Pupils from Albyn School, ISA and St Margaret’s School for Girls have recently taken part in Albyn’s MiniMUN, debating the topic of sustainable cities and coming up with creative solutions to the possibility of Santa’s sleigh crashing on the Finnish border.

Model United Nations encourages pupils to learn more about the principles of the UN and how it functions, while helping them develop public speaking, writing and research skills.

Prior to the event, each delegate was tasked with producing position papers which stated their country’s stance on sustainable cities. Australia were chosen to present their resolution in front of the rest of the delegates, which was passed after amendments from France and Russia.

The second half of the conference consisted of an emergency. Santa’s sleigh had crashed on the Finnish border and Saint Nick had been taken as a political prisoner. It was the job of our international community to then debate this and come up with solutions for this issue. Delegates came up with several brilliant and creative clauses and debated these; however, none were able to be passed after not achieving enough votes.

The event ended with the best position paper prize being awarded to Thailand, South Sudan, Qatar and Chile. The commended and highly commended awards went to Australia, France, Pakistan and Finland.