FAO.org

In an effort of supporting and exchange with youth, FAO participated to the last ISP Virtual Model United Nations Conference (ISP Virtual MUN), that took place on 26 -28 November 2021. The objective of the initiative is to help young people take the lead on the world’s biggest challenges by placing them in the shoes of a UN diplomat.

This year, the UN conference simulation was organized by IMUNA, a not-for-profit organization formally associated with the United Nations Department of Global Communications, and dedicated to promoting global education among youth. Since 1975, IMUNA’s premier education-based conferences and events have involved nearly 200,000 students in cities around the world.

The ISP Virtual MUN conference is hosted by the International Schools Partnership, an international network of schools located around the world, focused on inspiring children now and equip them to be successful later.

The Model United Nations (MUN) is a student simulation of the proceedings of the United Nations. Students, referred to as “Delegates,” are assigned a country to represent in one of the UN’s numerous committees, with pre-set topics to debate. Students then research the background of their country and its position on the topics at hand, and prepare notes on possible solutions to the problems faced.

The “delegates” then convene at Model UN conferences, ranging in size from 100 to 5,000 delegates, to debate their assigned topics with students representing other UN member states. Much like the real UN, the goal is to identify solutions by negotiation and consensus, on which many countries can agree.

To guide the students’ debate and their proposed solutions, ISP Virtual MUN arranges for special guest speakers in each of their committee simulations to speak to the students about their specific debate topics. In doing so, students have the opportunity to ask questions directly to experts in their fields and exchange with them their queries and the proposed solutions.

This year, the simulation was on the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ) debating the topic of “Preventing gang participation among youth”.

FAO’s presentation focused mostly on ‘’Socio-economic triggers of youth radicalization and negative coping mechanisms,’’ featuring experiences of selected countries and related programmes implemented.

Radicalization refers to the gradual social process into extremism and is often applied to explain changes in ideas or behavior.

While radicalization is a process, triggers of radicalization can be many, like religious ideology, political related factors, felling of frustration or injustice, lack of economic opportunities, or also specific individual factors, among others. It is worth noting that all these factors, or some, may or may not necessarily result in radicalization.

Many youth in their lives could feel unheard or frustrated, and while most of the times  this, or else, may not trigger any negative coping mechanisms, other more vulnerable individuals, with underlying individual factors, could fall into the radicalization process.

The country cases presented by FAO and discussed with the students ranged from the support provided to Tunisian rural unemployed youth in the aftermath of the Jasmine revolution, to the project No piracy: Alternatives for youth living in coastal communities’ in Somalia, leading then to cases from the G5 Sahel countries, selected  from the FAO’s programme Building resilience in the Sahel Region through job creation for youth.