The model UN at UZ

The students of the Political and Administrative Studies Department (POLAD) at the University of Zimbabwe (UZ) will be staging a Model UN debate today. The general topic of discussion will be something like Protracted Conflicts in Africa and the Middle East. This will be an excellent opportunity for our students to put into practice some of the knowledge that they have so far acquired as a result of their studies in the Department, as well as demonstrate their awareness of political events and situations in various parts of the world.

Several significant persons have been invited to the event, but we are very much aware that only a few of the invited will bother to attend. Nevertheless, those who will attend will have the benefit of seeing and hearing the various speakers who will be representing some of the member countries of the UN. It is obvious that such protracted conflicts as the Darfur region in the Sudan and the Israeli/Palestinian conflict will be discussed.

The views that will be expressed by the delegates will be their own and not those of POLAD. I have to mention this since I am the current chairman of that Department. The POLAD is proud of all the students who will participate in this Model UN 2009.

I am, however, hoping that in future, our students will select Model UN topics that are more pertinent to our southern African region so that the generality of the people can be better informed about what is happening where they actually live.

For example, the topic this year could have focused on this strange phenomenon called the inclusive government or the government of national unity (GNU) such as we have in Zimbabwe, and another one may be created in Madagascar soon. Speakers would be required to discuss the merits and de-merits of this transitional arrangement in relation to democracy and democratic development in the region.

The role of the UN in facilitating these developments could be an interesting debate, indeed. For example, why does the UN continue to make use the elements from the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP), who are notorious for human rights abuses at home for peace-keeping duties in other parts of the world? The UN should be put to shame on this issue.

A related issue pertains to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which is alleged to have misled 131 Zimbabweans who were living in South Africa to believe that if they agreed to return home they would be assisted to set up viable businesses (Zimbabwean 22.10.2009). If the story is true, it smacks of deliberate deceit on the part of the UN agency and at the expense of desperate Zimbabweans in a foreign country.

A Model UN debate on these and other regionally relevant issues could be highly informative. We must admit that the UN as an entity can be used if not abused by all sorts of political forces for their own benefit. Students of Political Science need to be knowledgeable about the roles that international organizations can and should play in relation to the interests of the nationals of such vulnerable countries as Zimbabwe and Madagascar.

The level of political fragility in these countries is such that without the intervention of international organizations poor people would be left at the mercy of the strong and powerful dictators in these countries. Why is the UN consistently and annually giving dictator Mugabe a platform from which he can display his evil and deceit against his own people? The need for the reform of the UN should certainly include making democratic governance a prerequisite for membership of that august world body.