Finnish Student Elected Global Model United Nations General Assembly President;

Nine Student Leaders to Attend Workshop at Headquarters, 17-19 June

Petri Kristian Cozma, a student at the Helsinki School of Economics, was elected as the first General Assembly President of the Global Model United Nations Conference.  Mr. Cozma and eight other university students will attend a workshop, organized by the Department of Public Information, at United Nations Headquarters from 17 to 19 June, to be trained in their roles as General Assembly officials for the Conference.

At the three-day workshop, the nine student leaders from Brazil, Finland, Kenya, Lebanon, Mexico, Nigeria, Poland, United Kingdom and Uzbekistan, will receive in-depth information and training on the various aspects of the Global Model United Nations Conference, which takes place in Geneva from 5 to 7 August.  Their briefings, to be conducted by Permanent Representatives and senior United Nations officials, will include the Millennium Development Goals, the structure and functioning of the United Nations General Assembly and its Main Committees, drafting of resolutions and the Global Model United Nations rules of procedure.

Elected by their peers in an online ballot, the students will participate in the Global Model United Nations Conference as President of the General Assembly and as Chairpersons and Vice-Chairpersons of four Main Committees to be simulated at the Conference: the First (Disarmament and International Security); the Second (Economic and Financial); the Third (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural); and the Fourth (Special Political and Decolonization).

Elected as General Assembly President of the Global Model United Nations, Petri Kristia Cozma ( Finland) said of his expectations of the Conference:  “We must make the most of the chance we have to bring about real change by submitting the final resolutions to the President of UN General Assembly.”

Paul Gathara (Kenya), who is pursuing his Bachelor of Laws degree at the University of Nairobi, said the first thing that went through his mind when he was elected Chairperson of the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) was: “No way!”

“I am humbled to be part of Global Model UN because of the brilliant people I will no doubt encounter at the Conference,” he said, adding that the Conference recognizes the role of youth in developing and implementing national and international policies, and can empower them to be part of a global problem-solving process.

Margarita Garcia Briones ( Mexico), who is majoring in international relations at Benemerita Universidad Autonoma de Puebla, sees her role as Vice-Chairperson of the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) as “a great responsibility”.  “I am willing to do my best to achieve excellent results at [the Global Model United Nations],” she said.

Other Global Model United Nations General Assembly officials are Akhmed Tillayev (Uzbekistan), Vice-Chairperson of the First Committee; Mateusz Drapczynski (Poland), Chairperson of the Second Committee; Melissa Seif (Lebanon), Chairperson of the Third Committee; Sophia Pollard (United Kingdom), Vice-Chairperson of the Third Committee; Barbara Bravo de Moraes Mendes (Brazil), Chairperson of the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization); and Akachukwu Akafor (Nigeria), Vice-Chairperson of the Fourth Committee.  The students’ areas of study include international relations, law, medicine and computer science.

The Global Model United Nations Conference is being organized by the United Nations Department of Public Information.  The forum will bring together the best university-level students from Model United Nations programmes around the world to discuss the priority United Nations issues.  At the first annual Conference, the students will discuss the theme “The Millennium Developments Goals: Lifting the Bottom Billion out of Poverty”.  The Conference will rotate to other United Nations duty stations in other regions.

Through the Global Model United Nations Conference, youth will be empowered to engage effectively and actively with the public, as well as local authorities, national Governments, civil society organizations and the private sector.  The student leaders of the Conference hope that through their participation in the forum, the Organization’s work will be better understood by youth, and that the voice of young people will be strengthened at the United Nations.

For more information on the Global Model United Nations, please contact Yvonne Acosta, Chief, Education Outreach, Outreach Division, at e-mail: acostay@un.org, tel: +1 212 963 7214; or Bill Yotive, Manager, Global Teaching and Learning Project, at e-mail: yotive@un.org, tel: +1 212 963 1400.

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For information media • not an official record