CCWA MUN

CCWA and Model United Nations
Challenging Your World View

For the past 65 years, the Cleveland Council on World Affairs has organized Model United Nations conferences in northeast Ohio to broaden the international horizons of thousands of area high school students. Our staff helps educate and guide students to understand the values of diversity, cooperation, and compromise - all crucial tools for shaping lives in a global world.

Annually, CCWAMUN hosts over 800 students from 35 northeast Ohio high schools. Additionally, CCWA recently began hosting the Junior Model UN for approximately 200 middle school students. A new Lorain County Model UN has also recently been created in order to reach out to students all across the area.

What is MUN?
Model United Nations is a worldwide program for secondary and college students to 1) foster understanding about the United Nations, 2) educate participants about world issues, 3) promote peace, and 4) teach about the United Nations model of cooperation and diplomacy. Middle school students participate in Junior Model UN. More than 160 Model UN conferences are held globally with approximately 100,000 students participating annually.

MUN's Purpose
The program involves students in a practical way in the study and discussion of global issues. Research about countries, oral debates, and written position papers encourage the development of critical thinking and demonstrative and writing skills. MUN is an interactive educational experience that teaches about the United Nations in a memorable and enjoyable way.

MUN's Process
MUN simulates the UN system of negotiation and diplomacy about critical world issues. Student delegates represent member states in the committees of the UN General Assembly. Students role play as "ambassadors" of assigned countries as they debate current issues on the UN's agenda from the perspective of that nation. They plot strategy, negotiate with supporters, navigate the UN's rules of procedure, and write resolutions that are voted on to become UN Mandates.

The process educates participants in the functions of international debate, negotiation, and diplomacy. MUN helps produce informed global citizens who better understand the decisions their nations make and how those decisions affect politics locally and globally.

MUN Themes and Topics
Recent conference themes have included A World Fit for Children, A World at Risk, and Mulitlateral Action: Preserving the Balance. Some of the wide-ranging topics debated by actual UN committees and at Model UN are International Migration and Third World Countries, Crisis in Darfur, Economic Impact on HIV/AIDS, International Debt Crisis, Universal Jurisdiction and War Criminals, and others.

HISTORY of the MODEL UN and CCWA

Did you know that the Cleveland Council on World Affairs Model UN is the longest running program in the world?

The Cleveland Council on World Affairs' MUN conference owes its origin to Lakewood school teacher, Margaret Warner. In March 1945, 16 high schools, each represented by six delegates and a technical advisor, convened at the Western Reserve University under the direction of the CCWA for the inaugural Student Conference on International Affairs.

Students represented Allied nations in an Assembly of Nations, which was a precursor to the Model United Nations assemblies held post-World War II. In that first session, a Model Assembly of Nations considered problems related to peace settlement. Most of the countries of the free world involved in the War were represented, and the delegates of each presented the national view of the country concerned. The audience was composed largely of the members of the Junior Council from the participating high schools.

The conference opened with a plenary session and then delegates dispersed into committees where they debated Boundaries of Germany, International Organization, Control of Germany, Economic provisions, Dependent areas and International Waterways, and Transitional Relief and Reconstruction

The Model United Nations assemblies were held annually by the Junior Council following the war.

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