MODEL UNITED NATIONS DISCUSSION AREA (MUNDA) LAUNCHED ON WORLD WIDE WEB
Press Release
PI/989/Rev.1*
MODEL UNITED NATIONS DISCUSSION AREA (MUNDA) LAUNCHED ON WORLD WIDE WEB
19970127 The United Nations CyberSchoolBus, an educational programme of the Department of Public Information (DPI) on the World Wide Web, has launched a discussion area this month for all model United Nations participants and organizers worldwide. The Model United Nations Discussion Area (MUNDA) is the first project of this sort, allowing tens of thousands of "model UN-ers" -- students in high school and college -- to exchange information and share experiences through the Internet.Until the arrival of MUNDA, there had been no common forum for students across the numerous model United Nations organizations. Although many model United Nations organizations have their own World Wide Web page, they dedicate that space to registration information and links to resources.
"Now a model UN-er in Mexico City, for example, will be able to discuss an issue with a fellow student in New York", commented Abouali Farmanfarmaian, coordinator of the CyberSchoolBus. "Model United Nations is about debate and discussion, so a discussion forum is the natural thing to have. This could become one of the most substantive meeting places in cyberspace."
The United Nations Association of the United States (UNA-USA), the non- governmental organization that initiated the idea of a model United Nations, estimates that there are some 60,000 participants in several hundred of those programmes around the world, including in the United Kingdom, Singapore, Canada and the Russian Federation.
"By creating a site for model United Nations, the CyberSchoolBus will serve tomorrow's leaders", said Michael Eaton, Secretary-General of the National Model United Nations Conference (United States), which has 1,900 registered participants for this year's meeting. "I believe that the opportunity to post ideas on the site would enhance the calibre of debate and the quality of the resolutions."
The new discussion area MUNDA will be hosted on the CyberSchoolBus site at the following URL: http://www.un.org/Pubs/CyberSchoolBus/munda.
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* Revised for correction indicated in last paragraph.