FIRST MODEL UNITED NATIONS PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY HELD IN LATIN AMERICA

Article originally published by Democracia Global

GENERAL INFORMATION

ORGANIZATION: The UNPA model was coordinated by Patricio Degiorgis (Director of the departments of International Relations and Political Science at Universidad de Belgrano), Camila López Badra (Democracia Global Executive Director), Tzipora Meta y Martín Oliveira (experts in Education), y Clara Subirachs, Emilia Ismael y Rodrigo Hazaff (Democracia Global Coordinators).

OBJECTIVES: The UNPA Model´s aim was to raise awareness on the need for global democratic institutions, capable of tackling and finding solutions for global issues that cannot be solved unilaterally by individual nation-states. Basing itself on the concept of global citizenship, the UNPA Model encouraged its participants to put themselves in the shoes of members of parliament, representing the citizens of the world and working together on the drafting of viable and effective proposals for tackling these global issues that know no borders and, therefore, require global solutions

TRAINING: Two training sessions were carried out, in order to discuss with the students, topics, and concepts such as global citizenship, global issues and the main goals of the UNPA Campaign.

Conclusion

Students that participated in the UNPA Model had the opportunity to enjoy a unique experience of topical research, legislative process, and parliamentary debate. They were able to apply their academic knowledge in practical use, and get a taste of the ins and outs of the legislative process while experiencing the reasons why a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly would be an essential tool for tackling global issues such as climate change.

Through discussion and debate, participants had the opportunity to recognize the need for fostering democracy and global citizenship at the global level. By applying these concepts, they were able to overcome the obstacles natural to ideological interests, and find common ground through the UNPA Model´s main concept: “global problems require global solutions.”