Model UN Conference 2

On Friday 14^th July St Clement Danes School held its second Model UN Conference. 45 students from Years 8, 9,10, and 12 represented 22 countries and convened to discuss global drug trafficking. The students had spent 5 weeks researching the topic and gathering information about ‘their country’.

During the course of the day they used this information to negotiate and debate, with the other delegates, a ‘UN proposal’ with the aim of producing an agreed final report. It was a packed day with ‘Opening statements’ starting at 9.00am followed by various negotiations, proposed amendments and more negotiations so that by the ‘Closing statements’ at 3.15pm, we were on version 4 of the Proposal. The negotiations were hard fought and it highlighted the difficulties of international diplomacy with votes indicating how hard it was for countries to come into agreement; this was particularly the case when funding was being discussed!

It was fantastic to see how students from different year groups were able to engage with the process and apply the diplomatic language needed. With the majority of delegates being made up of Year 12 students, a special mention must go to the Year 8, 9 and 10 students who were more than capable of ‘holding their own’ during the day. The students really enjoyed the conference and apart from a short interruption caused by a fire alarm, it went very smoothly. The students learned valuable skills and we encourage anyone interested in developing their negotiating and diplomatic skills to join up when the next Conference is held.