Seven girls from BHS recently visited The Hague to attend a Model United Nations Conference.Any ordinary school trip you may think, however not quite so … British Airways came to the girls rescue and offered them reduced airfares so as to be able to get to the Netherlands.Hurricane Sandy had meant the girls had to cancel the trip due to the weather but with the teams determination and the assistance of a mother that wasn’t going to let anything get in their way.Ms Kirby advised us: “British Airways arranged both replacement flights, reduced fairs and got them to the Conference on time.”Sophie Froud, Connie Campbell, Cara Johnston, Alicia Kirby, Kathleen Watts, Emille Perrin and Brittney Ferreira were the BHS girls who attended the conference.They were chaperoned by Elaine Walker and Gretta O’Kelly Lynch, both teachers from Bermuda High School for Girls.The three day conference was hosted at the International School of The Hague.The group was hosted by families whose children attended the school so they got a chance to learn about living in The Hague.For the readers who do not know, I feel the need to explain how much effort and research is put in to attending a Model United Nations.The students at the Conference have to research a particular country. They need to learn the respective countries views on topics which are covered by their committee.In addition to learning about the ins and outs of a country; the team needs to prepare a written resolution on one of the topics which they start lobbying as soon as they arrive at the Conference.The two delegations of four students represented Greece and Belarus.In turn this means hours and hours of work and meetings to prepare for such a Conference.In the lobbying each delegate on a committee tries to get support for their resolution from as many other countries as possible which requires persuasive diplomacy and being prepared to amend their resolution to merge it with another one.After lobbying the committees and debating; the resolutions which were successful in lobbying are then passed by the Approval Panel if correctly formatted.At the conference the students were able to listen to a number of keynote speakers.At the Opening Ceremony Professor Chris Goto-Jones, Dean of Leiden University spoke to the students about the responsibility which comes with privilege and wealth.Jim Stolze an Ambassador for TED Talks spoke about the people who helped to create the internet and the significance of ordinary people.In their committees the delegates were also able to listen to keynote speakers.The Human Rights Committee heard from a prosecutor at the ICTY. The committee on Social Responsibility heard from a former child soldier.All the students came away with a much better idea of how the UN works and a better understanding of how UN Resolutions are debated and produced.Model UN –Committee TopicsGA 3rd Committee (Social, Humanitarian Cultural Affairs)n The reform and regulation of humanitarian aidn Tackling the rising problem of obesityn Protecting indigenous culturesn Improving the accessibility and standards of education available to children in povertyHuman Rights –Commission (HRC)n Combating forced labourn Protecting refugee rightsn Eliminating torture and similar violations of human rightsn Dealing with the abuse of women rights in MENA (Middle Eastern & North African) statesEnvironment Commission (EC)n Question of the human impact on Antarctican The question of genetically modified foodsn Research and development of new and efficient renewable energy sourcesn Improving water management in LEDC’sSpecial Conference on Power & Responsibility–(Social Responsibility)n Dealing with food shortages in respect to the rising populationn Eliminating the employment of child soldiersn The issue of the widening gap between rich and poorn Promoting gender equalityEconomic and Social Council (ECOSOC)n The financial situation in the Eurozonen Measures to combat foreign aid corruption in LEDC’sn The question of stem cell researchn Controlling illicit crops used in the production of narcotics