Students learning to do global politics

For the first time a lady was elected Secretary General of the United Nations. Her name is Maryna Vitovta, a senior student at Kyiv Business Lyceum. She received this responsible post at the first regional school students’ conference “Model UN: Kyiv-2009” after counting the votes of the “envoys of the member countries.” Her schoolmate Anton Pavlovsky was elected President of the UN General Assembly. Together they coordinated the performance of the committees and commissions made up of Kyiv senior high school students.

Model United Nations (MUN) is an international academic simulation of the United Nations that has been in existence for 35 years, allowing senior high school students to step into the world of politics and better acquaint themselves with the UN activities by taking on the roles of members of the UN General Assembly, committees and commissions.

This year 200 Kyiv students turned into diplomats who represented their respective countries for three days. As members of delegation groups and under their teachers’ guidance, they studied the history of their countries, their stand in the international arena, and their attitude to key issues that were later considered by the “General Assembly.” They did so in theory and in practice.

Each group met with real diplomats at the real embassies of their respective countries. In addition, the young politicians worked in committees and commissions. The results were submitted to the “General Assembly” as “resolutions” on the last day of the MUN conference. The delegates had to cast their ballots in accordance with the position of their countries. Not all of the resolutions were adopted. The US and its allies voted down the resolution “Struggle against Climate Change: National Efforts and International Cooperation.” The resolution “Humanitarian Aid in Time of Military Conflicts and Catastrophes” gave rise to a number of justifiable questions. “I can see that the meeting with our embassy staff has benefited the representatives of Georgia at this Assembly,” noted Grigol Katamadze, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Georgia to Ukraine, “for you are voting the way Georgian diplomats would vote.” A special conference was held as part of the MUN-2009 program to study the experience of UN member countries and search for ways to overcome crisis phenomena in Ukraine. It was decided to forward the resolutions adopted by the MUN participants to the UN Office in Kyiv and the scenarios for overcoming the crisis in Ukraine, to the Verkhovna Rada’s Committee on Education.

The Day closely followed the conference because its participants—young and promising politicians, diplomats, statesmen, and public figures — were the newspaper’s readers. This newspaper has for a number of years visited schools and universities in search of like-minded supporters. We form our readers’ opinion starting in their teens and they respond by contributing quality articles and fresh ideas. As part of this cooperation project, we presented the schools we considered to be the most active participants in this year’s Model United Nations with six-month subscription certificates.

From now on students at the College of Economics, Law and Information Technologies, Taras Shevchenko National University’s Ukrainian Humanities Lyceum, Apohei Gymnasium, Secondary School No. 85, and Kyiv Business Lyceum will prepare for classes using copies of The Day available in their school libraries. We expect comments and articles from our readers. Given the kind of erudition and skills they demonstrated at the conference, we have no doubts that our best future authors are among these school students. We see that our state is suffering from its own unprofessional politicians. Thorough education, starting in school, will help these young people become top-notch state administrators and diplomats. One ought to give credit to the schoolteachers and principals who carry out these programs with such enthusiasm and dedication. They help their students show their talents and demonstrate to these young people that they can spend time and master the skills they will need as adults by communicating with their peers as well as with diplomats and statesmen.