UG students return from OAS programme in Washington

The University of Guyana International Affairs Association (UGIAA) students recently returned from an enlightening and rewarding experience at the Model of the Organisation of American States (MOAS) held last month in Washington DC.
Representing the UG was a delegation comprising nine international affairs students who were selected after a stringent process. The group attended the MOAS from July 23-26 held at the OAS headquarters in Washington, DC. It was the first MOAS for universities of the hemisphere to be held in Spanish in the United States.

Group sessions
The students represented Paraguay and its position on various issues relating to politics, international affairs, and human rights developments. They discussed the issues through working group sessions with other delegates from more than 100 other universities who all gathered to address the issues of global politics and human rights activism. The working group sessions were done in the four main committees: the first dealing with legal and political issues, second – hemispheric security, third – committee on summits management, and fourth focusing on the administrative and budgetary aspects of countries in the hemisphere.
Members of the delegation included outgoing UGIAA President Travez Daly, who was in the general committee; Derwayne Wills; outgoing UGIAA Vice President Kirly Bacchus; Donette Gilbert – first committee on juridical and politics affairs, UGIAA Assistant Secretary/Treasurer Latoya Garraway; Keon Thom – second committee on hemispheric security; Abigail Adams and Le-Shante Marks – third committee on Inter-American Summits management and civil society; and Latrecia Belle – fourth committee on administration and budgetary affairs.
Focus
The students were accompanied by their faculty adviser and lecturer Kadasi Ceres. The focus of the model was application of the principles of the Social Charter of the Americas to strengthen democracy. The model was attended by some 500 students from over 34 countries of the Americas.
MOAS is a simulation exercise of the proceedings of the OAS Permanent Council and the annual regular sessions of the General Assembly that provides students in the discipline of international relations with the experience of participating in a replica of a functioning OAS General Assembly.
Debates
It is aimed at engaging students of the hemisphere in debates, lobbying, negotiations and working groups experiences, while familiarising them with important topics of interest and problems affecting the region.
Over the years, the UGIAA has helped UG students to develop their knowledge and skills of participatory democracy through the experience of representing a member state at the model general assemblies of the United Nations and OAS.
The UGIAA has also been grooming students who have a drive for academia and an interest in the fields of diplomacy and social activism. The university body through its selection panel has propelled students to the MOAS, allowing them the privilege of representing the UG and Guyana at the international level.