THIMUN (The Hague International Model United Nations)

​English School Represents Cyprus…as Ireland…at Hague Model UN

14 English School students and two of their teachers travelled to The Hague in January to participate in the annual THIMUN (The Hague International Model United Nations) conference.  The English School team was assigned to represent the Republic of Ireland in multiple sessions where each student debated and advocated for Irish positions on a wide variety of international issues from how to end female genital mutilation to how to save cultural heritage sites in combat zones to how to solve ongoing conflicts in the East China Sea and Baluchistan.
 
THIMUN is a unique educational opportunity in the form of a five-day simulation of the United Nations for secondary school students.  Organized by the THIMUN Foundation, a not-for-profit educational foundation with links to the United Nations, the conference takes place each January in the World Forum Convention Center in The Hague. Since the first session in 1968, THIMUN has grown in popularity attracting over 3,500 students and teachers from 200 schools located in countries as far apart as Norway, Australia, China and Ecuador. The students themselves originate from more than 100 different countries.
 
Student ambassador Zoe Kassinis described THIMUN 2016, as “a lot of hard work and an incredible learning experience, but also an amazing opportunity to meet peers from around the world”.  We discuss dozens of global issues and come away with a better understanding of how countries can and should work together through the UN to solve problems that affect us now and into the future”, she continued.
 
The objectives of THIMUN are to advance the interests of international education across boundaries through the promotion of interaction and dialogue between young people from a variety of countries and school systems. THIMUN hopes to develop a global awareness, focusing on the formulation of peaceful resolutions to world problems and practicing the communication skills which help foster good global citizenship. “THIMUN promotes interest in the work of the UN and gives our students the chance to interact and collaborate with others from a wide variety of cultural and national backgrounds,” commented the teacher in charge Sylvana Jamgochian.