Amanda Noroña and Amy Penn both represented China in the
Chinese Council of the United Nations this past weekend.
But these students never went to the U.N. headquarters in New
York ““ instead, they attended a mock conference here at
UCLA.
For its second year, UCLA played host to 150 members of the
Model U.N. club as they created a simulation of the world
organization with the goals of cooperation and positive debate.
Students from all over the world assumed roles as diplomats and
discussed and passed resolutions on the state of world affairs.
Eight committees discussed topics including human trafficking,
the war in Iraq, sustainable development, emerging markets and
terrorism.
Noroña, a first-year political science student, and Penn, a
fourth-year Chinese language and microbiology student at UC
Berkeley, cooperated with the Japanese Council on the issue of
Spratly Islands, a group of islands in the South China Sea that has
caused disputes between the two countries. The islands are owned by
the international community, but Japan and China both seek control
of them because of its bountiful fishing market and oil wealth.
Noroña said she joined the council because she saw the
importance of China’s influence in world politics.
“China’s population takes up 20 percent of the
world’s population and is growing as an international
power,” Noroña said.
The club at UCLA includes 100 students, 30 of whom were active
in this weekend’s event. The 80 other attendants came from
universities including UC Berkeley, University of Pennsylvania and
New Mexico State, as well as places as far away as Sydney,
Australia.
“The mission is to pass resolutions and be able to get
along with (representatives) of other nations and also figure out
common areas of interest and compromise,” said Kay
D’Souza, undersecretary general of collegiate relations for
UCLA’s Model U.N., who recruits universities to attend and
organizes the conference.
Delegates within the committees each represented a
country’s views.
“Model United Nations provides opportunities that other
(clubs) can’t provide,” said Shebli Mehrazarin,
secretary general of Model U.N. at UCLA. “(Model U.N.) gives
students the opportunity to practice public speaking, discuss
current world issues, and (promotes) diplomacy.”
Noroña said the club also provides students with unique
learning opportunities.
Noroña said she believes issues such as the conflict in Sri
Lanka, where rebels want a separate homeland for the Tamil ethnic
minority, and other problems in smaller African nations need more
media attention.
“Some of the topics that have been brought up are so
obscure it shows how media downplays (some important issues that
affect many people),” Noroña said.
Mehrazarin said not only is it important to understand
international perspectives, the practical skills Model U.N. members
attain can help them later in life as well.
“Mostly people want to do (Model U.N.) to learn what is
going on in the world, deal with stressful situations
diplomatically to be more successful later in life,”
Mehrazarin said.