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President Christine Kangaloo says the general caustic and corrosive tone of discourse in TT would make it a challenge for youths to apply the pathways of peace they learned at the Model UN 2025. Giving the feature address at the Rotary Club of Central Port of Spain 25th Annual Model UN at the Cascadia Hotel, St Ann’s, on November 8, she described TT’s environment as "hostile." “Participants emerging from out of this year’s programme will have to contend with the widespread use of language in the public space that tends, more often, to divide and to tear down than it does to heal divisions and to build up, language that is atypical to the values and the core purpose of the United Nations.” While it would be difficult, she said she believed in the youths’ ability to solve the problems of this time, one small step at a time. She encouraged them to keep going, even when the path feels dark and heavy. “The plain and simple truth is that unless you do that, the whole world runs the risk of plunging itself into yet another world war, and the United Nations itself will be at risk of becoming another League of Nations, which fails in its mission. These are not risks which we should be prepared to run. These are the risks against which you, our young participants in this year's programme, have the sacred and solid duty to guard.” Kangaloo highlighted the UN's post-World War II origins and its successor role of preventing another World War from the League of Nations, an international organisation founded in 1920 to promote world peace and cooperation, but it failed to prevent World War II. She pointed out there were conflicts on almost every continent, such as the Russia–Ukraine war, conflicts in Sudan, Africa, the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, the Syria-Yemen civil wars, gang violence in Haiti and more. “This year's Model United Nations programme, therefore, comes at a critical time in the affairs of the world. By immersing its participants in the workings of the United Nations, it exposes young people, students from schools across TT and the region, to pathways to peace. “And by exposing young people to pathways to peace, it enhances the chances that, as they emerge from the programme, these young people will, themselves, become proponents of peace in their own individual fields of endeavour. It improves the prospect that these young people will help create a world in the future in which the wars and conflicts of the day are resolved and become things of the past.” This year, the Model UN had 210 participants, twice the usual number, from TT, Montserrat, Antigua and Barbuda, St Vincent, Curaçao and Grenada. The programme delved in areas of diplomacy, research, negotiation, collaboration and public speaking, with over 2,000 participants benefiting since its inception. She said many past participants went on to serve in leadership roles across diverse fields in the region. And she encouraged people to support similar programmes, which equip youths to communicate effectively, work well with others and contribute meaningfully to their communities and nations.
