26 - 29 March 2010
On the last day of term 10 boys went to the Haberdashers' Aske's Model United Nations Conference. It was a first for all but one of us, so we had no idea what to expect, especially as background research was a bit thin on the ground! However we spent a not inconsiderable amount of time designing the required notepaper for the countries we were representing, Canada and Switzerland.
Upon arrival, we went into a period of lobbying representatives of other nations to gain support for resolutions or to forge alliances before debating the resolutions began. After lobbying, the official opening ceremony took place, after which we drove to our base for the duration of the conference; chez Lenny Henry, Premier Inn. The next day we went into our respective committees (each country had five representatives, who sat on different committees such as Human Rights or Environmental Affairs) to debate the resolutions which had gained support during lobbying the night before. However beforehand, or at least in my committee, each country had to introduce itself. I had no idea this would happen, so cue some quick improvisation!
Debating on various committees ranged from the situation in Darfur to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and produced some interesting ideas, even if some of them involved conflict-resolving thumb-wars! At the end of the day we ate at an Indian restaurant and prepared for the General Assembly, where all representatives from all the nations present gathered to debate resolutions approved at committee stage - there were some 500 of us in the hall in all. After another period of lengthy debate, procedures were brought to a close by awards and the closing ceremony.
All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience, some personal highlights being the eccentric chairmen, the confusing vocabulary of the Haberdashers' Aske's students (for example the phrase ‘blatant chirp’, which to this day I have no idea what it means!) and hearing of one of Abingdon’s representatives being the subject of no less than three successful ‘motions to evict’!
Ben Haveron
