Eight members of the Verona High School Model United Nations club traveled to Boston, Massachusetts to participate in the 59th annual Harvard Model United Nations Conference, held January 26-29, 2012. Over 3,000 students representing schools throughout the United States and from 37 different countries joined VHS students in participating in this prestigious international simulation.
VHS students assumed the roles of delegates from our school’s assigned country, the Slovak Republic, and worked with student delegates representing other nation members of the United Nation’s Economic and Social Council (ECSCO). The ESCSO consists of four committees to which VHS students served as delegates. Below are the committees as well as the topics discussed in each committee session:
Committee: Commission on Population Development, 2100
Topic 1: Population Control
Topic 2: Resource Allocation
Committee: UN Human Rights Council
Topic 1: Military Use of Children
Topic 2: Prison Systems
Committee: UN High Commissioner for Refugees
Topic 1: Refugees in the Middle East
Topic 2: The Situation in Cote D’Ivoire (Ivory Coast)
Committee: UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization
Topic 1: Euthanasia
Topic 2: Media Development and Censorship
During the committee sessions, VHS students debated the same complex issues which world leaders are called upon to address. The conference culminated with each committee drafting resolutions in response to their respective global issues. The conference’s simulations allowed students to experience the challenges delegates to the United Nations face in having to balance their country’s national needs with the interests of the international community.
VHS students learned a great deal about international issues and varying global perspectives from the students they met and with whom they worked at the Harvard Model United Nations Conference.
In addition to spending nearly 18 hours in committee sessions, students had an opportunity to travel to Cambridge to visit the historic campus of Harvard University.