12th Annual MEDI.M.UN Conference
For the 12th consecutive year, The English School, Nicosia, organises the Annual Session of the Mediterranean Model United Nations (MEDIMUN) to take place from Friday, February 10 to Sunday, February 12 at the European University of Cyprus.
This year, it is the largest ever MEDIMUN conference to take place, as the event will feature a weekend of sessions with over 500 students and teachers participating from 30 schools across the island and internationally, who will master the complexity of profound issues through fervent debate and networking in a multicultural environment. Over 100 of the participating students are The English School students who, under the guidance of the Senior Directors, formed the event’s organising team in order to make the 12th Annual Session a resounding success. A wide range of topics will be discussed such as the control of small arms, the pink tax, the Zika virus, combating xenophobia and neo-Nazism and the situation in Yemen.
The United States Ambassador to Cyprus, Kathleen Doherty will speak at the opening ceremony of the event on Friday as well as British High Commissioner to Cyprus, Matthew Kidd. The three-day event will also include lobbying and resolution drafting by delegates, speeches and special events. Special Representative of the Secretary General and Head of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus, Elizabeth Spehar, will speak at the formal closing ceremony.
Established in 2006, MEDIMUN was the first MUN conference to take place in Cyprus, an initiative of The English School and its students. The conference is a simulation of the United Nations; students become delegates, representatives of a UN Member State that has been allocated to them. After extensive research into their allocated country, delegates discuss, write and debate resolutions on world issues. Directors, usually, teachers, are responsible for training and leading their delegation of students. They ensure that debates take place in a formal manner in accordance to the ‘Parliamentary Procedure’ of the UN.
MEDIMUN is undoubtedly a unique experience for students to broaden their horizons and enrich their knowledge of current affairs, profound issues and grave conflicts which plague the modern world. It also gives participants the opportunity to practise and improve their public speaking and negotiation skills through heated debates on issues such as geopolitics, youth unemployment and the humanitarian crisis.
Cyprus, at the crossroads of three continents, provides the ideal environment to promote diversity and unity by helping to open the minds of young people from the international community. A vast number of similar conferences are held around the globe, benefiting young people by giving them the opportunity to gain knowledge not only of individual countries but also of the working and running of the United Nations, through hands-on experience.
The United Nations, formed in 1945 after the Second World War, is an international peacekeeping organisation which works to solve political, military, economic, environmental, social and cultural issues worldwide. Promotion and respect for human rights for the people of the world and securing international peace and stability are perhaps its most important targets.
A special thanks to our PR Partner CandyJar (for supporting the promotional efforts of the event) and Gloria Jean's Strovolos (for sponsoring MEDI.M.U.N for another year).
