The United Nations Youth Association of New Zealand (UNYANZ) is an organisation run by youth, for youth, dedicated to upholding the spirit of the United Nations through raising the awareness, involvement and empowerment of young people in local, national and international spheres.

The UNYANZ  Youth Declaration 2009 was held over the weekend 18 - 19 April with more than 90 students from all over New Zealand in attendance. At this gathering, senior high school students discussed and formulated a comprehensive youth statement across a number of topics. This statement represents the opinions of the youth of New Zealand and will be put into a Youth Declaration that will be presented to, and examined by, the highest orders in parliament.

The King's students who attended the weekend during the holidays were Matthew Dobbs, Sam Poole, Ed Elvin, Imogen Saddler, Poppy Flynn, Tom Richards and India Townsend.

Held in the new Owen G. Glen Business School at the Auckland University, many like-minded students gathered to discuss, debate and present topics of current concern to New Zealand. They ranged from: Health, Poverty, Immigration, Social and Gender Issues,  National and International Trade,  The Justice System,  Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Education and  New Zealand's Foreign Affairs.

King's student, Matthew Dobbs, commented, “A large number of thought-provoking and intuitive statements and ideas were put forward and it was interesting to learn about different issues that we may sometimes ignore or pass on to others.”

During the closing ceremony, the Governor General made a presentation and students also had the opportunity to meet Maori Affairs Minister Pita Sharples, Green MP Metiria Turei as well as various charity organisers.
      
Five students from the conference were nominated and asked to represent the UNYANZ in Wellington on the 29th and 30th of April. One of these was King’s student Matthew Dobbs. Here, the students will present the declaration to Government Ministers and Ministries and finally present it to a number of politicians on the steps of Parliament.