Model UN Conference

Hosting the Model UN Conference

On the 5th and 6th of October 2019, over 200 students from across Scotland and England attended the first ever Model United Nations Conference at St George’s. The Model UN club has been running at St George’s since 2006 and it was with confidence, and a little bit of trepidation, that the students of Upper 6 decided that they should put their experience and expertise to the test by organising an event that would be politically challenging, but also engaging and fun.

A number of students from Upper 6 volunteered to chair committees under the considered direction of the club’s Secretaries-General Louisa and Clara, and by the deputy Secretaries-General Isla and Yumi. The Committee Chairs had decided on the debate topics and wrote research briefs in order to prepare the participating students. They were able to blend an important academic ethos and a sense of fun during all the debates, which created a superb environment to discuss international relations. It is a testament to their meticulous preparation that every Committee – from the Security Council to the World Health Organisation – had rigorous and enthusiastic debates.

Students in six Committees debated with vivacity across two days about such important international issues as the situation in Syria, maternal mental health and single-use plastics. Over 30 countries were represented in each committee, which allowed for diverse views on every topic that were not easily reconciled. Each student had to develop resolutions that helped to develop their negotiating skills and created camaraderie among the delegates. Students represented their countries with conviction, and the level of political discussion was impressive to behold.

The Conference benefited from the expertise of three visiting academics on the first day: Prof. Beatrice Heuser, Chair of International Relations from Glasgow University; Prof. Jill Stavert, Professor of Law at Napier University; and Dr. Oliver Turner, Lecturer in International Relations at Edinburgh University. These visiting speakers were able to develop the students’

understanding of important international areas of disagreement, including US-China relations and mental health and human rights law. Ms. Gill Akhtar gave a thought-provoking talk on the lives of child soldiers at the start of Sunday, which focused the students’ minds on the profound effects that international policies can have on the voiceless.

Over sixty students from St George’s were involved in the conference from Lower 4 to Upper 6. From chairing the debates to acting as runners – passing messages between different country representatives – all students were able to participate in making the Conference such a wonderful experience. Nothing proved this more than the General Assembly on Sunday where all countries had to resolve a breaking crisis in the Persian Gulf. Ecoterrorists had taken control over three oil tankers in the Gulf, and all students had to work together to avert this crisis from escalating. The level of debate, engagement with the topic, and the development of the relations between countries were remarkable. The buzz in the hall, including the (accepted) bribing of country representatives, really capped off a superb conference.

The end of the conference was marked by a talk from Mr. Ted Hall, the founder of St. George’s Model UN club, who urged the delegates to continue with their political activism and emphasised to them that their voices and actions matter.

We are so proud of the fact that Model UN is entirely student led. Clara, Louisa, Isla and Yumi not only organised the conference, but helped train many younger students. Their dedication, humour, and passion were infectious and, without them, the conference would not have been as successful. Their leadership was also demonstrated by the fact that we won best delegation at the North Berwick conference, which took place a month after our own. 2019 marked the first ever St George’s Model UN Conference, but it will certainly not be the last.