Bath international school’s Model United Nations (BISMUN24) kicked off on Friday 1st of March with an exciting three days full of great debate, emergency scenarios and collaboration.

With our resolutions in hand, the Royal High School Bath delegates of Ireland and Tanzania made their way up the hill to Kingswood on the Friday evening, and arrived to a busy conference hall where the atmosphere was most certainly buzzing with hopeful students ready for the lobbying process. The Opening Ceremony lead by Craig Woodhouse and speakers Leyla, and Freddie was certainly an inspiring one, with speeches given on geopolitical issues such as the possibility of waning democracy in today’s society and the threat of dictatorships in Turkey, specifically on their female population.

As the conference was pronounced open, each committee split off to start the lobbying process. Personally, I was in the Historic Committee, which meant the three issues facing us in 2001, were the rehabilitation of Afghanistan, the ownership of Kashmir and LGBTQ+ rights becoming entrenched. In order to debate a resolution, a delegate must first get 5 signatures from other countries in order for it to be considered, and with a passionate group of students, each of us were able to get stuck into some really brilliant debates over the weekend. The process of lobbying, for me personally was one of the most enjoyable parts as it allowed you to get to know the people you were going to spend the weekend with, while also having to think about the country you were representing and act in accordance with their values rather than that of your own personal views. As the Chairs lead by Kingwood’s Sixth Form, received the resolutions we headed back to school in preparation for the next day of debate!

As Saturday morning rolled around, we all awoke to find Mother Nature had other plans for the proceedings of BISMUN24, as the snow had prevented the conference to reconvene that morning, and so a lie-in was in order for most delegates! Then at midday, after a delightful lunch presented by BISMUN, we were back to debating. In my committee we started off with a radical debate on LGBTQ+ and followed up with Kashmir’s occupation, and Afghanistan’s rehabilitation. While our other delegates debated topics such as use and ethics of AI, Press Freedom and the Israel-Palestine dispute. After each committee had covered four resolutions, we headed home, excited for the next day.

On the Sunday we were given emergency scenarios, which allowed us to think on our feet and utilise our skills that we had picked up over the last two days, to work collaboratively with other countries in order to find a solution, which allowed for fast paced and enjoyable debates. After this was the General Assembly, which meant all committees came together to represent their countries in a larger debate situation which took place in the theatre; the main debate centering around a collision in foreign waters between Russia and Latvia. Many countries put forwards arguments and amendments, some very plausible others much more radical such as North Korea’s nuclear plans! Overall these two events allowed for close collaboration and the ability to learn about possible geopolitical crises that we may see in our future.

Overall, the BISMUN24 was such a brilliant experience, through this opportunity you can network, learn more about our current world issues and genuinely just connect with like-minded people. To those thinking of joining next year, I would say go for it! I personally was hesitant at first as were others but collectively we can say how amazing the experience was and how much we genuinely benefitted from the skills we gained at such a brilliant event right on our doorstep!

Jess, Year 12