St Joseph’s hosts third annual Model UN Assembly

MORE than 130 students from across Geelong, Ballarat and Melbourne converged on St Joseph’s College’s Edmund Rice Campus on Friday last week for its third Model United Nations General Assembly.

The presentation, in partnership with the United Nations Association of Australia: Victoria Branch saw students represent 32 UN Member States addressing the topic of “Pathways to Peace; inclusive approaches to preventing violent conflict”.

Professor Ian Howie acted as secretary general for the day.

Mr Howie is a former official to the United Nations, working on multi-year assignments as the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) representative in China (with responsibilities also for Mongolia and North Korea), Vietnam, Ghana, Rwanda and Papua New Guinea.

He also spent seven years at UN Headquarters, New York where he undertook many missions to countries where the UN operates.

St Joseph’s College teacher and event co-ordinator Jackson Langhorne said they were thrilled to host the event for some of the state’s lucky students.

“This year’s Assembly has been our biggest yet, with over 130 students in attendance from fourteen Catholic and Independent schools across Geelong, Ballarat and Melbourne.

“The day’s topic was ‘Pathways to Peace’ and the responsibility that each UN Member state holds in upholding this resolution to world conflict.

“We are particularly grateful to our own Delegates, Tome Levar representing Panama, James Stojanovski representing Ukraine, Abhijot Bajwa representing the USA, Henry Betts representing Jordan, and Ned Marriott representing France.”