Jordan: Amman - Model United Nations

On Friday December 23, 2011, GCC in Jordan launched their first Model United Nations at the Princess Basma Youth Resource Center.

 The overarching theme was Peace and Conflict. GCC leaders in Jordan discussed topics such as, women’s rights and CEDAW (Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women) in the weekly GCC sessions. Some of the points the leaders passionately discussed were violence against women, early marriage, and the right to work and to an education.

We applied the Model United Nations (MUN) approach to the subject of Peace and Conflict. The MUN is an academic program for youth all around the world to simulate some of the procedures and decision making processes at the United Nations. The participants role-played as diplomats and delegates of different countries in order to represent a country and a country’s position in global questions that are also being discussed in the Global Citizen Corps. After one full-day of training on rules, procedures, public speaking and the United Nations, the leaders researched “their” countries position on CEDAW. In the Conference, 37 leaders represented countries from all around the world and called for various changes and improvements in the field of women rights. A resolution on women rights was discussed, amended, and finally passed our “General Assembly” with a great majority.

The leaders were able to practice their research, critical thinking, and communication skills. They were confronted with the expectation to represent and even defend positions on women rights that they might not share. The exercise helped the youth gain a new perspective of how problems of Peace and Conflict are tried to be managed on an international level.

Thanks to all of you for a really interesting and fun conference and this great experience!