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November 30, 2000

HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS HOLD MODEL OAS ASSEMBLY

Some 400 high school students from across the United States gathered at the Organization of American States in Washington Wednesday, to attend the 19th annual Model OAS General Assembly.

The Organization's Assistant Secretary General, Luigi Einaudi, formally opened the three-day exercise, explaining how the hemispheric OAS and its agencies work. He also touched on the priority issues the Organization handles, notably strengthening democracy in the hemisphere, the promotion and protection of human rights, fighting poverty and the trade in illegal drugs, building hemispheric trade and integration, and helping member states deal with the challenges of globalization.

Ambassador Einaudi also elaborated on the structure of the 35-member Organization of Western Hemisphere nations, explained how its operations are funded and described the OAS’ decision-making process, stressing that consensus is the basis for taking decisions because no country has veto power. "That really rubs in the idea of the juridical equality of states."

Nancy Irigoyen, the coordinator of the Model OAS General Assembly, said that the Model OAS Assembly provides an avenue for problem-solving from a youth perspective. Irigoyen went on to note that what the students do "is serious work because they know that they will bring ideas to help the real representatives to learn from the students' point of view the way to solve problems."

This particular Model Assembly is a simulation of the [30th] regular session of the Organization's General Assembly that took place in Windsor, Canada, last summer. The students are discussing the same hemispheric agenda issues, which this year focused primarily on the Canada-initiated question of human security.

The students research the member countries' respective positions on the agenda items and discuss them in sessions much like the real General Assembly. The exercise includes briefings to the participants by member state representatives and OAS officials. It also forms part of a credited program of study in the schools represented, mainly as part of their social studies, history or geography curricula.

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