The Tribune

LYFORD Cay International School sent a team of 11 delegates and two chaperones to the Model United Nations Symposium in Montreal, Canada.

Several students represented Malaysia and Israel in various United Nations committees, while others represented particular characters in specific historic events.

The Secondary Schools United Nations Symposium is a Model United Nations conference that has been occurring annually since 1993.

Attracting more than 1,000 secondary school students from across the globe, SSUNS is the largest and most renowned high school level model United Nations Conference in Canada.

Directed and organised by students from McGill University, this conference aims to not only educate delegates on the dynamics of international relations, but also to engage students in debate and discussion over the most pressing current events facing the contemporary world.

Since it’s initiation, SSUNS has annually embodied different themes that reflect the geopolitical context of international relations.

Building off from last year’s theme, Renewing the Past, this year’s theme, The Future is Yours, sought to bring the delegates to the forefront of pressing issues that are impacting nations around the world.

The organisers say the moment has come when delegates, students and the youth around the world need to understand the responsibility that is bestowed upon them and ultimately, realise the change the world needs.

Delegates reflected on their trip when they returned to Nassau.

Gabrielle Hollaender

Acted as the delegation of Malaysia and Israel in the Committee of FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation).

She said: “The different issues that we were able to cover before we left were Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) and Biotechnology and Food Security,” she said. “We passed two resolutions on the topic of GMOs surrounding four different points: Innovation, Implementation, Education, Representation.

“We also had a speaker that discussed the very pressing issue of Food Security and gave us different data about the different countries that have these issues which was a mind-blowingly high number. The main point of his presentation was the structure of food security including access, availability and quality of food.”

Rasheed Pickstock said: “This is my second year of participating in the SSUNS conference and I have enjoyed it just as much if not more than last year.

“This year, I represented Israel. I feel as though every year is amazing because in addition to meeting new people you can create memories with the people you met the first time. It was rewarding to do a simulation where I was immediately put into an unexpected situation and had to make a change. Gabrielle and I had the same outcomes and had the same speaker.”

Jana Ward

Represented the delegation of Malaysia in the UNAOC committee.

She said: “We discussed topics that related to global migration and integration and how cultural beliefs usually infringed on basic human rights. The first topic, migration and integration, was my favourite topic because I got to see how different countries viewed immigrants.

“I was also able to see how immigrants impacted different societies. We didn’t pass a resolution for the second topic or third topics because, unfortunately, there was not enough time.

“I was able to improve my resolution writing skills by being a key sponsor on one of the working papers. I hope that we can get more time for the trip and SSUNS makes the weekend a bit longer so we can get through all of the topics.

“I was inspired by two people who spoke at the opening ceremonies: Mrs Almas Jawani, who spoke about women’s empowerment and rights and Mrs Julie Marshall who introduced the group to the World Food Programme.

“I truly want to make a difference because of their speeches and seeing what they have done to make the world a better place. This was a fun, educational trip and the delegation of Malaysia motions to do it again next year!”

Michael Mindorff

He said: “I represented the European Council of Optometry and Optics in the European Public Health Alliance, a consortium of NGOs and a couple of other groups working together to try and improve public health in Europe. This put us in the interesting position of not being able to use any real command terms, as we had no member nations.

“Our topics in the EPHA were Bioterror (which we didn’t end up covering), Cardiovascular diseases in Europe, and drug abuse and addiction.

“We were quite productive, passing over four complimentary resolutions over the course of two topics. While the debate and dialogue was quite intriguing, the highlight of the entire session was guest speaker who came in to talk to us about cardiovascular diseases.

Luigi Charles

Represented the State of Israel in the Disarmament and International Security Committee

He said: “We discussed two topics, establishing a nuclear weapon free zone in the Middle East and Regulations on Unmanned Aerial vehicles. Israel saw the establishment of a nuclear weapon an integral part of creating peace in the Middle East. Israel’s ongoing nuclear conflict with Iran made negotiations very arduous.

“In the end, compromises had to be made by both parties to ensure global security. As the leading exporter of UAVs, Israel condoned the proliferation of drones globally, however agrees that regulations should be in place to prevent terrorist organisations from obtaining drones.”

Ashly Loibman

Took part in the General Assembly,was a part of the World Summit for Children and represented the State of Israel.

She said: “It was my first conference so I believe being in a general assembly was a good place to start. There were three topics that all of the delegates researched, however, we only covered two (exploitation of children and children in armed conflict). Despite what many may think, this was a great feat.

“We passed two working papers on the topic of the exploitation of children. In this particular topic, despite my beliefs I had to voice the opinions of Israel. We also had a guest speaker that talked about helping children internationally and how it affected her.

“She was a student at McGill and it was very inspiring. Her presentation aided delegates in their arguments when they spoke, as well, so it was effective. The second topic that we covered was children in armed conflict. For this topic, I was a sponsor of a working paper and voiced my opinions.

“Overall, I loved Montr�al and the conference, I would definitely be interested in going again next year. I also encourage others to join in on this great experience.”

Leon Willoch

Represented the Federation of Malaysia in the Disarmament and International Security Committee

“Our topics were establishing a nuclear free zone in the middle east, UAVs, and Small arms. In this committee we discussed Establishing a Nuclear Free Zone in The Middle East. We got a resolution of having two unbiased people from the different regions chosen to discuss and vote on different problems of nuclear technology.

“We also discussed UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles). We only got to discuss a little bit about this topic though we came to having regulations on armed UAVs.”

Kasia McCartney

Represented Malaysia in the World Summit for Children (WSC).

She said: “Along with other delegates representing different nations, we discussed, debated and attempted to find resolutions for specific issues that children face on a daily basis.

“This included vaccinations, sexual exploitation of children, and children involved in armed conflict. ‘Sexual exploitation of children’ was most popular topic due to the fact that many countries world wide face this dilemma on a daily basis, therefore it was in all of our best interests to combat this issue together.

“We resolved this issue within the first meeting, and announced resolutions in the second. The second topic debated was ‘Children involved in armed conflict’.

“I spoke quite frequently during this topic for resolutions involving the monitoring of refugee camps. Due to its vulnerability, refugee camps are easy targets for recruiters to abduct children and adults to join the army.

“This suggestion was placed in numerous resolutions. The overall experience was amazing- I thoroughly enjoyed speaking, and meeting other delegates from around the world.”

Davina Shareese Adderley

Was a participant in the Specialised Agency Committee known as the European Public Health Alliance, and represented an organisation known as ACTIS - Norwegian Policy Network on Alcohol and Drugs.

She said: “Topics debated upon within the committee sessions included bio-terrorism, drug abuse and addiction and also cardiovascular diseases. As a delegate of the EPHA Committee, I was fortunate to have seen and heard from a special key note speaker on the topic of cardiovascular diseases.

“Enthused by the entire presentation, delegates within the EPHA Committee engaged in an impressive question and answer session as the presentation was focused on causes and future treatment plans for CVDs, a typical surgery routine, how CVDs can be triggered by the genetic and neurological make-up of an individual, and also a detailed lecture on the heart, transport system, and coronary vessels in particular.

“It was a pleasure to have had this experience as it has major links to my future plans in neuroscience and contributes to a major section of my IB Biology course.”

Walter Ferguson

Participated in the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) where we debated on interesting topics including Internet censorship and the possibility of having a universally governed Internet.

He said: “During the committee sessions we discussed fascinating topics which involved censorship of the internet in an ever-changing world and the global prosecution of producers, distributors, and viewers of child pornography.

“Over the four-day conference I wrote two working papers on providing the usage of computers and Internet services to underprivileged children of third world nations while still keeping sovereignty. I was also a noted signatory on three working papers one of them including a motion to release all health files in a global reference to allow easier access to medical records.

“Furthermore, during this weekend I formed alliances with other nations one of which being the United States and together passed a suggested Bill, which would globally punish the producers, distributors, a users of child pornography all the same.”

Benjamin Willoch

Played a character from North Korea in a Mock Simulation of the Korean War.

“I was O Chin-U. We started (the simulation) at the beginning of the Korean War when North Korea invaded South Korea. The following were characters which were represented at the committee: O Chin-U, Alexei Kosygin, Jong Yonghwa, Noah Abraham Goldsteen and Pak Pong-Ju.”