Win a seat at the United Nations.
Around the world, millions of people belong to nations that have no seat at the UN. Your mission: choose one of these unrepresented peoples, form their very first government, and write the petition that asks the world to recognise them as a country.
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Your mission, step by step
Pick a people
Choose one unrepresented nation from the official UNPO list. Read their story and flag.
Form a government
Design a first government elected by all the people — not just one party or group.
Prove you are a state
Show you meet the four real tests of statehood and the UN's rules for membership.
Submit your petition
Write and submit a formal request for the UN to admit your nation. Cite your sources.
The rules real countries must meet
The Montevideo Convention (1933)
An international treaty that lists the four things a place usually needs to count as a state: (1) a permanent population, (2) a defined territory, (3) a government, and (4) the capacity to enter into relations with other states.
Article 4 of the UN Charter
The rule for joining the United Nations. Membership is open to all 'peace-loving states' that accept the duties in the Charter and, in the judgement of the UN, are able and willing to carry them out. They are admitted by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the Security Council.
The right to self-determination
The idea, written into the UN Charter and human-rights treaties, that peoples have the right to freely decide their own political status and pursue their development.
One important rule
Each people already has an organisation that speaks for them at the UNPO. You are not that organisation. Your task is to imagine a brand-new first government — one that every person of the nation helped to elect — and to speak for the whole people, fairly and peacefully.
What you'll practise
Research skills
Find and judge trustworthy sources, then cite them properly.
How statehood works
Learn the real legal tests that decide what counts as a country.
Persuasive writing
Build a clear, factual argument and write a formal petition.
World geography & peoples
Discover nations and cultures most maps never name.