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Youth Model United Nations 2011:
Developing negotiating skills of youth
Minister of Higher Education, S.B Dissanayake awarding Yusuf
Shakil as Best Delegate of General Assembly first commitee |
UNIC Representative Hiranthi Gunawardene awarding Sandaruwani De
Silva as Best Delegate of the Economic and Social Council |
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Delegates at the conference |
The Youth Model United Nations conference aimed at inculcating and
developing diplomatic and negotiating skills of the youth of Sri Lanka,
concluded successfully last month. The two day conference held at the
Sri Lanka Foundation Institute was attended by more than 250 delegates
both local and foreign universities and institutions.
In the months leading up to the event, many preparations were made in
order to ensure that the conference was of high quality and was
ultimately a success. As Youth Model United Nations 2011 is the first
ever Model UN Conference to cater to the youth of Sri Lanka, many
participants were not entirely familiar with the procedures, process and
formalities followed during such a simulation. Hence in order to assist
delegates to become familiar with the concept of Model UN, the Executive
Committee conducted over 15 workshops and different universities and
institutions. Furthermore, a week prior to the conference, a Model
Session was conducted to illustrate how Committee Proceedings would take
place during the days of the conference.
The Platinum Sponsor for the Conference was the Royal Institute of
Colombo while the Gold Sponsor was Achievers Lanka Business School and
the Bank of Ceylon was the Silver Sponsor.
Political instability in the Middle East, food shortages surfacing in
Africa and a debt crisis in Greece that nearly destabilised the European
economy are only some of the mainstream issues that have plagued the
world in the recent past.
With terrorism on the rise and issues such as poverty and climate
change receiving insufficient attention, it is clear that we continue to
live in uncertain and tumultuous times. Often, such turbulent events
provoke us to ask ourselves as to what we can do to make a difference.
Youth Model United Nations 2011, organized by the Rotaract Club of
Colombo North, gave the participants the opportunity to go beyond just
asking such questions. It gave them the chance to not only consider but
also analyze and envision solutions for the issues that face the world
at large.
The conference, organized around the theme of 'Respecting Rights.
Respecting Lives.' were felt to be appropriate as Sri Lanka is emerging
from a war, the cause of which could be traced back to a failure in
recognizing the rights and needs of a segment of society. The conference
brought together undergraduates from both local and foreign Universities
which were University of Oxford UK, University of Nottingham Malaysia,
University of Colombo, University of Kalaniya, University of Sri
Jayawardanapura, University of Moratuwa, University of Jaffna,
University of South Eastern, Achievers Lanka Business School, American
National College, Asia Pacific Institute of Information
Technology(APIITT Law school and Business School), Royal Institute of
Colombo, Mercury Institute Colombo, but also delegates who hailed from
diverse social and economical backgrounds. The delegates were given the
opportunity to listen to another's perspective and respond not with
ignorance but with understanding.
Furthermore, delegates had to promote and defend the views of the
nation that they represented even if they did not agree with it. This
developed their ability to look at global issues from another's
perspective and understand the justifications behind such views.
The Opening Ceremony of Youth Model United Nations 2011 was graced by
the distinguished presence of the Speaker of the Parliament of Sri
Lanka,Chamal Rajapaksa as the Chief Guest who congratulated the
executive committee on the initiative taken into developing the
diplomatic skills of the present generation. Furthermore, the Speaker
observed proceedings in several committees as well.
The first day's proceedings included giving each delegate the
opportunity to express their country's views on a particular topic via
the speaker's list, discuss sub-issues under the topic via moderated
caucuses and finally draft resolutions to these global problems during
unmoderated caucus sessions. The second day's proceedings saw delegates
put forth the resolutions to the committees and these resolutions were
debated extensively and finally voted upon.
The topics discussed during the conference by each Committee were of
particular relevance to modern times. The situation in Sri Lanka
[regarding the submission of the Darusman Report] was such a topic which
provided delegates the opportunity to debate the implications of the
report and the progress made by Sri Lanka since then. This also allowed
the delegates to discuss the report presented to Parliament by the
Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission [the LLRC Report] which
sparked much debate and interest in the Security Council.
Furthermore, delegates also debated and passed resolutions on
tackling global issues such as corruption, energy security, the role of
genetically modified food and cluster munitions. Topics pertaining to
public debt sustainability, energy security and genetically modified
foods were felt to be important in light of the debt crisis in Greece
which posed a serious threat to the stability of the European economy as
well as the implications of the recent trends of global climate change
and the increasingly alarming food crisis that is beginning to emerge.
Each committee discussed and debated two given topics and put forth
resolutions under these topics for the consideration of the committee.
Furthermore, they strived to strengthen resolutions prior to passing
them by clarifying certain clauses and proposing amendments to them.
This activity allowed all delegates in each committee to participate and
voice their opinions.
The Chief Guest for the Closing Ceremony was Minister of Higher
Education, S. B. Dissanayake while the event was also graced by the
distinguished presence of Country Director- International Labour
Organisation,Donglin Li, The United Nations Deputy Resident Co-ordinator-
Razina Bilgrami, Christopher Gunning from the US Embassy, President
Rotary Club of Colombo North Rtn. Marshad Barry, The District Rotaract
Representative- Rtr. Subramanium Sudhakaran, Neshan Gunasekara of WICPER
and representing SLMUN and the National Youth Services Council, R. L.
Ellawala.
The awards distribution during the closing ceremony recognized more
than 15 delegates who excelled in their respective committees and were
awarded Best Delegate and Higher Commendation awards. Amidst all the
awards given for delegates who excelled in diplomatic skill and finesse,
the nominees for the most prestigious award of Best University were
University of Nottingham, Malaysia and Royal Institute, Colombo of which
the University of Nottingham, Malaysia emerged triumphant. |
