Feature

Delegates for a Day

By Jan Fredrickson

[Yoichi Masumoto]

The Slough Model United Nations General Assembly (MUNGA) 2005 was held at SGI-UK's Taplow Court center on July 7.

The tragic terror bombings that took place in London have made this a date that none of us will easily forget, but for those of us involved in organizing this year's annual Model United Nations conference, the significance of the day began much earlier.

SGI-UK this year again hosted a citizenship education program to enable young people, most of them aged 14 or 15, to explore complex global issues by taking on the role of delegates to the United Nations. 

Supported by Creative Partnerships, a U.K. government initiative administered by Arts Council England, every Year 9 student in every secondary school in Slough, west of London, was given the opportunity to learn about the UN through drama and to develop essential skills in argument, persuasion and negotiation, which are fundamental to the role of UN delegates.

Working in partnership, theater professionals and teachers then chose nine students from each school to represent three different Member States of the United Nations, making 33 delegations in all. Representing countries from Japan to Cuba, from Somalia to Vietnam, from the U.S.A. to North Korea, student delegates learned how to write policy statements, present, debate and amend resolutions--both in Committee and in General Assembly--on issues related to poverty, education, children's rights and children in war.

At each stage, expert training was provided for students and teachers by NGOs such as Save the Children and Amnesty International, but the focus was on young people taking charge--engaging in their own research and learning creatively by playing the part of their adopted country's representative.

[Yoichi Masumoto]

At the beginning of the day, the delegates expressed high hopes for what they would like to achieve through the General Assembly: "To agree on free primary education throughout the world," "To cancel Third World debt," "To make a difference to poverty in the world." The General Assembly session itself provided the opportunity to grapple with the complexities of negotiating international agreement. 

Some of the most important outcomes of the day for the delegates included "a better understanding of the different views in the world," "to see how debt, child soldiers and other issues can be tackled" and "an understanding of how hard the UN works." Several reported how much they appreciated being treated as adults rather than children.

The young people respond to the atmosphere of Taplow Court very positively. They start believing that they can make a difference to their world and discover strategies for effecting change.

Finally, the comments from the young people themselves bear testimony to the value of this work and the benefit that all of us involved in the partnership--the schools, SGI-UK and the creative professionals--have derived from it. At a time when the role and status of the UN are the subject of so much controversy and when there is such temptation to give way to fear and despair, it is heartening to see what young people are capable of in understanding the issues that face them and in communicating what are not necessarily their own views so articulately. The overall outcome of this year's MUNGA has been aptly summed up by one of our colleagues at SGI-UK: "With young people like this, the future is in safe hands."

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