Model United Nations - 2023 Conference in The Hague

ISH takes great pride in its tradition stretching over 45 years of running Model United Nations, the educational and academic simulation of diplomatic decision making. 

Students in grades 9 to 12  learn about diplomacy, international relations, the United Nations and other international organisations. The aim is to teach students who participate in the programme, known as the “Delegates”, valuable global citizen skills such as researching, media literacy, public speaking and debating as well as writing, teamwork and cultural empathy. Delegates are assigned a country to represent, and research the positions of that country to debate as a representative, rather than debating their own personal views.

The highlight of MUN is attending its conferences. In addition to a local conference in Hamburg this past autumn, our ISH students delegates attended the The Hague International Model United Nations conference, which took place in the Dutch capital from January 23rd to 26th this year. THIMUN is one of MUN’s most prestigious conferences, bringing together over 2000 delegates from 150 schools from around the world to collaborate and debate resolutions on this year’s given topic -The Future of Borders. They were welcomed virtually by the UN’s Secretary General António Guterres in the opening ceremony. 

Our ISH students represented the Syrian Arab Republic in 11 different committees over the 4 days of the conference.

Success at the conference depends on thorough preparation: Prior to the conference our delegates prepared position papers and drafted resolutions on topics including the rise of regionalism and nationalism as a reaction to globalisation, land grabbing in LEDCs, protecting the rights of LGBT+ people, and measures to eradicate forced labour and end modern slavery. Our delegates spent the first day lobbying to gain support of their allies and to collaborate on resolutions that were put forward to debate. Every one of our eleven delegates was courageous enough to speak through speeches or points of information in committees of over 150 delegates. 

MUN is offered at ISH as an After School activity taking place on Mondays. MUN is a full year activity, and students are able to join in all seasons, but will benefit from a start in season one.

If you would like to join our MUN programme, please contact afterschool@ishamburg.org