Sixth Form Students Compete at United Nations Conference
Thursday, 1 November 2012
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A-level students from Ellesmere College will be travelling to Leiden in the Netherlands, to participate in the Model United Nations Schools Conference, where fourteen passionate debaters will compete alongside three thousand students and faculty advisors from top institutions around the world. The Model United Nations is an academic simulation of the United Nations that aims to educate participants about current events, topics in International Relations, diplomacy and the United Nations agenda. This year’s theme will be ‘overpopulation’. Ellesmere Students will be representing three countries; Mali, Bangladesh and Australia, where they will role-play as diplomats representing the nation in simulated sessions, such as the Security Council or the General Assembly. Participants research a country, take on roles as diplomats, investigate international issues, debate, deliberate, consult, and then develop solutions to world problems ranging from effective food resource distribution to the deforestation of rainforests, the effects of desertification, freedom of expression and the protection of human rights. Christina Westwood, Head of Modern Foreign Languages, said “the conference will, without a doubt, be a great opportunity for our participating Sixth Form students to extend their knowledge of world affairs, hone their public speaking skills and meet students of a similar age from all over the world. For the first time, we have been allocated two prosecutor positions in the International Crime Court (ICC), which are ideal for our pupils aspiring to a career as a diplomat or lawyer”.More recently, simulation of other deliberative bodies, such as the United Nations Security Council, have been included in Model United Nations, even if they are completely unrelated to the UN or International Affairs as a whole. In general, the participants that the executive panel considers to be most contributing are given awards, such as 'Best Delegate award’