Youth assemble for Canterbury Model United Nations
25 March 2003
Local youth will have a chance to run the world this Friday
28 March at a Canterbury Model United Nations conference at the
Canterbury Horticultural Centre, South Hagley Park.
The conference is the first
to be organised by the Canterbury branch
of the United Nations Youth Association of New Zealand (UNYANZ)
to help young people better understand what is happening in the
world around them. “
Despite media coverage of the global political climate, it can
still be confusing for people to grasp world issues,” says MUN director
Daria Brankin. “It is particularly important for youth to understand
what is happening in today’s world because they are our future leaders,” she
says.
Sponsored by the Christchurch City Council’s youth advocacy office,
MUN will include about 50 young delegates who will have researched
their countries and their resolutions before arriving at the conference
at 9am,
Friday.
Ms Brankin says “it is a fantastic opportunity for Canterbury
youth to come together and learn about the United Nations, other
cultures and global issues, as well as make new friends and contacts
from
around the
region.”
MP Tim Barnett will open the conference, after which the delegates
will gather as the General Assembly (GA) to represent different
countries and lobby, argue and amend their way through resolutions
on global warming,
international drug trafficking and the International Criminal Court.
Before
the first session, a vote will be conducted to determine the order
in which the resolutions will be debated. Delegates will
have to speak their assigned country’s views, even if they conflict
with a delegate’s personal beliefs.
Delegates will be given a break
from debate at 1.30pm when, thanks to the support of the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT),
Elizabeth Dixon from the United Nations and Commonwealth Division
of MFAT will be
the guest speaker. After another session of debate, the conference
will end at 3.30pm.
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