LEHMUN

Five Year 12 delegates, along with Mrs Routledge and Mr Gurur, made their way to Lady Eleanor Holles School in Hampton, London, at the end of January for their annual LEHMUN Conference. They were to represent Nigeria, Ghana and Saudi Arabia. 

On arrival at the conference, delegates were welcomed to their committee rooms for informal lobbying, followed by an opening ceremony and a keynote speech by MP Seema Malhotra who then answered questions about the best parts of being an MP. Delegates then returned to the committee rooms to present their opening statements while staff worked hard in the approvals room! 

On return to the hotel, we settled in to the restaurant to finalise resolutions and play some board games, then hit the hay to ensure all delegates were wide awake for their first full day of debating. 

On the Saturday, following a full-on buffet breakfast, delegates began their first day of debate and it was Oliver G-D, representing Ghana in Security Council, who started the day of debating his excellent resolution on combatting fake news, which, after a long discussion and with some amendments, ultimately passed! All delegates got fully involved in the debates in their respective committees with Tami D and Daniil D working well together in the Political Committee and Letila P and Mika C in Human Rights to give and take Points of Information and submitting many of their own clauses. 

At the end of the first day, delegates relaxed with a wonderful Wagamama’s meal, followed by more games in the hotel. 

As we arrived at the conference on the Sunday, we entered General Assembly to discover that Nigeria and Ghana’s joint resolution was up to be debated first, which tackled climate change and global recession. Faced with a great deal of amendments and critique, especially from the USA, the delegates worked valiantly to defend their corner, but unfortunately only two clauses remained intact by the end of the session. It was a brilliant resolution, but clearly the world wasn’t quite ready to commit to what it was asking for! 

We were delighted to learn that Ghana had won Outstanding Delegation in the General Assembly and Tami D had won Outstanding Delegate in the Political Committee – well done to all!