Federica Re, Callum Kelly and Sara Venkatramen, Chairs of the Human Rights Panel (Photo credit: Nikhil Pai)
This recap was provided by Anna Bradley-Webb.
In December over nine hundred students from around the world traveled to France to attend the three-day Paris Model United Nations conference (PAMUN). This annual event is hosted by the American School of Paris and organized by conference manager and ASP faculty member Ouriel Reshef and a team of twelve student leaders. The conference is held in the UNESCO building in Paris, which as the headquarters of one of the largest UN organizations is an exceptional venue for aspiring diplomats. Secretary-General Anthony Ghosn, a senior at the American School of Paris, led the conference with the help of his three Deputy Secretaries-General, Alexi Bennink, Clara Steiner and Adam Willems.
The Security Council, chaired by Brian Carden and Nathan Rasquinet, in session (Photo credit: Nikhil Pai)
The Secretariat chose issues for their nine committees and the General Assembly including the role of UN peacekeeping troops, illegal immigration, UN intervention in North Korea, and the control of weapon trade. The conference is an authentic simulation of the modern-day United Nations, and committees included a model of the UN Security Council and a Special Conference on the Media. Each committee debated two questions, and all delegates participated in the General Assembly debate on the final day of the conference. In addition to their assigned questions, each committee was faced with a crisis situation, in which they had one hour to pass a resolution on an unforeseen problem.
Secretary-General Anthony Ghosn addresses the General Assembly (Photo credit: Nikhil Pai)
Traditionally, PAMUN awards only individual Best Delegate awards; however, this year there was a delegation that stood out as a clear winner: the Haberdashers’ Aske’s Boys School from Hertfordshire, England, received the first Best Delegation award. Each committee awarded one Best Delegate award and a few honorable mentions. Among the best delegates were two from the conference host school, the American School of Paris: Mallika Bhandari and Lidia Lagioia. Another PAMUN first was the Best Press Officer award, which went to reporter Lara Isaac from Benenden School in Kent, England. To learn more about the PAMUN conference, please visit http://asparis.net/pamun.
The PAMUN General Assembly in the UNESCO headquarters (Photo credit: Nikhil Pai)
