long morning of travel, which included one flight, one train ride, one tram ride, and seven sets of stairs, we finally reached the beautiful campus of Royal Russell School.  We stayed on site in the boarding school.  A total of thirty-nine schools from around the world gathered together for a Model United Nations conference.  These schools were divided into 80 "delegations," each representing a different country.  The High School represented Ghana.

During the conference, we debated various topics such as peace in Ukraine, the Mexican drug war, financing terrorist organizations, taxation of global corporations, deforestation, nuclear energy, abortion rights, gender equality, regulation of social media, territorial sovereignty in Antarctica, far-right groups, violence against women and girls, and justice for war crimes.  It was fascinating to hear different opinions from individuals who came from diverse backgrounds and countries.  While 30% of attendees were from Dublin the rest came from Spain, France, Germany, Greece, Norway, Nigeria, and the USA.

The conference provided us with an amazing opportunity to make friends from around the world and discuss how life as teenagers differs across countries.  The first day was dedicated to lobbying within our committees.  We collaborated with representatives from countries that shared similar views to ours in order to form alliances and draft resolutions addressing our common problems.

On the second and third days of the conference, we debated these resolutions and worked together to improve them.  The chairs in each committee then selected two resolutions for debate during a General Assembly session attended by everyone!  It was a huge accomplishment that one of our written resolutions was chosen for this prestigious debate.  Each country had an opportunity to vote on whether or not they supported passing this resolution based on their own national views - just like what happens at the real United Nations.

While it may seem somewhat futile for a group of 500 teenagers to pretend to be diplomats and attempt to solve problems that the actual United Nations struggles with, after witnessing the high level of debate and innovative solutions proposed, I am confident that the future is in capable hands.  Two members of our seven-person team won the best delegate in their committee.
Ciara Morton