Kildare students take part in Model UN in Belgium

PARTICIPATION in a Model United Nations (MUN) event in Belgium recently was an eye-opener for three students of Cross and Passion College Kilcullen.

Not least in the realisation that no matter how different the cultures and backgrounds of the 112 young delegates from 12 countries, more united than divided them.

The opportunity to attend the event in Namur, Belgium, was made possible by the Kilcullen school becoming part of the Erasmus programme last year, which fully funded the trip for the three young people and three teachers.

MUNs are supported by the United Nations to spread awareness of the organisation and its mechanisms, and many thousands of young people around the world get the chance to take part every year.

The Namur event included participants from Luxembourg, Poland, Slovakia, Morocco and India, and the very appropriate overall theme was United In Diversity.

The CPC delegation comprised 6th Year students Aoibhe Toft and Sam Moussoulides and Eleanor Steed who is in 5th Year.

They were accompanied by language teachers Fiona Murphy and Mary Quinto — also the school’s Erasmus Coordinator — and debating teacher Niamh Thorpe who had prepared the students both in helping to develop their position papers and maximising their speaking skills.

As delegates, the students were tasked with representing countries not their own, so Aoibhe was ‘from Columbia’ while Sam represented The Netherlands and Eleanor had the Mozambique portfolio.

Over the three days, delegates took part in committee debates and a final General Assembly.

“It was really interesting to have to research and find out the different perspective of your appointed country,” said Eleanor Steed.

“It wasn’t your own personal opinion you had to argue, it was the opinion of the country you represented.” Both Eleanor and Aoibhe had been placed in the same committee, discussing the need for balancing economic development and production with the environmental issue of sustainable forest use.

For Sam, it was the committee dealing with socio-economic reintegration of refugees affected by war. He says being given The Netherlands to represent was fortunate, as the country's views on the subject aligned with his own.

“So it was very easy for me to be passionate in the speeches I gave. If I had been allocated Iran or Saudi Arabia, for instance, it would have been substantially more difficult to defend their points of view.” Aoibhe had requested Brazil because the sustainable forestry issue there is very relevant to the current Geography course in the Leaving Cert, but being given Columbia was close enough.

“Columbia has similar issues so I was able to apply that knowledge. Still, because it was my first time at a MUN, I was nervous in case I didn’t know enough to properly represent the country.” Eleanor’s appointment as Mozambique delegate gave her an interesting task to try and work out the perspectives of a country which doesn’t have as big an impact on the world as do big ones like the USA or China.

“I had to work out how to fight for what I wanted in committee while not being overshadowed by bigger and stronger countries with more money.” Whatever anxieties they may have had in advance of the event, the trio came back from Namur with absolutely positive reactions.

“More than anything, I think it was the connections I made,” Eleanor recalled. “I loved the debate, the interactions with other young people in the committee. But most of all it was the conversations on the sidelines, learning how they had got there, what had brought them.

“It was fantastic to be able to sit next to people from all these countries and we're all interested in the same thing. We're all teenagers from across Europe who chose to do this at the same time, and yet from such different cultures —it was interesting that there's so much that united us.” Aoibhe agrees that the connections made are ‘priceless’ and spoke of how participants bonded through the experience.

“I was also fascinated to learn how procedural motions are structured during committees, they are so organised and it really appealed to me.” Sam says he learned a particularly important lesson during the General Assembly where he had been chosen to submit the resolution on LGBTQ rights. “It failed ultimately, but it taught me quite a bit about democracy because I had shot down so many amendments from delegates representing countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran that I lost votes.

“I realise now why compromise is so often necessary, and in any future situation where I might be dealing with amendments I’d be more considerate of other perspectives.” 

Despite his resolution being lost, he won the overall prize for best delegate in the general assembly.

Sam is hoping to study politics with a view to a career in diplomacy, perhaps in some role with the EU.

Aoibhe is also interested in politics and geography for further studies and would like eventually to work with the EU or the UN.

Eleanor has a little more time to work out her direction. “I'm using 5th year to dig deep and find out what I like and what I don’t like. But I’m really interested in doing something that won’t let me be bored!” From the school’s perspective, the experience has also been really positive, according to Mary Quinto.

“Our students performed exceptionally well, demonstrating strong diplomacy, critical thinking and public speaking skills. The competition was intense, but our team’s preparation and dedication paid off.

“We returned home with big smiles, proud of our achievements and the lessons we had learned.” Fellow students have also shown a big interest in how things worked for Aoibhe, Eleanor and Sam, and there’s likely to be a significant increase in applications for any next MUN.

“Some of my friends weren’t really interested before I went,” Eleanor said. “But I’ve come back with all these stories about how great it was and they’re saying we should all go together the next time.” Among the ideas brought back from the event is to establish a MUN Club in the college.

"Going forward, it looks like being brilliant for the school," said Mary. "It's a new programme for the students, hopefully, and lots of new connections. It's just really positive to have the Erasmus programme, to be able to do all these great things."