More than 200 students from 30 Chinese well-known universities gathered in Beijing on November 6 to participate in the 2004 Model United Nations (UN) Conference, which is held here between Nov. 6-7.

The two-day Model UN simulates the UN Commission on Human Rights, and focuses on the subject of human rights.

Students of each delegation will act as diplomats of different countries, and discuss the civil rights, the right to development, and importance of human rights education.

The delegations are from 30 Chinese famous universities, including Beijing University, Qinghua University, Fudan University, China Foreign Affairs University (CFAU). Hong Kong also sends a delegation to join this activity. Each delegation has six members.

During the conference, the participants are supposed to expound the viewpoints of "their countries", debate for their stance, and finally adopt a draft resolution through voting.

An official with the organization committee said the Model UN aims to provide platform for Chinese university students to put forward their ideas and learn from each other. It will also promote China's human rights education and raise the awareness of human rights among the masses, especially among university students, she said.

A delegate from Sichuan International Studies University said that through experiencing every agenda of the Model UN Conference,he got to know the operation method of the UN, which might be very useful to his future job.

"This activity also helps our college students to enhance mutual understanding and learn from each other," he said.

Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Shen Guofang, President of China United Nations Association (CUNA) Jin Yongjian, and Khalid Malik, resident representative of the United Nations Development Program to China, attended the opening ceremony and delivered speeches.

The program was cosponsored by the CUNA and CFAU.