{"id":539,"date":"2019-02-20T12:05:44","date_gmt":"2019-02-20T17:05:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nacionesunidas.mediawapp.com\/unglobalcom\/?post_type=project&p=539"},"modified":"2019-02-20T12:12:53","modified_gmt":"2019-02-20T17:12:53","slug":"bogota-hosts-the-biggest-model-un-in-the-world","status":"publish","type":"project","link":"https:\/\/nacionesunidas.mediawapp.com\/unglobalcom\/project\/bogota-hosts-the-biggest-model-un-in-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Bogota hosts the biggest Model UN in the world"},"content":{"rendered":"

A dozen young students entered the stage and started rapping a hip-hop song about climate change to the applause of three-thousand peers in the Bogota\u00a0Sports Arena. This brought the 2018\u00a0session of SIMONU to a close.<\/p>\n

Only six years after its creation by\u00a0UN Information Centre (UNIC)\u00a0Bogota\u00a0<\/a>and the city\u2019s Board of Education, SIMONU has become the largest\u00a0Model United Nations in the world. It innovates in many ways to provide the students of Colombia\u2019s capital with a prestigious forum for open discussion and interaction.<\/p>\n

This year, one of the new features of Bogota\u2019s\u00a0Model\u00a0UN\u00a0was a conference organized in the Sumapaz Paramo, a locality that, while part of the\u00a0Bogota\u00a0district, is 75% rural. More than 150 students from twelve high schools set up camp on the moorland, five hours away from the bustling city, for three days of\u00a0UN\u00a0simulation.<\/p>\n

A few weeks later, they joined the urban conference with 3100 other participants. The two days of debates addressed national and international issues, such as human rights, climate change, peace and security, migration, and\u00a0sustainable development. They agreed on the final conclusions which they compiled into a Security Council-like report.<\/p>\n

\u201cModel\u00a0UNs are a great way to get started with the\u00a0UN. They are an opportunity to see how diplomacy works, and to begin the journey to becoming global citizens,\u201d said Alison Smale,\u00a0Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications, in a video message to the SIMONU participants.<\/p>\n

The 1.8 billion young people in the world today are the agents of change who will take on the great challenges that we need to face as a global community.<\/p>\n

\u201cEach of you represents hope – hope for a fairer, more sustainable, more peaceful world,\u201d H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Papper, director of the\u00a0UN Information Centre for Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela, reminded the thousands of students sitting on the bleachers of the famous\u00a0stadium.<\/p>\n

Two years after the Peace Accord with the FARC-EP, Colombia is still in the process of building a sustainable peace. The youth will be key in this process.<\/p>\n

As Paula, one of the young SIMONU rapporteurs, pointed out: \u201cTo progress, we need to educate.\u201d<\/p>\n