WARNING: this blog contains material of a serious nature.

Well a hard fought SPIMUN Conference comes to an end. All of the AKIS students that attended should feel very proud of their input and commitment to a fascinating three days’ events. The Conference procedures were not quite the same as those experienced at Qatar Academy, and it left several ‘delegates’ feeling a little disillusioned. The lobbying and merging seemed to be restrictive, allowing only 2 resolutions per issue, or 1 in a couple of cases, to be put through the Secretariat to the Approval Panel. Each Resolution needed to be co-signed by 25(!) other candidates before it would be considered. The sense of ownership over the Conference was somewhat diminished at first with each resolution becoming stirred into a great melting pot. Of course, this is much more like the real UN where nearly all of the important decisions are made in the corridors, the debates being a mere formality (or so I was told by David Williams, the man responsible for the growth of the MUN in Europe and organiser of THIMUN in the Hague). But the fun for the students is having their own resolutions discussed, amended and voted on.

However, as I sympathised with those students who were feeling a little ostracised, something occurred to me: every time we’ve been involved in the MUN, the first day has always produced a selection of wanna-drop-outs. I searched for the other students to find out their impressions and I was right: aside from being a little mind numb they were all enjoying the tussle. Several of them had successfully pushed a lot of clauses from their resolutions onto the debate table, and a couple were the Main Submitters (they would be the delegates first responsible for arguing FOR the resolution).

The debates themselves were enjoyed by nearly everyone, creating a buzz of conversation afterwards on the bus. As Ms Pattison and I visited each Committee Room we saw our students fully engaged in the debate, raising points of order and speaking for and against resolutions. Rabeet somehow got involved in a clause from another delegate that stipulated that Pres Bush of USA should eat more Marmite; Zainab tore apart a delegate on a question of women’s rights in Islam as well as defending her own resolution with the skill of Olympian Fencer parrying thrusts; Mohammed Khan stayed steadfastly in Venezuelan character as he argued for the morality of Media broadcasts to be Governmentally controlled; Mohammed-Ali tested the logic and reason of several prposed amendments. And I know there were many many more highlights that I was not witness to. The beauty of these Conferences is that there are too many to mention. They’ll have to tell you their own stories.

The final day brought more debating in the General Assembly and the Special Committees were brought together also. It was the end of the conference that brought the feeling of achievement to a crescendo. As the days are summarised by the Student Officers, each committee gives out special mentions and awards to delegates who have contributed exceptionally well to the debates. 3 AKIS students got special mentions (Amjad, Nashir and Farhan) and another 3 received the “Best of the Best” awards! They were Zainab, Mohammed Khan and Tyler. You would all have been really proud of them, especially when you consider that the quality of students taking part from around the world was premium.

As I said at the start of this really long blog, EACH AND EVERY STUDENT THAT TOOK PART SHOULD FEEL PROUD as should everyone who loves them back in Qatar.

Attached is a photo of some Russian Policemen, as requested. Once they get the time to upload some more recent pics I’ll make sure they do it.

Mr W