Colin Powell Rotary Student Peace Debate
The Colin Powell
Rotary Student Peace Debate was established by the Rotary Club of Jersey in
2014. It is an important
opportunity for Jersey’s secondary school students to speak in the States
Chamber and express their views on a topic decided by Rotary each year, usually
relating to current world events.
A team of students
from each participating school gives a presentation on an aspect of that year’s
topic, followed by a period of Questions from other students.
Debate Themes
The first Peace Debate was held in the States Chamber in September 2014 with a theme of threats to peace globally and locally. This was followed in 2015 by migration and its impact on growth and job prospects for young people. The influence of news media and social media was considered in 2016 and mental health and well-being in 2017. Overseas Aid was debated in 2018, and Climate Emergency in 2019, and in 2021 the challenge of Civil Disobedience was addressed. Modern Day Slavery was the topic in 2022.
In 2023, the chosen
topic was the challenges of food security in domestic and conflict situations.
Students chose to give presentations on:
• establishing
self-sufficiency by reducing globalisation of food supply;
• additional
investment in local agriculture to increase food security and other economic,
social and environmental benefits;
• the responsibility
of government to ensure the island has a sustainable food security strategy
through its policies.
Voting
Following the
presentations and Question Time, the Bailiff proposes relevant motions to be
voted on by the students using the voting buttons in the Chamber.
For example,
following the discussions of food security in 2023, the Bailiff proposed that
“The teaching of agriculture should be a mandatory GCE subject in Jersey to
encourage people to work in that sector.”
This proposition was
defeated with 3 votes for, 21 votes against, and 1 abstention.
Eligibility
The Peace Debate is
primarily aimed at students from Year 10 and older, though secondary school
students of all ages are eligible to take part.
Schools are
contacted at the beginning of the academic year in September with details of
the chosen topic and teams will ordinarily be put together within the schools.
Colin Powell Trophy
The Student Peace
Debate is dedicated to the memory of Rotarian Colin Powell, a man of peace and
a great humanitarian.
He was instrumental
in establishing this event as an important contribution to the Rotary Peace
Programme, which recognised Jersey as a Rotary Peace Community in 2015.
The Colin Powell
trophy is awarded at the end of the session for the best performance in the
debate, based on the quality and content of the presentation, the competence in
answering questions and the contribution to debating the topics presented by
other schools.
To find out more,
contact: Rotarian Tony Allchurch at tonyallchurch@icloud.com or
on 07797 845565
