425 Young "Diplomats" to Convene at Pitt Nov. 7

PITTSBURGH—Nearly 425 students from 35 high schools throughout Western Pennsylvania will have an opportunity to apply prior research in a "real-world" context while practicing their diplomacy, negotiating, and resolution-writing skills at Pitt's ninth annual Model United Nations (Model UN) Simulations. Model UN will be in session from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Nov. 7 in Pitt's William Pitt Union, 3959 Fifth Ave., Oakland.

Model UN allows students to participate in mock sessions of the U.N. General Assembly and Security Council, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and a Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations. New features of this year's simulation include a novice committee on disarmament and international security and a historical Security Council session.

Students who have not previously participated in a Model UN simulation will be assigned to the novice committee on disarmament and international security. This committee will meet and be judged separately from a second committee on disarmament and international security made up of veteran "diplomats." The historical Security Council session will meet to discuss security issues from 1992. Another Security Council session will be held to discuss current security issues facing the United Nation's member states.

Acting as representatives of 61 U.N. member states, students will debate such issues as nuclear proliferation, terrorism, reforming the U.N. Security Council and Human Rights Mechanisms, assisting the African Union's peacekeeping operation in Darfur, violence in Uzbekistan, the crisis in Sudan, and North Korea's nuclear arms program, as well as such historical issues as the reunification of Cyprus and the humanitarian crisis in Somalia.

Throughout the debates in committees, students are evaluated on their ability to realistically present the positions of the country they represent. Awards will be presented for outstanding individual country delegation performances.

Members of Pitt's Model UN club will participate in the simulation, acting as Secretary General, committee chairs, and U.N. staff. The simulation is sponsored by Pitt's Model UN club and University Center for International Studies and its area studies programs as well as the Citizens for Global Solutions Pittsburgh and the United Nations Association of Pittsburgh.

For more information, access the event Web site at www.pitt.edu/~modelun