The first thing that will happen is you will get a country assignment. Contact the Osgood Center if you have not received a country assignment.  For the purposes of the debate, you will be the delegate of a particular UN member state (Egypt for example), and you are there to make sure that Egypt’s voice is heard in the world forum, which is the UN. You will be representing your country’s views, not your own, so when you speak, use phrases like: it is the delegation of Egypt’s position, or this does not represent our states interests, or Egyptcannot give its support to such a vague resolution, etc.

Generally you want to know where your country is, what countries it borders, what is the basic political structure, its foreign policy statements, and its primary allies.  Many countries now have web sites for their Ministries of Foreign Affairs (MFA) with links to a 30-40 page documents on the principles of the country’s foreign policy. Then you want to have at least the background guides for the topics of your committee, and search for passed resolutions from the UN with regards to the topic. Also make sure to look at basic UN documents and treaties related to your topic such as the UN Charter, Declaration on Human Rights, NPT Treaty, etc

When entering a committee room for the first time, you will see many delegates just mingling, and one person sitting in the front, on what is called the dais. The Director of the committee facilitates the discussion by enforcing the rules of debate and by editing and approving all working papers to become draft resolutions. The staff is there to help you.  If you have any questions don’t be afraid to approach them.  They are not there to provide you policy information but will answer procedural questions.

Rules:

The Speakers List is already open once the committee opens and the first motion you should make is to add your name to the list.

• The speaker’s list: This is the main means under which the debate is structured. Every delegation can request to be placed on the speaker’s list and when their turn comes, the director calls on them to come and deliver a speech for whatever time the committee had agreed will be the speaking time.
• Speaking time: At IMUN speaker’s time is automatically set at 90 seconds for the entire conference.

This first speakers list is to determine the order of the agenda.  Delegates discuss why one topic is better than the other, and better fits their state’s interests. Put your name on the speaker’s list, and when your time come, make a persuasive statement about the topic that is more important for your country should be discussed first. It is useful to break for a caucus to work on gaining a consensus on the order of the agenda. Once you think you have a consensus make motion to set the topic at Topic A, or B. If the motion passes, the committee will vote on whether to entertain Topic A, B as the first topic in the agenda.

Throughout the process of the debate, if in doubt over the rules you can always send a note to the dais or approach them during a caucus.

After the committee decides on what topic to discuss first, a new speaker’s list for the topic will be opened. Always have your name on the speaker’s list!!! Even if you do not have something important to say at the time, when your turn comes, you will. When you get up to talk, have a note ready for the dais to put you back on the speaker’s list. 

At IMUN, one Point of Information is allowed for each Speaker.

• Point of Inquiry: This is used to ask the speaker a question at the conclusion of their speech. Only one Point of Information will be recognized by the Chair per Speaker.

At some point in the debate, someone will set a motion for an unmoderated caucus. The motions are then voted upon by the committee and require a simple majority to pass. If you want a moderated caucus you will have to organize one yourself during caucus. A moderated caucus is useful when you want to hear from a large portion of the members in the committee.

• Unmoderated Caucus: This completely suspends debate and lets delegates mingle and write their resolutions. Use these to build relationships with other delegates, and write your resolutions.  Later in the debate, work on building support for your draft resolution and on any amendments .

Remember that you are diplomats, so work with your fellow delegates (ones that you country would in the real world).  Be careful not to create alliances with states that your country would not really have, such as Israel co-sponsoring a resolution with Syria on Human Rights.

Resolutions:

These are the major documents that MUN committees (and the UN for that matter) pass to take action on the topics before the committee. Resolutions have two major parts, the preambular clauses and the operative clauses. Preambular clauses convey background information, ie what has been done already and concerns and the operative clauses are action clauses or what the committee will do to resolve the issue. Writing good resolutions is essential for success in a committee. The best thing to do to learn how to do this is to read through a few resolutions real UN resolution. (These can be found at the UN website – www.un.org)

The process for creating resolutions in a MUN committee is a three-step process. A document must first be submitted to the dais. For a document to be approved, it needs to have a certain number of sponsors and signatories, which is based on the size of your committee. The Director will announce this number during the first session.

• Sponsors: These are the states who wrote the resolution, and the resolution represents the course of action that the states want to take regarding the topic.
• Signatories: These are the states who believe this document should be on the floor and debated. It does not necessarily mean that you agree with the whole or part of the document.

When a document is being written it is a working paper. One the paper is approved by the dais it is assigned a number and becomes a draft resolution.  The draft only becomes a resolution once the committee passes it. Draft resolutions can be amended, as per the process is explained below.  Merging should happen at the working paper stage, which is why it is important to be aware what other groups are working on.  Once the paper is approved and assigned a number it is automatically on the floor and open for debate.  When the committee goes into voting procedures, the resolutions will be voted upon by order of number. Remember to refer to a working paper as a resolution, and do not refer to a draft resolution as a resolution during debate.

Amendments

Amendments are introduced to draft resolutions and require sponsors and signatories to be allowed. You can only amend operative clauses. There are two types of amendments:

• Friendly Amendments: When all the sponsors of a resolution agree that a part of the resolution needs to be amended, they submit a friendly amendment and it is automatically incorporated into the resolution.
• Unfriendly amendments: All other amendments fall into this category. All amendments are voted on during voting procedures.

After draft resolutions are on the floor and there has been debate on them, there will be a motion to close debate and move into voting procedure. The committee will vote on the motion, and if the motion passes, the doors close and the committee goes into voting. **Make sure to carefully look over the rules and keep a copy with you in committee.**

Knowing the rules is imperative to keeping the flow.  Enjoy…

Appendix A – Writing a Resolution

Below is a list of sample introductory phrases for resolution clauses. Bear in mind that the lists below are to serve merely as a guide; clauses may begin with words, which do not appear on these lists, as long as the words actually used are grammatically appropriate.