UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH TO HOST FOURTH ANNUAL MODEL UNITED NATIONS Twenty-five area high schools to participate

PITTSBURGH, October 10 -- For the fourth straight year, hundreds of high school students from throughout Western Pennsylvania will convene at the University of Pittsburgh, on Friday, October 20, to participate in a Model United Nations Conference.

The Model UN will convene at 8:30 a.m. in David Lawrence Hall, 3942 Forbes Avenue, on the Pitt campus, and conclude at 5 p.m. The event is

sponsored by Pitt's University Center for International Studies, the World Federalist Association of Pittsburgh, and the United Nations Association of Pittsburgh.

The Model UN gives high school students the opportunity to participate in mock sessions of the United Nations General Assembly, the Security Council, and the World Health Organization. The students will assume roles of UN diplomats serving on committees of the UN and discuss controversial issues facing the world community within the formal context of a UN simulation.

Approximately 300 students from 25 high schools will debate the following issues: India-Pakistan conflict, small arms proliferation, debt forgiveness, world oil consumption, refugees, global division of wealth, self-determination in East Timor, Digital Divide, HIV/AIDS, global tobacco control, UN weapons inspection, and intra-state ethnic conflict.

Throughout the debates, students are evaluated on their abilities to realistically present the positions of the countries they represent.

Pitt undergraduates, members of a strong Model UN club on campus, will participate as Secretary General, committee chairs, and the UN staff serving in a variety of roles. Pitt students were involved in planning the Model UN, and also wrote the scenarios for each committee debate.

The schools scheduled to participate are: Avella, Baldwin, Bethel Park, Brentwood, Burrell, Carlynton, Chartiers Valley, Fox Chapel, Franklin, Freedom, Gateway, Kittanning, Lincoln, Mt. Lebanon, New Castle, North Allegheny, South Fayette, South Park, Taylor Allderdice, Union, Washington, West Allegheny, Winchester-Thurston, Wilmington, and Yough.

For more information, see the Model UN home page: http://www.pitt.edu/~modelun, or call 412-648-7393.

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