Press Releases

Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum Hosts Model UN Security Council

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
April 3, 2006

Contact: Nancy Coggins
405.235.3313 or 405.760.9053
nc@oklahomacitynationalmemorial.org

MODEL UNITED NATIONS SECURITY COUNCIL BRINGS HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS CLOSER TO WORLD STAGE
Lessons in tolerance and peaceful conflict resolution among goals of program

OKLAHOMA CITY — On Monday, April 10, in Oklahoma City, a crucial meeting will take place among the United Nations Security Council members. At issue are the roadmap to peace in the Middle East, the definition of terrorism and the rights of those held as terrorists by foreign governments. Over 140 delegates from 15 nations will decide the future of these global issues. They are Oklahoma high school students participating in the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum’s annual Model United Nations Security Council.

Students from across the state will prepare draft resolutions, plot strategy, negotiate with supporters and adversaries, and navigate the United Nations rules of procedure in the hopes of coming to peaceful alternatives to resolve conflict affecting countries around the world. All Model UN Security Council activities will take place at First Church, 131 NW 4th Street in Oklahoma City.

Students from Claremore High School, Cleveland High School, Duncan High School, Edmond Memorial High School, Emerson Alternative High School, Lawton Eisenhower High School, Bishop McGuinness Catholic High School in Oklahoma City, Millwood High School, Moore High School, Mount St. Mary High School in Oklahoma City, Norman High School, Norman North High School, Putnam City West High School, Star Spencer High School and Westmoore High School will participate in the exercise this year.

“One of the goals we have for the participants each year is to help students understand that different countries, just as individuals in a conflict setting, come to the table with their own respective set of interests and needs, and to help students understand how these interests and needs influence final decisions,” said Lynne Roller, Memorial Deputy Director. “We also want to provide an opportunity for students to take a potentially volatile situation and, hopefully, to find, through creative negotiation and thinking, a non-violent resolution.”

Arun Gandhi, grandson of India’s legendary leader, Mohandas K. “Mahatma” Gandhi, will serve as keynote speaker for the Model UN Security Council luncheon, which begins at Noon. Arun learned from his grandfather to understand nonviolence through understanding violence.

“If we know how much passive violence we perpetrate against one another we will understand why there is so much physical violence plaguing societies and the world,” Gandhi said.
Arun and his wife, Sunanda Gandhi, travel almost year-round all over the world speaking and teaching about nonviolence and promoting the work of the Gandhi Institute, which they established in 1971 in Mahatma Gandhi’s honor.

The Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum was created to honor “those who were killed, those who survived and those changed forever” by the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. The Memorial and Museum are dedicated to educating visitors about the impact of violence, informing about events surrounding the bombing, and inspiring hope and healing through lessons learned by those affected.
For more information on the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum, call 888.542.HOPE or visit www.oklahomacitynationalmemorial.org. For more information on the Gandhi Institute, please visit www.gandhiinstitute.org.
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Best times to cover students interacting:
9:45-11:45 a.m. Concurrent Sessions
Promotion and Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms
Roadmap for Peace in the Middle East
Oklahoma City Convention on Terror
11-11:15 a.m. Press Conference w/Dr. Arun Gandhi (Please enter at main entrance to First Church, located in the middle of the building on 4th Street.)
11:15-11:45 a.m. Special Conference for Chief Executives with Arun Gandhi
12-1:15 p.m. Luncheon
Dr. Arun Gandhi, Speaker

There are afternoon sessions and the final meeting will take place in Harris Hall at First Church beginning at 6:45 p.m.

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