MUN Berlin is one of the largest European simulations of the United Nations and is hosted annually. Each year, hundreds of students are carefully selected to take part in this distinctive project to discuss globally significant issues such as climate change, terrorism and international economy.

This year's conference took place over four days with approximately 700 pupils participating, and schools from over twenty-five different countries as far-flung as China, Turkey and the United States of America. The only other school attending from the UK was the French Lycée in London. 

There was an impressive array of guest speakers, including the acting US Ambassador to Germany, an Assistant Director from the World Bank, a Brigadier General from the German Army and officials from various UN agencies.

The Oratory School was allocated the country of Poland to represent, and with School Captain Alex Somerville as Ambassador (who addressed the General Assembly at the opening ceremony), the six pupils put forward their country’s interests in the various committees: Political, Economic, Disarmament and Nato.

!The theme of the conference was ‘Building a Rules-Based Order to Withstand Authoritarianism’, and the pupils made a good impression building international relations and have been warmly invited back for next year.

Despite the hectic conference schedule, Oratory pupils also made the most of being in Berlin, with trips to the Berlin Wall and the Brandenburg Gate.

An account from The Oratory's School Captain, Alex:

"Last week, myself and five other pupils travelled to Berlin to take part in the 34th annual Berlin Model United Nations conference (BERMUN). The conference involved over 700 students from over 25 countries, with each school representing a different delegacy (UN country), in our case Poland.

On arrival we joined the General Assembly, witnessing speeches from the likes of Nikolai Putscher (Former alternate executive Director of the World Bank), as well as speeches from myself and my fellow ambassadors of each represented nation. The conference topic was ‘Building a New World Order to withstand authoritarianism.’

After the General Assembly, we each broke into our respective committee rooms (each containing between 50 and 90 delegates) where we spent the majority of the conference. In these sessions we debated resolutions on motions ranging from ‘Preventing Militarisation in Outer Space’ to ‘Encouraging the Political Integration and Representation of Minorities’. These provided good opportunities to network with people from numerous different cultures and also to expand our debating ability by going toe-to-toe on these issues with people who have many more conferences under their belt than us. Further highlights included being flag bearer of Poland in the Closing Ceremony, as well as having the freedom to explore Berlin and its local culture in the evenings. Overall, this was a very fun and successful trip!"