Hero photograph
Sophia Niblock 
 

Thank You UN

Sophia Niblock, Year 11 —

The United Nations’ Youth Pacific Project Conference was such an incredibly eye opening experience where I was allowed the space to learn and grow in such a unique environment.

Day one saw me flying to Auckland to meet the co-ordinators (Hannah Ward and Paddy Forde) and other participants throughout New Zealand, this was a great way to meet the completely female delegation (11 young women). We spent eight days in Melbourne doing a scavenger hunt, workshops, speaker panels, youth representative session, interactive problem solving, workshops, bloc dinners, debates in parliament, and some tourist time where we went up to the top of Eureka Sky Tower! There were delegates from all across Australia, New Zealand, and Taiwan. 

We were allocated a country each to represent in the debate sessions. I was speaking on behalf of Algeria, this involved doing a lot of background research on Algeria’s views on; climate change, population growth, political views, and cyber security laws. We debated on the topic of “The Age Of Information” specifically on cyber security laws. This involved all representatives being given a resolution which we had to change to fit our country's needs as best as possible. This was done in the form of note passing, alliance making, and of course debating. 

From there the New Zealand delegation travelled to Vanuatu, which was a very unique cultural experience. Some examples of places we visited were the National Museum Of Vanuatu in Ekasup Cultural Village, a kayak tour, meetings with a range of NGOs (CARE International, Oxfam, Further Arts, etc), Sailaway Cruise, meeting with the New Zealand High Commission, and a meeting with the foreign affairs minister at the Vanuatu Parliament. 

When we were in Vanuatu one of our FAC leaders, Hannah talked to us about the issues of Voluntourism - something I had never considered having negative impacts. She went on to tell us about her TEDxYouth talk in Christchurch. She explained that this is a multibillion dollar industry which is very problematic! (please take a look! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14zSB6Da-qE) Travelling from Melbourne, Australia to Port Vila, Vanuatu was a complete change in climate, cultural expectations, and environment. The relationships I formed were undying friendships and the exposure I had to different cultures and countries was so incredible. Please take a look at https://unyouth.org.nz/ as they have many workshops, debates, and fun opportunities regularly happening throughout New Zealand!