During the weekend Friday 16th, Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th December 2022 twenty of our pupils took part in another Model United Nations conference at Costeas-Geitonas School. Our pupils represented two countries, France and Brazil, as Delegates in various Committees as diverse as the Disarmament and International Security Committee, the Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee, the Special Political and Decolonization Committee, the Legal Committee, the Human Rights Committee and the Security Council. This time one of our pupils, Constantinos Zafeirakis, held the position of Co-Chair of the Special Political and Decolonization Committee.
The theme of this Conference was “Rebuilding Trust”, an extremely interesting and thought-provoking area of discussion. As the organisers point out in the CGSMUN Administrative Handbook, modern democracy and diplomacy depend on trust as it is vital to global stability and security. The United Nations itself runs on trust and partnership. Democracy’s key element is the communication between the political and civil societies, and when trust is lacking, democratic processes such as decision-making are severely impaired. In simple terms, in a democratic world, trust is a fundamental value and yet today we highly disregard it on a civil, domestic and international level. It is therefore more essential than ever that confidence between governments and people be improved as it is a prerequisite if confidence in relations between countries is to be restored. A lot of the topics that were debated in the Committees during the three days of intense work were therefore related to the theme of the Conference. Participating in this MUN event has given our pupils a better insight into today’s world challenges as they are preparing themselves to become international citizens, by providing them not only with valuable information but also with unique skills that they can use in their academic and professional lives.
We also need to congratulate Taylor Delight Goodall who, as the Delegate of Brazil, was named the Best Delegate Award of the UNICEF Committee.
Taking part in an MUN Conference has become very popular among both older and younger pupils, even as young as from Year 7. The pupils bravely sacrificed a whole weekend, debating over long hours on topics that are really challenging for them. Our older pupils are by now used to being Chairs of various Committees and help the younger members of the MUN Club of our school feel excited as well as informed and prepared. We are all looking forward to our next participation in February, at an MUN Conference which will see again one of our pupils, Kimberly Wang, as the Co-Chair of the WHO, the World Health Organisation Committee. Well done to all!
