On Saturday 9 February 2013, over 120 delegates from eight schools in Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland met at Methodist College Belfast to take part in the joint Methodist College Belfast - Wallace High School Model United Nations Conference (MCB-WHS.MUN). In just its second year, the conference is becoming increasingly popular, with a number of schools making their Model UN débuts.
The Methody-Wallace Model UN Conference is the only such event in Northern Ireland, and gives school students aged 11-18 a unique opportunity to confront many of the world’s most pressing problems, and to find innovative and workable solutions. Debating issues ranging from the Senkaku Islands Dispute to Fracking, delegates develop skills in public speaking, debating and diplomacy. This is an educational experience like no other, as well as being great fun!
MCB-WHS.MUN is grateful to the United Nations Association NI for their financial support, enabling the conference to focus on UNA-UK's nuclear non-proliferation and multilateral disarmament campaign, Towards Zero.
In the Security Council, the ambassadors offered resolutions to the Question of Nuclear Disarmament. They called for a review of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons in order to bind all nuclear-weapons States to an agreement on disarmament, specifically those non-signatories who have developed nuclear weapons since 1970. The delegates also proposed a timetabled nuclear disarmament between conflicting states to be facilitated by the United Nations, following the example of USA and the former Soviet Union. Delegates commended the position of South Africa as a post-nuclear weapons state, although they rejected proposals to give the International Atomic Energy Agency greater powers to investigate suspected uranium enrichment. The Security Council stated that perceived breaches of sovereignty are causing distrust among member states and hampering progress towards nuclear disarmament.
The Secretariat of the Methody-Wallace Model UN was impressed by the standard of debate and by the enthusiasm of each delegate. It is often said that Model UN conferences create future world leaders. Your correspondent believes that the students in attendance at the MCB-WHS.MUN provided real solutions to real problems, and became the real world leaders of today.
Rory Copeland is a Lower Sixth pupil at Methodist College Belfast. He was the Secretary-General of the 2013 MCB-WH.SMUN and Chairperson of the Security Council.