Haileybury Astana Model United Nations Conference 2020 has successfully come to an end. Being the first conference at Haileybury Astana it has set up extremely high standards, brought about the fantastic quality of debate and helped the students to find solutions to problems of global significance.
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Over 180 delegates, special guests, directors, chairs, and volunteers have been involved. With 6 resolutions passed and 20 delegates awarded, HASMUN 2020 has considered solutions to global problems, such as Climate Change, Nuclear Disarmament and Security, Vaccinations, Cybersecurity, Refugee issues.
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The UNHCR Committee has done an especially important work: they created a resolution, which will be considered by the UN Refugee Agency and has a chance to be awarded and presented to the UN. After the sessions with the UNHCR Representatives, A. Leibovskiy, A. Kogay, and Y. Sim, they have also become responsible individuals desperate to improve the lives of refugees.
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HASMUN has given younger students the opportunity to dive into the spectacular world of MUN: our volunteers learned about the inside of MUN through helping delegates at the same time. They have had fun. Even pupils not involved in MUN were able to benefit from effective workshops with the UNHCR guests.
INTERVIEWS WITH VISITORS
Interviewed by Karina Korovkina and Anetta Sagynbek
Arkadiy Leybovskiy, UNHCR representative
Q: How can MUN benefit students in the future?
A: MUN is a great way to improve your public speaking and most importantly your communication skills. It is a great opportunity for the students to think about global issues and think about ways of solving them.
Chair from NIS Pavlodar
Q: What are your personal beliefs on the environment?
A: Our environment is in desperate need of help, global warming and climate change is becoming a serious issue which needs to be immediately addressed by our community. MUN is a great way to develop public speaking and communicating with other people.
NIS IB
Q: What inspired your students to take part in our MUN?
A: It’s a great pleasure for our school to take part in this event. Many of our students are participating as delegates and chairs. This is a great opportunity for them to practice their debating skills and discuss global issues.
Q: What global issues is our world facing at the moment?
A: It is very important to discuss issues of child labour and climate change. I want to witness teenagers collaborate and discuss women’s rights and gender equality.
Shadi, ISA delegate
A: I participate in lots of public speaking events as I like to form new experiences. Also, forming new friendships and connections with students motivates me to participate in more events. Discussing politics in MUN prepares us for the future. As I start to apply to universities, this can be very beneficial.
Spectrum Director
Q: What personal skills will this conference help students develop?
A: MUN helps students with their confidence and self esteem. It also develops their public speaking and English, as they are able to practice debating.
Q: How will debating benefit students in the future?
A: It improves the ability to perform in front of an audience and give persuasive arguments. It allows students to develop their understanding of global issues and think about the future using their knowledge of current events. Overall, there are a lot of benefits.
Ms Breckon, organizer
Q: How should teachers encourage students?
A: I think it is very important to have high expectations of students and to give them opportunities to do things such as MUN which allows them to tackle global issues. MUN is a very demanding activity which helps students look at the world more critically.
