In April, Benenden MUN (Model United Nations) members spent a weekend attending the Haileybury International Model United Nations Conference.
We represented France, Argentina and Latvia in a variety of committees discussing a large number of highly pertinent and sometimes controversial questions. These included: Question of the ability of states to democratically remove human rights; The Question of cyberterrorism; The Question of global water security; The Question of the capability of the government to survey domestic violence within a state; The Question of debt-trap diplomacy. Congratulations to all Benenden delegates for achieving a combined total of more than 100 speeches, points of information, resolutions written and amendments made. Annabel also managed to have her resolution on biological and chemical weapons discussed in the large disarmament committee. Sadly, it didn’t quite manage to gain enough votes to pass but that was likely due to the impact of specific voting blocs.
Elsewhere there were several strong performances in other committees, though not all were recognised by main awards. Nevertheless, very well done to Highly Commended prize winners Tireni, who was Argentina in Ecology and Environment, and Yezel, who represented France in Conference Special Committee. With more than 850 delegates in attendance from across the globe, Benenden put in a very good set of performances indeed.
Martin Loy
Director of MUN