Youth tackle global conflicts in Dubai Model UN

Over 700 middle and high students from 46 countries will be participating in the Dubai International Academy Model United Nations taking place from March 19 to 22.

DUBAI // The Syrian humanitarian crisis, slowdown of emerging economies and whaling in the Antarctic are some of the topics being debated by UN delegates in Dubai today.

In spite of still being in middle and high school each of the representatives are approaching the four-day model United Nations conference held at the American University in Dubai and the Dubai International Academy with a genuine desire to resolve global conflicts.

“The conference lets students realise that although they might not yet be a leading figure in the world, they can make a change,” said Tara Ahluwalia, 16, secretary general of this year’s conference.

“Although our resolutions will not be adopted these delegates will be tomorrow’s leaders and will take away a better understanding of how to resolve the world’s conflicts in the near future,” said the Dubai International Academy student.

Tara will be heading more than 700 students from 46 participating countries from across the Middle East as well as Cameroon, India, Rwanda, Netherlands, Zimbabwe, Turkey and Azerbaijan.

Now in its sixth year, this year’s theme is, “Millennium Development Goals: Dream or Reality?”

“Although the situation in Syria is one of the most important topics we will be discussing we’ll also be focusing on human rights, eradicating poverty and combating HIV,” said Tara.

Having the leading role of general secretary for the first time, Tara said the position came with great responsibility, but she looks forward to influencing the direction of topics.

“Even though all our topics are equally as important I have a passion for promoting gender equality and feel the championing of primary education across the globe is essential in the advancement of developing countries.”

Diamun 2014 will feature nine committees, each of which will be discussing a wide variety of topics that range from legal matters to economic issues.

The League of Arab States committee is also set to play a key role at the conference by discussing issues relating to Arab welfare, security, and regional stability.

Another committee that stands out is the World Economic Forum, which will look for ways to improve the stagnating global economy.

A new addition to the committee list this year will be the International Court of Justice.

President of this year’s General Assembly, Siddarth Raj, 17, said that the model UN conference will advance his and other students’ public speaking, networking, negotiating and leadership skills.

“Right from policy analysis to problem solving, Mun has it all,” he said. “In my opinion, the beauty of Mun is that it serves the primary purpose of education, which is to replace an ‘empty’ mind with an ‘open’ one.”

The conference hopes to advance students’ knowledge in negotiating and producing resolutions on complex topics therefore providing them with essential future skills in debating, legal writing and thinking about global problems from multiple perspectives.

Organisers hope to develop future diplomats and leaders.

“These youth of today will undoubtedly be the leaders of tomorrow,” says Tara.