Youth UN next month

Event rescheduled due to dengue vacations.

LAHORE:

Hundreds of students from Pakistani schools and potentially abroad will take part in a Youth Model United Nations, themed ‘Rekindling peace’, from November 24, said the event organisers.

The YMUN 2011 was scheduled for September but had to be postponed because the Punjab government closed schools in view of the dengue outbreak, said representatives of the Orators Club and Augmenters, an event management agency.

Umar Akram Sahi, the YMUN director general, said that they were expecting over a thousand young people to attend the event, though the venue is yet to be decided. “We have received an overwhelming response. Far better than expected,” he said.

So far 200 delegates from 22 schools in Islamabad, Faisalabad, Karachi and Lahore have registered (at Rs2,500 each) while a few schools in India and Sri Lanka have also expressed an interest, he said.

Their participation depends on if and when they can get visas.

The Model United Nations is a simulation of the real international body held in many countries as an education tool to improve students’ understanding of current affairs, diplomacy and international relations.

The YMUN 2011 aims to provide Pakistani youth a platform to “have their voices heard,” said Affaan Sherwani, the secretary general of YMUN 2011 and a member of the Orators Club. He said the event would allow young Pakistanis to exchange ideas about issues relevant to them and the “world of today”. Participants will at the least come away with improved public speaking skills, he added.

The four-day event will kick off with a ‘Culture Night’ where delegates can get to know each other, a series of sporting competitions on the second day, a concert on the third day and a thematic dinner on the final day on November 27.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 6^th, 2011.