On the 20th of January, a few members of our Model United Nations group departed on a trip to attend the ILYMUN conference in Lyon.
After numerous changes and 8 hours of travelling, we finally arrived at Lyon- Part-Dieu station, where we were pleasantly greeted by our host families. On arrival at their homes, everyone was tired from a day of travelling, so jumped at the chance of a good night's sleep.
Thursday began with sightseeing in Lyon, strolling through the city streets, visiting several bakeries on our way. We began lobbying in the afternoon in the General Assembly, where all countries convened, wrote clauses and attempted to gain support for them. We then divided into our separate committees, and lobbied further. The subject for the convention was Climate Change, with many references to the recent UN conference in Paris.
On Friday, we enjoyed a belated opening ceremony, with speeches in both French and English, not to mention a notable junior choir. We then reconvened in our separate committees, providing innovative solutions to climate change related issues. Lucy represented the USA in the Human Rights committee where she stood her ground on a number of issues, including the protection of small indigenous tribes from the effects of global warming. As the delegate for Saudi Arabia in the Development committee, Poppy, came head to head with everyone, but particularly France and China!
After 2 days of diplomatic discussions, it was time to let our hair down at the 'year 6 disco'-esque party, where we left the lobbying aside to make some less formal international relations.
On Saturday, having recovered from the party, it was our final opportunity to have our voices heard. The human rights committee managed to save a pacific island from climate change, and the development committee successfully created a free trade bloc between nations which lowered their CO2 emissions. This was followed by debating within the General Assembly, where Iraq showed particular strength against the USA.
The closing ceremony saw further speeches in both English and French, congratulating us for our efforts to combat global warming and climate change- a display of our interests in the wider world.
We left the following day, taking the same route we had to get there, overcoming some barriers on the Paris metro as our train was cancelled due to a strike. We arrived back at Didcot Parkway at around 5:30 pm, ready for the new week ahead.
All those involved believed it was extremely rewarding and helped many of us gain confidence regarding public speaking. The most challenging aspect for many of us was being able to adopt the views of the country we were representing and not let our personal views infiltrate into the debate. The current Year 11 and Year 12 are looking forward to experiencing the conference next year and the current Year 13s were happy that their final ILYMUN experience was such a positive one. Those lucky enough to go on the trip would like to extend their gratitude to the individuals that helped in getting us to the conference, especially Mrs Mummery and Mr Harpin, for organising such a rewarding trip.
- Poppy & Sean, Year 12
