UN Club
Teachers In Charge and Office Bearers
Teacher’s In Charge : Ms. Samitha Lokugamage
Ms. Damayaanthi Wanniarachchi
Ms. Sakuntala Kodipili Arachchi
Ms. Tharanga Ranasinghe
Ms. Nuwanprabha Whitall
President : Vidara Dassanayake
Vice President : Chiara Linden
Secretary : Jameela Jabir
Asst. Secretary : Janindi Perera
Treasurer : Ashalee Pathirana
Purpose
The United Nations Club of Bishop’s College strives to improve our society with a number of community service projects annually. We also organize various other events and an annual UN Day is held each year. We promote the importance of the Sustainable Development Goals through the work we do.
The UN Club members are also encouraged to participate at various MUN Conferences as it is an academic simulation of the United Nations, where the students play the role of delegates from different countries and attempt to solve real-world issues with the policies and perspectives of their assigned country.
ORIGIN
The United Nation’s Club has been set up to create awareness of the need for harmony in the world. In 1998 the celebration at Bishop’s College was in the form of a Model United Nations’(MUN) Conference when eleven invited schools participated. The theme was “Children at Risk” and each school representing a country, spoke on topics such as Child Labour, Child Prostitution.
Notable Achievements
2011
Shakya Wickramanayake was awarded the “Best Position Paper” in the General Assembly One Committee, at the SLMUN Conference.
2012
Rashmi Dias received an Honarary Mention Award at the SLUMN 2012, as the delegate of Indonesia in the UNHRC Committee.
2014
Vinuri Weerawardane, was awarded the best delegate for “Best Foreign Statement” at the SLUMN Conference.
2015
Keshya Ranatunga, was awarded the “Best Foreign Policy Statement” by the Economic and Social Council. In addition, Vinuri Weerawardane, Yasonil Piyatissa and Nimansa Thalduwa was appointed for posts in the executive committee for this conference.
2016
Keshya Ranatunga and Shenaya Jayaweera, were selected to be a part of the Executive Committee at the SLMUN Conference.
2017
Amana Iflal, was selected to be part of the executive committee at the SLMUN Conference.
2018
Mariah Imtiaz represented Bishop's College as an IPC delegate and won the UNICEF Challenge and became a UNICEF children’s ambassador at the 11th session of SLMUN in 2018.
Her story focused on bullying and she was invited to address the gathering and share her thoughts on her winning article
https://www.dailynews.lk/2018/11/19/features/168849/dealing-bullying
Sayumi Jayawardena represented school at the SLMUN conference. She won an award under the International Press Corps.
2019
Dinaya Ratnayake, won the “Best News Agency” award at the SLMUN Conference. Her committee was the UN Office of Drugs and Crimes (UNODC). The News Agency she wrote for was Al Jazeera.
2020
Anah Cassim, won the “Best IPC delegate” award at the SLMUN Conference. She was part of the Guardian News Agency.
(The article is attached to the drive)
Michelle Abeyewardene, won the “Best News Agency” award at the SLMUN Conference. She was part of the Guardian News Agency and her committee was Security Council.
Major Events
2015
-Project “Outreach” was organized jointly with the UN club of Royal College in support of Childrens’ right to health. Phase one of the project was a fundraiser named “Crave” and phase two was held at Lelwela Kanishta Vidyalaya, Galle.
-On the 25th of October an awareness programme was conducted to recognize the 60th year of the UN.
2016
- “Impact” was held on the 30th of January 2016, and UN Day- Strive to Survive” was held on the 17th of October 2016. They were a series of games held to create awareness about the United Nations.
- Project “Climate Change; one degree at a time” was organized on the 27th of March to raise awareness about the effects of climate change.
2017
- The Avurudu Project was held on the 8th of April as a community service project. The club visited the Childrens’ Home named “Vajira Home” as a part of the project.
2018
- The Avurudu Project was held on the 8th of April as a community service project at the Shilpa Child Development Center to bring joy to underprivileged children
- “Crave’18” was organized under two phases jointly with the UN club of Royal College. The first phase was a show which was held on the Royal College Junior Sports Grounds. As Phase 2 of the project, the funds collected were donated to the child development centers, “Senehasa Child Resource Center” and “Reach Beyond” in aid of autistic and disabled children.
2019
- The annual community service project “The Avurudu Project” was held at the Gunasekara Child Development Center on the 30th of March. It comprised of Traditional Avurudu Games, entertainment items which brought joy to the underprivileged children at the home.
- Another Community Service Project was held “Cheentha” under two phases. The first one being renovating and donating books to the library and phase 2 which was repairing the cement blocks in the Bawa Block.
- The main SLMUN workshop took place on the 4th of September at St. Thomas’ College Mount Lavinia
2020
- A fresh fruit juice sale was organized during the heats of the annual sports meet.
- The 13th session of the SLMUN Conference was held on the 12th and 13th of September, 16 Bishopians participated at this conference.
- Bawa Block Landscaping
The aim of this project was to restore the cement blocks in the Bawa Block. We planted snake plants and spider plants, we also root balled the araliya trees that were already in the center of the cement blocks.
2021
- Colours of Change which was a webinar organized to bring awareness about importance of remaining optimistic amidst this pandemic was conducted on the 10th of January 2021, Ms. Rashmi Dias who is a past pupil of Bishop’s College gave a few inspiring words at this event.
- MCMUN is a conference organized by the Model United Nations of Musaeus College. This took place on the 24th and 25th of July. Five students from the UN Club represented Bishop’s College at this conference.
Meetings
2021
13/06/2021
29/07/2021
2020
22/01/2020
31/01/2020
2019
06/03/2019
26/07/201
Upcoming Events
- Turn the Tide is a Webinar we are organizing in order to host our annual UN Day Celebration. This will take place on the 26th of September Via Zoom. The theme for this event is marine conservation. Ms. Aindri Morahela who is a past pupil of Bishop’s College will be the guest speaker at this Webinar.
- SLMUN will be taking place on the 6th and 7th of November at BMICH, where 21 students will be participating.
We also hope to have a few more projects within the course of this year.
Annual Events
We also take part in the following conferences
- SLMUN
- MCMUN
- ACMUN
- RCMUN
- ICMUN
Sri Lanka Model United Nations
Sri Lanka Model United Nations (better known as SLMUN) is an educational simulation and academic activity in which students can learn about diplomacy, international relations, and the United Nations. It is held annually in which the students of Bishop’s College participate as ambassadors or delegates representing countries, IPC delegates and Admins.
Gallery
UN Day 2018
Crave 2018
