TBS MUN: LAMUN 2021

The British School’s Model United Nations Club recruited students for the Latin American conference which took place on Friday the 23rd and Saturday the 24th of April. It would usually be hosted by Stella Maris College and our school, but given the current situation, it was forced to carry on virtually through a platform called MUN Command and Zoom.

Bautista Martínez and Agustín López formed part of the Secretariat Team, representing our school, and were responsible for organizing the conference with the help of Liliana Daza and Diego Paseyro, both MUN Directors. 36 students from 1YL to 6YL attended, with 24 on board participating as delegates, 3 as chairs, and 9 on the Press Team. Agustín, Bautista, and Carmen Gomensoro, also a part of the school’s MUN leaders, thoroughly prepared students for the occasion. Latin America Model United Nations (LAMUN) is often labeled as one of the most important ones of the year, for it brings together students from various Latin American countries, such as Panama, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, among others.

In the opening ceremony, the organizers welcomed students, and a video from the Press Team included an overview of the issues debated in the conference, together with significant events from 2020 that aligned with them. Then, attendants heard Irina Martínez, a guest speaker who is the Coordinator of the Cooperation International Red Cross Committee in Venezuela, and a specialist in International Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid. Afterward, student leaders from our school and Stella Maris gave their speeches, followed by a beautiful music performance. Lastly, students were dismissed and went to their forums.

Several issues were discussed, such as the challenges regarding the peace process in Colombia, discouraging the production of single-use plastics, managing the threat to global health caused by refusing vaccinations, the question of cyber-surveillance on civilians, addressing the rise of global threats to women’s rights, the issue of the rights of the citizens of Hong-Kong, and protecting the Human Rights of children in Yemen, to name a few. The committees were the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the Human Rights Council, the Environmental Committee, General Assembly 1: Disarmament and International Security, General Assembly 3: Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee, and General Assembly 4: Political.

Delegates worked on their opening speeches and their resolutions, a document that addresses the issue they have to debate and proposes solutions that correspond to the beliefs of the country assigned to them. Amazingly, a couple of students were able to gather enough signatures for their resolutions to pass and be debated! Overall, the majority seemed to have a great time at the event, based on the feedback given.

Chairs from our school also attended, to help moderate the debate along with chairs from other schools. In general, they did well based on the comments from the school’s delegates. It is evident that arbitrating an online debate can surely be tough, even more than a presential one.

Furthermore, 2 members from the Press Team elaborated a video for the opening ceremony and 2 other members of the team took photos while committees and councils were in session. Then, along with the other 5 members, they each wrote two articles, focusing on both issues from a specific committee. All accessible from the cover page of LAMUN. Furthermore, one of the members compiled a video for the closing ceremony with pictures of the conference.

In summary, students did have issues with the management of MUN Command and time was a problem too, but apart from that the conference was excellent and students seemed happy to be there. Virtual conferences can be complicated, but everyone’s positive attitude made the experience a million times better. We hope our school can carry out LAMUN in 2022 as well. And for all students, you are all encouraged to join this club!

Being online did not stop us, and all delegates were just as eager to debate and collaborate with others