Model UN Conference

Upper School students at ACS International School Hillingdon joined forces with 80 young people from four different schools to host its annual Model United Nations (MUN) Conference.

The MUN Conference saw students play the role of delegates from different countries represented in the United Nations, with tasks set to encourage students to discuss and debate real-world issues with the policies and perspectives of their assigned country.

The ACS Partnership Team were the driving force behind this event, carefully organising, coordinating and facilitating this exciting initiative. This year’s agenda included: ‘Protecting human rights for civilians during the Russia-Ukrainian conflict’ and ‘The question of repatriation of arts and cultural artefacts in a post-colonial age to their countries of origin’. Schools that took part in the event, which is now in its fifth year, included ACS Hillingdon, ACS Cobham, ACS Egham and Alconbury.

Derek Johnson, Maths Teacher at ACS Hillingdon, said: “Our MUN Conference represents a wonderful opportunity to bring together ACS International Schools and other partner schools to enable students to have a platform in which they can represent their views and opinions on how to make the world a better place.”

“In today’s world, the ability to come together and tackle important, global matters is becoming even more urgent, and MUN means our young people will be equipped with the emotional intelligence to achieve exactly that. The day was a real success and we can’t wait to build on the event in the future.”

Ben Foster, Grade 10 student at ACS Hillingdon, said: “MUN enabled me to remove myself from my comfort zone and instead look at matters from other perspectives. This meant that I had to listen, appreciate and understand students from many different cultures and countries. This year’s event gave me the opportunity to openly discuss two important matters which I am sure are on people’s minds at the moment.”

ACS Hillingdon will also be taking a number of students to Germany during April to participate in another much larger, global MUN conference. Students will be placed in various committees such as Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), Human Rights, Disarmament and the General Assembly, due to the significant number of delegates that will be gathered there.