Over two days on February 2nd and 3rd, ISM welcomed over 160 student delegates to take part in a Model United Nations conference on the theme of the United Nation’s Sustainability Development Goal #10: ‘Reduce Inequalities Within and Among Countries’.
Students took part in an opening ceremony that included guest speaker Vibeke Thomsen, founder and director of the Monaco-based non-profit SheCanHeCan. Her opening speech set the tone of the conference, with students quickly realising the vast inequalities existing today and that the challenge of writing resolutions based on tackling these inequalities would be both challenging yet ultimately rewarding.
“Throughout your life, remember when you find yourself in a position of power and privilege, in a position where you have a voice: with great privilege comes great responsibility.” Vibeke Thomsen, opening ceremony ISMMUN ’23
In total ten schools, both local and international, took part.
After opening ceremonies, the students broke up into five committee rooms: Human Rights, ECOSOC, Security Council, WHO and Environment. Each committee was run by student chairs and co-chairs. Students lobbied and merged their resolutions based on their country viewpoints, and finally they voted on these resolutions.
“From now on and for the next two days, you will not be under the direct auspices of a teacher. Students will teach students.” Selma Alkadhi, opening remarks ISMMUN ’23
Finally at 3pm on the last day, all student delegates came together in the General Assembly where they debated the best resolutions from selected committees. Following the closing ceremony, the Secretary General Georgia and Deputy Secretary General Alice drew the conference to a close.
Thank you to everyone who contributed to making this year’s ISM MUN conference a success!