Contact: Sammy McDavid
For the 19th consecutive year, Mississippi State University will be statewide host to scores of students seeking to broaden their international horizons through a simulation of the United Nations Security Council.
The more than 200 participants taking part Feb. 13-15 in the Mississippi Model Security Council will be joined by Ambassador Prakash Shah, head of India's permanent U.N. mission, and Marco Antonio S. Fernandez, minister counselor of the permanent mission from Honduras.
In addition to assuming major leadership roles in mock council sessions, the representatives of nearly two dozen high schools and colleges--along with their teachers--will work directly with the two career diplomats, said political scientist Rick Travis.
"The Model Security Council provides a hands-on learning program designed to enrich the students' understanding of world politics," said Travis, who has directed the program for the past several years.
Two council sessions are open to the general public. At 1 p.m. on the 13th [Thursday], Fernandez will address the opening assembly in the Bost Extension Center auditorium. At 11 a.m. the following day [Friday], both diplomats will take part in a general question-and-answer program in the YMCA auditorium.
The U.N. charter, signed in 1945 by the United States and 49 other nations, gives the Security Council "primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security." Though principally concerned with the resolution of conflicts, it is the only U.N. body with the power to create and deploy peacekeeping forces.
Today, the U.N. includes representatives from more than 180 nations.
For additional information on the Mississippi Model Security Council, contact Travis at (601) 325-2711.