High School Students Participate in Colorado State University’s Model United Nations

Colorado State University will host the second annual Colorado State University High School Model United Nations conference Feb. 11-13. During the conference, high school teams from around the state represent United Nation member states in simulations of U.N. sessions discussing current global issues.

This year, the General Assembly simulation at Colorado State will have students discuss the issues of refugees and internally displaced people, water problems and climate change. The Security Council simulation will have student delegates discuss the current status of the Darfur region of the Sudan, AIDS, international peace and security, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and examine other threats to peace that may arise in the future. The Economic and Social Council simulation will focus on indigenous peoples and women’s and children’s rights.

The conference will reflect the current reality of situations the United Nations faces today. The simulations will emphasize the new roles of the United Nations, and the issues on each agenda will reflect the evolving role of the United Nations in international affairs for the 21st century.

Model U.N. programs began as simulations of the League of Nations for college students in the 1920s, and the movement has grown to the point where today there are MUN conferences involving more than 300,000 students around the United States and worldwide. Student delegates simulate the General Assembly, Security Council and Economic and Security Council, three of the principal organs of the United Nations. The student delegates represent the views of the countries they have been assigned, discuss and debate issues on the agenda of the U.N. bodies and attempt to reach agreement on resolutions to address those issues.

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