| Why does the UN matter? How does it matter? And, for whom does it matter? What is the purpose of the UN Security Council? What does the UN General Assembly do? How does Estonia participate in the decision-making inside the UN? |
Strengthening knowledge about the UN, its structure, functioning, and activities is one of the key priorities for UNA Estonia. The UN is the primary organization through which the international community addresses pressing challenges such as conflict, poverty, migration, and climate change. It is the only institution in which all states come together. While the UN has shaped global politics since 1945, what it is, how it works, and how it affects our daily lives, is often not well known or understood. Therefore, there is a need to learn more about the origins of the UN as well as its continuous role in the current world.
In our educational activities, we differentiate between different audiences. One part of our educational activities is about promoting basic knowledge about the UN. For example, what are the main organs of the UN? What is a resolution and how are decisions on resolutions made? Who is the UN Secretary General and what do they do? Who represents Estonia?
The other part of our educational activities goes beyond basic knowledge and focuses on more specific aspects of the UN, its activities, and the current challenges the organization is facing. For example, what is the history of Estonian representation at the UN? What are the opportunities and limitations small states, such as Estonia, face inside the UN? How was the membership of the UN Security Council decided? And, what are currently debated proposals for the reform of the UN Security Council? What are strengths and weaknesses of the UN’s peacekeeping efforts, and what lessons are to be learned from historic setbacks?
With our educational activities, we aim to contribute to a well-informed, fact-based public debate on UN-related topics. For this purpose, we make information materials about the UN and related topics available. Often such information is available in other languages. Our aim is to make it available in the Estonian language to make it accessible to the local audience. This being said, promoting knowledge is not limited to making information available. In order to contribute to better understanding of these issues, part of our educational activities is to contextualize information and to provide explanations.
Activities under this program include information sessions at schools, and the creation and distribution of learning materials for students and teachers. As part of promoting the availability of UN-related information in the Estonian language, we also actively support the creation of Estonian-language Wikipedia articles about relevant topics.
While Model UN is a great way of learning about the UN, we do not currently organize these events as this is done by other organizations in Estonia. See for example Tartu MUN organized by the Society of International Relations or the EstMUN.