News

Recently, the JPA Model United Nations (MUN) club attended the International School of Phnom Penh Model United Nations Conference (ISPPMUN). The club sent a range of representatives from Grade 7 students attending their first MUN conference in the junior category through to experienced Grade 12 students attending their final MUN conference.

MUN coordinators Mr. McBride and Mr. Van Hilten reported, “ISPPMUN 2019 was another successful conference for JPA students. We now have a core group of Grade 10 and 11 students able to use the experience they have accumulated over the past three years to make significant contributions to their assemblies.”

Sampoas, Grade 10, added, “I represented the delegation focusing on social, cultural, and humanitarian issues. We debated the questions of the rights of LGBTQ+ communities, government censorship of the media and youth representation in government.

“Multiple times the delegates of South Africa and Saudi Arabia criticized my group’s resolution that promoted and championed freedom of speech for youth representation in governments all around the globe. They raised concerns that children would become puppets of politicians. They were also worried that youths are immature and would be corrupted. In my closing speech I said that I understood their worries, but stated that our resolution addressed their concerns. We had included clauses that ensured young people would have a good education to put their skills to use. I said that it isn’t possible to live without being influenced by others. However, the difference came down to education. Young people should be able to evaluate what they are being told and make their own decisions. They could choose to follow the ideas of others like many of today’s politicians who know of global warming yet continue to fail to do anything effective about it. Or become someone like Greta Thunberg for example who decided to go on a school strike which brought about millions of people protesting with her all around the world. In the end, my resolution passed with over 70% voting yes. If there’s one thing that I learned from this conference, it’s that it only takes one good voice to impact a huge population.”

Sareth, Grade 12, who took on the position of deputy chair for the first time writes, “One of the benefits of being a chair of the conference is that you can enjoy listening to all of the debates. The delegates were very passionate about the topics. I was in the room with two other JPA students. Srey On, Grade 11, the delegate of Bangladesh, asked the most points of information in the whole committee, and Ellen, Grade 10, the delegate of Iran, sent many amendments to the floor and took a strong stance to defend Iran’s ‘democracy’.”

“ISPPMUN 2019 was the best MUN conference I have attended and I am happy to have accomplished a goal of mine, chairing a conference before I graduate.”

MUN club is now setting its sights on the next event in Vietnam.