Taking part in CHOGM was a very different experience. Our main topic was the refugee crisis and our smaller topics were economic resilience, human rights, and climate change.

Here is a link to the National Student CHOGM

I was assigned as the honourable delegate of Fiji.  In this meeting I was speaking on behalf of Fiji voicing their opinions on the refugee crisis and what their reasons would be for agreeing or disagreeing with the resolution that was being proposed. 

At the start of each session we listened to several guest speakers, one of them was Sir Anand Satyanand who spoke at the beginning of CHOGM and wished us luck for the day.  We also listened to Guled Mire who was one of the few non-natives to be in Rwanda during the 1994 Rwanda genocide. They gave us stories and explained several ideas about human rights and climate change which prompted us to work together and to challenge ideas that will not provide support to our countries. 

In one case, considering the equal rights of refugees and native people of your country, I was the only one to vote against the resolution which meant it did not pass. Someone sent a private message asking why I was against this Resolution and I replied it was due to the funding and the ongoing pandemic, that we are unable to provide the support needed and it seems invariable as those that migrate to my country had enough support already. The person was kind and understanding stating that it was in my right to say no. 

It was interesting watching the meeting progress because more and more began to express their opinions on what their countries will speak and contribute ideas and overall it was a fun experience and I would happily do it again.

Ryan Eagles
Year 12