Vytautas Magnus University

Lithuanian United Nations Youth Association

 Goals of the Organization

  • Create a broader civil society by increasing the students’ participation in political life and nurture their abilities to make the right decisions.
  • Foster tolerance and the values of human rights.
  • Help the students improve their intellectual abilities.
  • Create wider opportunities for students to improve abroad.
  • Promote communication and discourse within and outside the organization.
  • Promote deep insights upon global issues in different fields on the basis of UN work by organizing discussions, debates, seminars and lectures, international visits and other events.
  • Expand and maintain our connections with Lithuanian and international organizations.
  • Spread ideas of universal human rights and democratic world-view.

Brief Overview of Activities

  • Gather students from Vytautas Magnus University and other universities to debate over wide range of topics.
  • After making arrangements with the organization’s partners abroad, send students to practice or gain experience in various fields in other countries.
  • Model a simulation of the United Nations organization together with the international or national community and partners of the UNSC VMU.
  • Organize youth forums that will gather scholars, students and academics from the entire country, spread knowledge not only about the United Nations, EU, NATO but also a wide variety of topics chosen by them prior to the meeting.
  • Organize political conferences that will invite politicians of various countries to join in discussions with students.

How to Join

VMU students are invited to join a new organization: the Lithuanian United Nations Youth Association (LUNYA), which is dedicated to nurturing tolerance and promoting human rights, as well as increasing students’ awareness of and participation in political life and civil society.

“I deeply believe the best way of achieving success in promoting human rights, sustainable development, and peace depends on the upcoming generation. Education is imperative. Our organization allows students to improve their intellectual abilities in different multinational platforms; gaining practical experiences based on simulation programs, which offer a broader perspective and knowledge of the UN and human rights,” Muhammet Nas, one of the founders of LUNYA, said.

According to the organization’s president, Olivia Wells, the LUNYA is not just a political science organization. “We are attempting to provide a platform where students can interact and exchange ideas regarding international conflicts, peacekeeping, diplomacy, development, and a host of other issues. We do so by exposing them to documentary films, workshops where experts impart their knowledge of a particular field and exchange ideas with students, Youth Forums, Model UN, and other events that enable young people to live up to their full potential. Our diversity within our council and members is a microcosm of the diversity we hope to engender in the student body.” Its members believe that peacekeeping is not just dependent on future politicians and that every young person has the ability to change the world for the next generation.

Applications for membership in the organization are accepted from full-time VMU students.