No trivial pursuits as work of model UN youth conference gets under way

AT THE International Model United Nations yesterday, 700 teenagers gathered in a Dublin hotel to play at being adults and there was no doubting their seriousness.

The Taoiseach, Mr Bruton, ready to provide the warm up, urged the students to reflect on global change this century.

The earth's population had increased seven fold in less than 100 years. "In a crowded world, there is friction because people need space to do their own things," Mr Bruton said.

Population density, he said, explained the difference between the US - "free and easy and vast" - and Japan, a highly regulated society.

"We're going to need more global rules to govern our behaviour so we don't knock into one another," he warned.

The opening session was barely under way before the Israelis were on their feet. The honour of their country had been insulted - by Bhutan of all places - and an apology was called for.

They got it but within minutes Iran and Iraq were at each other's throats and, shortly afterwards, Libya was angry with the Americans.

It all sounded very internationally geopolitical but then the 15 to 18 year olds from 15 countries attending the conference will this week debate most of the weighty world topics of the day.

They will discuss embryo research, the elimination of nuclear weapons, deforestation and the dumping of waste, to name but a few.

More than 100 UN member states are "represented" by well heeled students from 50 schools around the world.

The Irish contingent includes the organisers, St Andrew's College, and 15 other Irish schools.

Mr Bruton defended the real UN against its detractors, saying there had been no world war since it was established.

But the UN could not solve all the problems of the world, he added. "It should pick out only those issues a world body can deal with. The rest should be left to individual nations."

A similar theme was taken up by the conference bulletin, which states that young people do not believe they can "change the world in an instant".

The bulletin's editorial provides a valuable insight into the teenagers of the 1990s. "We may lack the `big idea', the unifying `60s' ideals, the `70s' political attack. What is there for us to believe in? Only yourself, your friends, your humour and your dogma. The great thing about the `90s is that our ideas can matter. This loved up, wised up, messed up, sped up generation will leave its mark, imprinting its cynical optimism on a new era.