The 13th Anatolia College Model United Nations, which was hosted by Anatolia on February 9-11, 2018, was one of the biggest ever. 540 delegates and advisors from 26 different schools from Greece, Poland, Cyprus, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States of America, represented 91 countries and 10 NGOs.
Mr. Nicholas Connolly Rangos, Regional Coordinator for Northern Greece and Epirus, Advisor to the Minister in the Ministry of Migration Policy, and Anatolia High School alum of 2001, addressed the delegates at the opening ceremony on “Crisis Response to Irregular Migration and Refugee Flows.” Then, the delegates began their committee deliberations on topics such as Protocol One of the Geneva Convention on the War on Terror, the Economic Consequences of a Universal Basic Income, an International Humanitarian Response to the Rohingya Crisis in Myanmar and the Venezuelan Crisis, and many more.
On the last day of the conference, the General Assembly discussed the Rise of Populism and Extreme Nationalist Governments in an Effort to Consider their Social, Economic, and Political Impacts. It didn’t matter which school delegates came from; they all mingled and took an active role in their attempt to solve world issues. Excitement ran high with delegates and advisors expressing their satisfaction with the conference.
The American School of Warsaw were so impressed by our organization that they wanted pointers on how to organize their own MUN, and promised to attend next year’s conference. The delegation from Edison High School in California stated that they experienced a wonderful cultural exchange. All in all, the conference was a huge success under the supervision of Pieter Derluyn and the incredibly capable Secretariat, which consisted of Lysimachos Mavrides, Magda Petmeza, Sofia Pavlidou, Sofia Gross, and Elli Stogiannou.