Delegate Handbook

Index

S.No. Content Page no.

1. What is MUN? 2
2. Glossary 3
3. Guide to Preparation 11
4. Rules of Procedure for 16
Speeches and Discussion
5. Rules of Procedure for 32
Written Documents
6. Crisis 43
7. Conference Policies 47
8. Annex 1 48

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What is an MUN conference?

● Model United Nations (MUN) simulations are popular exercises for those
interested in learning more about the UN. Model UN helps students develop
public speaking, writing and research skills.

● In addition, they often provide the first entry point into international affairs and
introduce students to the wide range of peace and security, human rights,
development and the rule of law related issues that are on the UN agenda. The
basic focus is for students to research political positions of nations and global
areas of conflict to gain a better understanding of the world through it.

● It ultimately aims to develop the art of peaceful negotiation among potential

national and international leaders. MUN is a forum where students act as
representatives of their appointed country and are pioneers of their country's stand.

● It gives the students an opportunity to showcase their unique talents, which

include the gift of the gab, having a quick wit, being able to formulate plans of
action under pressure, and being able to come to a workable compromise. In
conclusion a MUN conference promises to be one of the most interesting,
educational and memorable experiences of your life.

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Glossary

Abstention An option for Member States during substantive votes. Member

States may abstain only if they are “Present” during formal roll
call. To abstain means a State is formally counted, but does not
vote in favor of or against a substantive motion.
Abstentions do not affect the result of voting, as the final total
only considers votes for and against the motion.

Ad Hoc Committees that are established for a limited time and to address a
Committees specific issue.

Adjournment of Suspends all Committee functions for the entire duration of the
Debate Conference.

Agenda It is the question at hand that dictates the matter of debate and
discussion of the committee. The order in which the issues before
a committee will be discussed. The first duty of a committee
following the roll call is usually to set the agenda.

Amendment A change to a draft resolution on the floor. It proposes to add,

strike or edit the operative components of the draft resolution.

Appeal A motion to challenge the decision of the Chair raised by a

delegate, with the exception of those for which the Rules of
Procedure explicitly prohibit appeal.

Bloc A group of countries or political parties with common interests

who have formed an alliance.

Caucus A break in formal debate in which countries can more easily and
informally discuss a topic. There are two types: moderated caucus
and unmoderated caucus.

Chair Person who is in charge of leading the committee’s formal debate

in accordance with the Rules of Procedure.

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Closure of Debate Ends debate on a topic, and on all draft resolutions for that topic,
without voting on any further proposed draft resolutions. A motion
for reconsideration can reopen debate on this topic.

Courtesy Delegates need to show courtesy and respect to the members of

the Executive Board, Secretariat and other delegates.
Any delegate which fails to comply with the same will face
appropriate repercussions as called upon by the Committee Staff
or Secretariat.

Dais A raised platform or table at the front of the room where the
Director and Assistant Director, as well as the Chair and/or
Rapporteur(s), are seated. Often, the term “the Dais” is also
utilized to refer to these individuals collectively.

Decorum Overall respect for the formal committee process and speakers.

Delegation Each member state is represented by one or two delegates as

allocated, and shall have one vote in each committee.

Dilatory A motion is dilatory if it may obstruct or delay the will of the

committee (e.g.motions to suspend the meeting proposed
immediately after several previous suspension motions failed).

Draft Resolution A working paper that has been accepted by the Dais and is
discussed and voted on by the body.

Economic and The principal organ of the UN responsible for the economic and
Social Council social work of the organization.
(ECOSOC)

Explanation of Allows a sponsor of a draft resolution to explain why they voted

Vote against the draft resolution, after it had been amended or changed
by a division of the question.

Functional Functional commissions are established pursuant to Article 68 of

Commissions the Charter of the United Nations and report to the Economic and
Social Council. They are also considered a subsidiary organ/body.
Examples include the Commission on the Status of Women
(CSW) and the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND).

Friendly Amendments proposed by all the sponsors of a draft resolution.

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Amendments Once approved by the Dais, these amendments are automatically
incorporated.

General Assembly The main deliberative organ of the UN system, composed of all
Member States of the UN.

General Speakers’ A Speakers’ List established for the delegates to give their
List opening statements and discuss the Agenda at hand in a broad
manner.

Inter-Agency On thematic issues that cut across the work of many UN

Coordination programs, funds, and agencies, an inter-agency coordination
Mechanisms mechanism will often be established.
These mechanisms are an essential source for information on these
thematic issues, as they represent the work of the entire UN
system. Examples include UN-Water and the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change.

Majority Vote A threshold at which many motions pass. A motion passed with a
simple majority vote if more people vote yes than vote no (in the
case of substantive votes, ignoring abstentions). Tie votes fail.

Member State A country that has ratified the Charter of the United Nations and
whose application to join has been accepted by the General
Assembly and the Security Council. Currently, there are 191
member states.

Moderated Caucus Specific time allotted for the discussion of a sub-topic under the
pertaining Agenda.

Motion A request to do something during formal debate; motions are

voted on by the body. Procedural motions: all Member States and
Observers of the committee vote. Substantive motions: only
Member States vote.

Non-governmental NGOs, also known as civil society organizations or CSOs, are

organization nonprofit groups independent from governments. Normally
(NGO) organized around specific issues, NGOs deliver a variety of public
and humanitarian services.

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Observer A state, national organization, regional organization, or
non-governmental organization that is not a member of the UN but
participates in its debates.
Representatives of accredited observers will have the same rights
as those of full member states, except that they may not may not
sponsor resolutions or vote on substantive matters, but they may
act as a signatory and must vote on procedural matters. An
example is the Holy See.

On the floor At a Model UN conference, when a working paper or draft

resolution is first written, it may not be discussed in debate. After
it is approved by the Director and introduced by the committee, it
is put "on the floor" and may be discussed.

Operative Clause Information is given about what action the body believes should
be taken.

Placard A piece of card with a country's name on it that a delegate raises

in the air to signal to the Chair that they wish to speak.

Point A request raised by a delegate for information or for an action

relating to that delegate.

Position paper A summary of a country's position on a topic, written by a

delegate before a Model UN conference.

Preambulatory Sets up the historical context and cites relevant international law
Clause or policies for a resolution, which justifies future action.It begins
with a participle or adjective (noting, concerned, regretting, aware
of, recalling, etc).

Present Attendance status that establishes a delegation as present in the

committee, with
the opportunity to abstain during substantive votes.

Present and Attendance status that establishes a delegation as present in the

Voting committee without the opportunity to abstain during substantive
votes; delegations must vote “yes” or “no.”

Principal Organs Principal organs are established pursuant to the Charter of the

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 United Nations.
There are six principal organs of the UN: the General Assembly
(Art. 9), the Security Council (Art. 23), the Economic and Social
Council (Art. 61), the Trusteeship Council (Art. 86), the
International Court of Justice (Art. 92), and the Secretariat (Art.
97). Each organ maintains its own area of responsibility from
international peace and security (Security Council) to human
rights and economic affairs (ECOSOC). The only organ that is
currently inactive is the Trusteeship Council.

Procedural Vote A vote that takes place on a motion before the body; all
delegations present must vote.

Programmes and Programmes and Funds are established pursuant to Article 22 of

Funds the Charter of the United Nations in order to meet needs not
envisaged in the founding of the UN, such as addressing the needs
of Palestinian refugees, development assistance, food aid, or the
environment. They are subordinate to the UN, immediately
controlled by distinct intergovernmental bodies, and financed
through voluntary contributions rather than assessed contributions.

Proposal “Proposal” means any working paper, draft resolution, an

amendment thereto, or a portion of a draft resolution divided out
by motion.

Quorum A minimum of one-fourth of the members of the body, based on

the total number of Member States attending the first session.
A quorum is always assumed to be present unless specifically
challenged by a Point of Order or Motion for the Verification of
Quorum and shown to be absent. A roll call is never required to
determine the presence of a quorum.

Rapporteur/ Person responsible for maintaining the speakers list, order of the
Admin Staff/ resolutions on the floor, verifying vote counts, and other
Logistic Staff administrative matters.

Reconsideration Reopens debate on a topic that was previously adjourned (ended

without a substantive vote), including any draft resolutions
segments on the floor for that topic.

Regional Regional commissions are established pursuant to Article 68 of

Commissions the Charter of the United Nations and report to the Economic and

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 Social Council. They are also considered a subsidiary organ/body.
Examples include the Economic and Social Commission for Asia
and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the Economic Commission for
Africa (ECA).

Related Related organizations are not officially part of the UN, but their
Organizations support and cooperation are outlined by special arrangement.
Related organizations all have their own separate members,
governing bodies, executive heads, and secretariats.

Research and The various research and training institutes were established by
Training Institutes the General Assembly to perform independent research and
training. The UN Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) is
an example of this type of entity.

Resolution A document that has been passed by an organ of the UN that aims
to address a particular problem or issue. The UN equivalent of a
law.

Right of Reply Response to comments that have disparaged the sovereign

integrity of a delegate’s state.

Roll Call The first order of business in a Model UN committee, during

which the Rapporteur or chair reads aloud the names of each
member state in the committee. When a delegate's country's name
is called, they may respond "present" or "present and voting."

Second To “second” a motion is to agree with a motion being proposed.

Many motions must be seconded before they can be brought to a
vote.

Secretariat The Directors, Assistant Directors, Assistant Secretaries-General

and Under-Secretaries-General are designates and agents of the
Secretary-General and Deputy Secretary-General, and they are
collectively referred to as the“Secretariat.”

Security Council The Security Council is the primary organ of the UN mandated to
maintain international peace and security.

Signatories A country that wishes a draft resolution to be put on the floor and
signs the draft resolution to accomplish this. A signatory need not

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 support a resolution; it only wants it to be discussed. Usually,
Model UN conferences require some minimum number of
sponsors and signatories for a draft resolution to be approved.

Simple majority 50% plus one of the number of delegates in a committee. The
amount needed to pass most procedural votes.

Speakers List A list that determines the order in which delegates will speak.
Whenever a new topic is opened for discussion, the Chair will
create a speakers' list by asking all delegates wishing to speak to
raise their placards and calling on them one at a time. During
debate, a delegate may indicate that they wish to be added to the
speakers' list by sending a note to the dais.

Specialized Specialized agencies are established pursuant to Articles 57 and

Agencies 63 of the Charter of the United Nations. There are currently more
than 14 specialized agencies that have an agreement with the UN
that work under the auspices of ECOSOC. Each agency has a
separate function it carries out on behalf of the UN;
They have their own principles, goals, and rules. In addition, they
control their own budgets and have their own governance
structure.

Special Majority 2/3rd of the numbers voting members of a Committee. The

amount needed to pass most substantive votes.

Sponsors Member States who created the content of a working paper and
will be most responsible for ensuring that it will be voted on as a
draft resolution.

Standing Standing Committees are open-ended and generally were

Committee established to address certain procedural questions, such as the
admission of new members.

Subsidiary Organs Subsidiary organs (or bodies) are established pursuant to Articles
22 and 29 of the Charter of the United Nations. A subsidiary body
falls under the purview of the principal UN organ it reports to and
was created by (the General Assembly, the Economic and Social
Council, or the Security Council).

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Substantive Having to do with the discussion of the Agenda

Substantive Vote Votes taken during voting procedure to accept a draft resolution,
an unfriendly amendment, and/or the annex to a draft resolution
(division of the question)

Suspension of the Suspends all Committee functions until the next Committee
Meeting Session.

United Nations An intergovernmental organization established in 1945, designed

(UN) to promote international cooperation.

Unmoderated Specific time allotted for delegates to carry out informal

Caucus discussion and lobbying for the formation of blocs, formulation of
resolutions, workings and other relevant purposes.

Working Paper A document in which the ideas of some delegates on how to

resolve an issue are proposed. Frequently the precursor to a draft
resolution.

Veto The ability, held by China, France, the Russian Federation, the
United Kingdom, and the United States to prevent any draft
resolution in the Security Council from passing by voting no.

Voting bloc The period of a committee session during which delegates vote on
proposed amendments and draft resolutions. Nobody may enter or
leave the room during the voting bloc. It can be done in any of the
two following ways: show of hands and roll call.

Working Group Working groups consist of representatives of the members of the

Security Council to discuss a range of issues related to the general
work of the Council such as procedural questions, peacekeeping
operations and protections of civilians.

Guide to preparation

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Preparing for a Model United Nations conference entails research on three levels: the
procedure and structure of the conference, the topic of the committee the delegate
belongs to, and position of the country being represented.

● Procedural Research:

○ This Conference Handbook is a guide to the basic procedure that regulates

the Model UN. This can be divided into rules regarding speech and rules
regarding writing. All Rules of Procedure followed in this conference are
detailed further in this handbook.

● Topic Oriented Research:

○ Each delegate is assigned to a certain committee and represents a certain

country/state/individual within it. Each committee has a specific topic that
will be deliberated during the course of the conference.

○ Delegates are given Background Guides, but the Background Guide should
be viewed only as a starting point to begin research. Other than the guides,
published literature, academic papers and news sites on the Internet can be
a valuable guide.

○ Delegates should look for books and websites that give a general overview
of the topic as well as information on more specific aspects of your topic. It
is important to get an idea of how complex the subject is and how many
different aspects of the topic might be discussed during the conference.

○ When delegates use the Internet for their research they should make sure to
carefully select their sources. The amount of materials available is likely to
be far greater than what they can digest in the amount of time they have
available to prepare for the conference.

○ It is also important for them to keep in mind that not all websites are
reliable sources and many of the sources may be biased. If possible,

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 delegates should try to find independent confirmation of the information
they have obtained from more than one source.

○ Reuters is considered as a credible news source but we would also suggest

the Congressional Research Service, the Social Science Research Network
and the Woodrow Wilson Centre database for scholarly papers. While
Wikipedia serves as a starting point for most people's basic country and
topic research, and can be utilized to understand the topic to a level of
depth, it is not counted as a credible source and may not be quoted in
committee.

○ Resources published by the UN itself are considered credible and are highly
recommended to obtain a better understanding of the topic at hand. These
sources include but are not limited to:

■ Dag Hammarskjöld Library

■ UN Member States: On the Record
■ Official Documents System (ODS)
■ UN Documentation Research Guide
■ UN Documentation Centre
■ Treaty Collection
■ Yearbook of the United Nations
■ UN Publications
■ United Nations Digital Library

○ It is imperative that a delegate research the mandate, structure, and function

of their allocated committee for their better understanding. Thorough
preparation must begin with an understanding of the UN itself, specifically
in regard to the history, structure, and operations of the organization.
Having a strong grasp on the various types of bodies within the UN system,
the types of documents that can provide information on your topic, and the
core international instruments within each topic area are essential to ensure
the ideas you put forth in committee are realistic.
○ Important UN documents and other international instruments as listed may
be helpful depending on the committee a delegate is sitting in:
■ The Charter of the United Nations

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 ■ Universal Declaration of Human Rights
■ The Statute of the International Court of Justice
■ The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court
■ The Treaty of Lisbon
■ United Nations Yearbook
■ Geneva Conventions

○ There are several questions and items you should try to answer to help you
understand the basic functioning of the UN system:

■ What are the various types of entities within the UN system?

■ How do the various organs of the UN system work together, and
what are their topic specialties?
■ What are the most significant achievements of the UN in terms of
norms and important legal frameworks?

○ Other questions that can help you attain a better grasp of the status quo of
the agenda in question include but are not limited to:

■ When considering each topic, what essential questions are being

raised?
■ In your opinion as a diplomat, why are these issues important?
■ Give specific reasons why you believe these issues remain
unresolved.
■ What important documents are essential to your research?
■ What actions have various international bodies taken in the past
regarding these issues?
■ What actions are they currently taking, or what committees exist to
address them?

● Position Oriented Research:

○ Committee topics are typically divisive and highly debatable. Delegates,

however, are not at liberty to form and represent their own opinions. They

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 are assigned nations, and their statements and actions within the committee
must be in line with the foreign policy of the nation they are representing.

○ Delegates represent an opinion and must defend it against other opinions.

Therefore, it is crucial for them to be familiar with different viewpoints and
opinions on the topics they are assigned. Delegates should study arguments
that are different from the one their assigned country is likely to take on a
topic.

○ The most challenging aspect of a Model UN is adjusting to policy.

Delegates are not suggested to raise caucuses that vary vastly from their
policies though slight digressions are allowed to facilitate debate .

○ In order to adequately represent a country during the conference, a delegate

will need to interact with delegates representing other countries. Knowing
the viewpoints and policies of "their" country as well as those positions of
other countries that will be represented will help delegates predict what will
be said during the debate phase of the conference. This will be very useful
in helping delegates identify which countries will be in agreement with
their position and which ones will be opposed. In addition, it will help them
decide in advance where it might be useful to seek cooperation or
compromise.

○ In your research, look for resources that share what your Member State or
Observer has already done in relation to the topic, what it proposes to be
done on the topic, and/or its national policies on issues related to the topic.
Understanding the allocated countries internal and regional policies and
actions in terms of bilateral and multilateral association also play an
integral role in the formation of its international stance.

○ Some resources from the UN which can aid you in your research in such
matters include:

■ Permanent Missions to the United Nations

■ Ministries of Foreign Affairs
■ UNBISNET

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 ■ UN Global Issues

○ If there is not a lot of information available, you may need to infer how
your Member State or Observer would approach a given topic based on
what you have learned about your Member State generally.

● Researching your Member or Observer State Generally

○ If you have been assigned a Member State or an Observer State, you may
wish to begin by researching its political structure, economic conditions,
religion(s), history, and culture. Since all of these factors shape a state’s
foreign policy, familiarity with these areas will assist you in forming a
consistent foreign policy.

○ The following are additional categories to research as you become familiar

with your Member State:

■ Population and demographics;

■ Geography;
■ Ethnic and religious minorities;
■ Development;
■ Healthcare;
■ Educational access;
■ Division of wealth and poverty;
■ Environmental policies;
■ Freedom of the press;
■ Key domestic policies;
■ Key foreign policies;
■ Your state’s allies and Member States it may not regularly work with
(for various reasons).

Rules of Procedure for Speeches and

Discussion

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● Lobbying

○ Lobbying is the informal process before a debate, in which you interact

with other delegates in your committee. This opportunity is to be used
wisely. Gather support for your resolution if you have one. If you don’t,
seek out existing or potential allies and work with them to amend a pre -
existing resolution, or draft an entirely new one.

● Debate

○ After the adoption of an Agenda, the Committee moves into formal

discussion wherein a General Speaker’s List is established, over which
procedural points or motions, caucuses, discussion of working papers, draft
resolutions and amendments takes place in order to facilitate debate.

● Speeches

○ No delegate is allowed to address the committee without prior recognition

from the Committee Staff. The Executive Board has the authority to revoke
speaking rights of any speaker, for a specified or indefinite time period, if
their comments are seen as offensive, inappropriate or untoward in any
other way.

● Introduction to Points

○ Points are questions a delegate may have in regards to the discussion at

hand or even the proceedings of the committee and conference in its
entirety. A delegate can rise to any Point by raising their placard when the
Committee staff asks if there are any points on the floor, except in the cases
outlined below. Once recognized by the Chairperson, they are allowed to
state what point they rise to.

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● Point of Information:

○ A point of information is a question on the matter of debate to a delegate

who has just spoken, regarding the speech they just made. Delegates may
only rise to a Point of Information when a speaker yields their time to the
same. The admissal of a Point of Information is at the discretion of the
Chair.

○ The speaker also has the right to specify the number of Points of
Information they wish to answer, when time constraints permit so. If the
delegate has no preference for a number, they may open themselves to any
and all questions.

○ If the delegate questioning finds the considered answer unsatisfactory

pertaining to the question and/or the matter of debate or when it raises
further questions, they may raise a Plea (Right) to Follow Up.

○ A Plea (Right) to Follow Up: The delegate can request for a plea to follow
on and question the speaker further on the same matter to clarify or
supplement their previously admitted answer. It is considered only at the
discretion of the Chairperson, and is not subject to appeal.

● Point of Personal Privilege:

○ Whenever a delegate experiences personal discomfort, which impairs their

ability to participate in the proceedings, they may rise to a Point of Personal
Privilege to request that the discomfort be corrected.

○ A Point of Personal Privilege may only interrupt a speaker if the delegate

speaking is inaudible or exaudible to a deafening degree. Otherwise, the
delegate rising on a Point of Personal Privilege must always wait till the
end of the speech to raise the Point.

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 ○ In order to ensure that the speaker is interrupted in the least disruptive
manner possible, delegates are suggested to raise their placard and state
“Point of Personal Privilege inaudibility/exaudibility” and put their placards
down without waiting for recognition from the Committee Staff.

● Point of Order:

○ During the discussion of any matter, a delegate may rise to a Point of Order
to indicate an instance of improper parliamentary procedure. The Point of
Order will be immediately decided by the Chairperson in accordance with
the Rules of Procedure.

○ A Point of Order can also be raised to shed light on a factual inaccuracy in

another delegate’s speech. Such a conflict is resolved by presenting reliable
sources for the facts in conflict. It is the Chairperson’s discretion to
consider the Point of Order.

○ Once the conflict in factual matter of a speech is resolved in the manner

aforementioned, if the Point of Order stands as decided by the Committee
Staff, the delegate presenting the inaccurate fact in their speech is required
to stand corrected.

○ The Chairperson may rule out of order these points which are dilatory or
improper; such a decision is not appealable. A representative rising to a
Point of Order may not speak on the substance of the matter under
discussion. A Point of Order may not interrupt a speaker during the speech.
The delegate who rises to a point of order must wait till the end of the
speech. Additionally, the Chairperson has the right to address a delegate if
proper parliamentary procedure is not being followed.

● Point of Parliamentary Inquiry:

○ When the floor is open, a delegate may rise to a Point of Parliamentary

Inquiry to ask the Chairperson a question regarding the Rules of Procedure.

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 ○ A Point of Parliamentary Inquiry may never interrupt a speaker. Delegates
with substantive questions should not rise to this Point but should rather
approach the Committee Staff during a caucus or send a note to the Dais.

● Introduction to Motions

○ A motion is a suggestion of some sort by a delegate to the house and

receives a “second” as support from another delegate. A motion provides
the basis for facilitating the discussion and debate of the committee in
accordance with the wishes of the House while doing its best to avoid
wastage of time.

○ Motions can be put forward by raising the delegate’s placard when the
Committee staff asks if there are any motions on the floor. And once
recognized, stating which motion they rise to.

○ The Chair may, at their discretion, decide to vote upon the motion, or to
adopt/overrule it without a vote in the interest of debate.

○ All motions require a simple majority to pass in the Committee unless

specifically stated below, or by the Committee Staff, to be otherwise.

○ Motions are not limited to those stated below. A delegate if necessary may
propose their own motion. If the proposed motion is not in violation of the
procedural rules and is dignified, then under the discretion of the
Chairperson, it may be voted upon.

● Examples of Motions

● Motion to Open the Floor for Debate:

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 ○ To declare the commencement of a Committee, this motion must be raised
so the establishment of a Speakers List can take place to begin the debate
on the adopted Agenda.

○ No points, motions, or speakers may be recognized in formal proceedings

until and unless this motion has been raised in the Committee.

● Motion to Set the Agenda:

○ The first responsibility of the Committee once the floor is open, is to adopt
an Agenda for the Committee upon which the debate is carried forth.

○ If the Committee has more than one topic area for discussion, a motion to
adopt one of the Committee's Agendas will be raised, following which
Speakers List for and against the same may be established if called upon, at
the end of which voting will take place on the motion.

○ If a Committee has only one Agenda for discussion, this motion must be
raised as a formality unless explicitly stated by the Committee Staff or
Secretariat that the Agenda is considered to be automatically adopted.

● Motion to Establish a General Speakers’ List:

○ The General Speakers’ List (GSL) is open throughout the discussion of the
topic area. Motions to open any other medium of debate will not close the
General Speaker's List, but will only overlap it. Hence, if your country is in
line to speak on it and another medium of debate is opened, your country
will remain in that position once the GSL is returned to. The GSL may
never elapse.

○ To get your country on the list, simply pass a note to the Committee staff or
raise your placard when the Chairperson asks for speakers interested in the
GSL. The Speakers List is ordered on a first come first serve basis provided
that the name of the Delegation is not already on the list. Anything within
the scope of the topic area may be discussed in the GSL.

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 ○ If a delegate wishes to return to the GSL later in the Committee, they may
raise the Motion to Reopen/Return to/Re-establish the GSL, though this is
highly discouraged by the Committee Staff.

● Motion to Establish a Moderated Caucus:

○ The purpose of a moderated caucus is to facilitate substantive debate at

critical junctures in the discussion. During a moderated caucus, the Chair
will suspend the Speakers List, and call on delegates to speak as recognized
by the Committee Staff..

○ When a moderated caucus is motioned for, it requires a purpose and also a

specific time, both in total and for individual speakers. The motion is raised
in the format as outlined below:

■ “The delegate of (name of delegation) would like to raise a motion

to establish a moderated caucus on the topic (area of discussion) for
total speakers’ time (time in minutes) and individual speaker’s time
(time in seconds)”
■ It is suggested that the delegates make sure the total speakers’ time
is divisible by the individual speaker’s time to give a whole number.
■ Note that this format is only to give a general idea, as long as the
required parameters are stated in the motion when it is raised, the
specific terminology does not matter.

○ A moderated caucus is opened for a specified purpose and a specified time,

and Points of Information are not recognized after the speeches of a
moderated caucus.

○ In a moderated Caucus, try to be precise and to the point. As far as possible,

refrain from going off the immediate, specific subtopic. Please do not
over-step your time limit.

● Motion to Establish an Unmoderated Caucus:

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 ○ This is essentially an informal discussion amongst delegates and has no
procedural rules. Delegates generally use it to formulate working papers or
resolutions.

○ When an unmoderated caucus is motioned for, it requires a specific time.

The motion is raised in the format as outlined below:

■ “The delegate of (name of delegation) would like to raise a motion

to establish an unmoderated caucus for total speakers’ time (time in
minutes)”
■ Note that this format is only to give a general idea, as long as the
required parameter is stated in the motion when it is raised, the
specific terminology does not matter.

○ Delegates should not raise this motion without a purpose even though
stating it is not required to raise the motion. This is because, if the
Committee Staff deems the motion to be dilatory, it will be overruled at
their discretion.

● Motion to Suspend a Session:

○ When the floor is open, a delegate may move to suspend the meeting, in
essence, to suspend all Committee functions until the next Committee
Session. This motion is used to temporarily suspend the debate. If such a
motion is in order, it will not be debated but will be immediately put to vote
and will require a simple majority to pass.

○ If this motion is seen as unnecessary by the Committee Staff, it will be

overruled at their discretion, and will not be subject to appeal.

● Motion to Adjourn Debate:

○ When the floor is open, a delegate may move to adjourn the debate, in
essence, to suspend all Committee functions for the entire duration of the
Conference.

22
 ○ This motion can only be raised when three quarters of the last committee
session has elapsed. If raised any before that, the motion will be dismissed
by the Committee Staff.

● Motion for Postponement of Debate:

○ When the floor is open, a delegate may move to postpone debate on a

particular resolution or amendment currently on the floor.

○ No debate or action will be allowed on any resolution or amendment on

which debate has been postponed, and if debate regarding the same has not
been resumed before the debate is closed, the resolution or amendment will
not be voted upon

● Motion for Resumption of Debate:

○ When the debate on any resolution or amendment has been postponed, a

delegate may raise a motion to resume that particular debate.

○ The motion for resumption of debate simply cancels the effect of the
motion for postponement of debate.

● Motion for Closure of Debate:

○ Ends debate on a topic, and on all draft resolutions for that topic, without
voting on any further proposed draft resolutions. A motion for
reconsideration can reopen debate on this topic.

○ This motion is mainly utilized when there are more than one areas of
discussion for a Committee.

● Motion for Reconsideration :

○ A motion to reconsider is in order when an amendment or resolution has

been adopted or rejected and must be made by a member who voted with

23
 the majority. The Chairperson will recognize two speakers against this
motion, after which it is put to an immediate vote.

○ A two- thirds majority of the members voting is required for

reconsideration. This motion is often overruled by the Chairs in the interest
of debate, and should be avoided.

○ It can also be used to reopen debate on a topic that was previously closed
(ended without a substantive vote), including any draft resolutions
segments on the floor for that topic.

● Right to Reply:

○ A delegate whose personal or national integrity has been affronted by that

of another delegate, within the scope of formal debate, may request the
Committee Staff for the Right to Reply. Delegates are requested to employ
the Right of Reply with the utmost discretion.

○ The Chair’s decision to grant a Right to Reply, or not, in any given

circumstance is final and not subject to appeal.

● Right to Comment:

○ This is used for other delegates to be able to make comments after a speech
is made. Delegates are suggested to use this sparingly as if the comments
are not substantial, it is a waste of Committee Time.

○ This motion can only be approved at the discretion of the Chair and is not
subject to appeal. The Committee Staff may explicitly state that no
comments will be accepted in the Committee, whereon this motion will be
automatically overruled, unless the Executive Board opens the admission of
comments for the Committee.

● Motion to Open a Question & Answer Session:

24
 ○ Upon the introduction of a Draft Resolution/Draft Directive, the sponsors of
the paper can be asked to come up and answer as many questions as they
can, within the time period specified by the committee. The Committee
Staff will decide which delegate may ask a question to the sponsors.

● Motion to Move into Time Against:

○ This motion can be used to move the debate directly into time against the
amendment. Delegates may not motion to move back into time “for” once
the Chairs have announced that the time “for” has elapsed.

● Motion to Move the Previous Question (to Move to Voting Procedure):

○ This motion can be used by a delegate, if entertained by the chair, to end

debate and move straight into the process of voting for the resolution or
amendment in question.

● Motion to Extend Debate Time:

○ A delegate can use this motion if they wish to extend the debate time in
favour of, or against, once the set time for either has ended. This motion
can also be used to extend the time of a caucus and other motions, when
their specified time has elapsed.

○ The Committee Staff often does not allow for an extension longer than half
of the total time of the original motion without a satisfactory purpose, and
so the delegates must keep this in mind.

● Motion to Extend Points of Information:

○ This motion may be called if, and only if, the Chairs have restricted the
number of points of information to be entertained by the delegate who has
the floor. The House may appeal, through this motion, to allow more points
of information to be entertained. The motion can pass only at the Chairs’
discretion.

25
 ○ In a particular circumstance, where the nature of the speech warrants the
extension of debate, and the Committee Staff feels the need for the same,
the speaker will be made open to Points of Information at the discretion of
the Chair.

● Motion to Amend Rules of Procedure:

○ The House may raise a motion to change a particular section of the Rules of
Procedure as outlined in this Handbook in order to facilitate debate in the
Committee.

○ The approval of such a motion is completely subject to the discretion of the

Head of the Committee, and is not subject to appeal, unless decided by the
Committee Staff to be put up for voting.

○ If voted upon for by the Committee, this motion requires a special majority
to pass.

● Motion to Appeal:

○ This is a motion to challenge the decision of the Chair raised by a delegate,

with the exception of those for which the Rules of Procedure explicitly
prohibit appeal.

● Motion for Recess:

○ This is a motion to move into an informal debate/recess for a brief period of

time. Such a motion may be overruled at the discretion of the Dias and is
not subject to appeal.

● Motion to move into Open Debate (Consultative Session):

○ This motion opens an informal version of the moderated caucus, wherein

the House can freely discuss a certain section of the Agenda without the
formality of a Speaker’s List. In the duration of this motion, the Committee
can abandon all Rules of Procedure, but the delegates are not allowed to
freely move around and communicate like in an unmoderated caucus.

26
 ○ This moderated caucus style setting is where the delegates manage
themselves. Often a delete speaks and passes the right of speech to another
delegate that they choose. This continues until time elapses. There is no
time limit for any delegate's speech. This motion requires specification of
general length of time.

○ This motion can only be passed by the discretion of the Head of the
Committee if they decide that it is in the favor of the progress of the
Committee.

● Motion to Challenge:

○ If a conflict arises between two groups of delegates regarding a specific

issue, one side may raise this motion in order to give the House a chance to
hear both sides of the Debate.

○ A challenge can be 1 vs 1, 2 vs 2 or 3 vs 3, but no more than three. Each

challenge has three rounds given to both sides to present their position, and
the time allotted for each round decreases from the previous.

○ For example, the speech of the first round may be 60 seconds, followed by
45 seconds, and then 30 seconds. The timings will be set by the Executive
Board of the Committee depending on the circumstance and informed to the
delegates before the challenge starts.

○ This motion can be overruled by the Chair of the Committee if seen as

dilatory, and this decision will not be up for appeal.

● Motion to Move into a Round Table Conference:

○ A round table conference is where every delegate in the committee has to

present a speech on a specified area of discussion for a specified time.

○ This motion is usually introduced to ensure that each and every delegate is
putting forth their opinion on the topic chosen without any exception. The

27
 motion cannot be established by anyone other than the Committee Staff
themselves.

● Motion to Table (Introduce) Draft Resolution:

○ When the floor is open, a sponsor of a draft resolution can raise a motion to
introduce a draft resolution. If the chairs accept the motion, they will ask
for the sponsor to read only the operative clauses of the resolution. After
this, the sponsor will have a time specified by the Chair so as to present the
draft resolution before the committee. If the representation is completed and
there is still time, the floor can be yielded to Points of Information.
Following the questions, the chairs may accept speakers in favor and
against the resolution.

● Motion to Vote by Clause (Divide the Question):

○ A motion to vote clause by clause may be made by any delegate right

before voting procedure on a given draft resolution commences. Once any
delegate makes this motion, the delegates vote on each operative clause by
order. Any clause that has more ‘yes’ votes than ‘no’ votes will remain in
the resolution, while clauses that fail will be removed.

● Motion to Vote by Roll Call:

○ If passed, this Motion makes it so that a substantive vote is taken in the

form of a Roll Call, in essence, the Chairs call upon the name of each
delegation in alphabetical order, each of them having to vote “Yes”, “No”,
or “Abstain” ,based on their stance provided in the Roll Call at the
beginning of the Committee Session, individually.

○ During a roll call vote, members may demand a right of explanation by

voting “Yes with Rights” or “No with Rights”, and will be allotted time
once the vote is complete to explain their decision.

28
 ○ Once members have completed their explanations, a second round of voting
is conducted in a similar manner to the first, without the provision for a
right of explanation.

● Motion to Divide (Split) the House:

○ The Motion to Split the House is in order when the representative

proposing this Motion wishes to exclude abstention from the voting options
during the final vote on the draft resolution. The motion requires a special
majority to pass.

○ This motion may only be raised after the First Round of Vote by Roll Call,
after which the Second rounds of voting conducted will not allow any
delegate to “Abstain” regardless of their “Present” stance in the Committee
Roll call. The delegates who have requested a right of explanation will give
their speeches before the Second Round of voting begins.

● Motion to Evict (for Expulsion):

○ Should a fellow delegate (or an official such as the Chair) make the
proceedings of the Committee difficult for all parties concerned, they may
be evicted from the committee for an indefinite period using this motion.
The required votes to pass this motion is a special majority.

○ This motion should be used sparingly as it is only justified when the action
of the delegate or official is obstructing or abusive to a serious extent.

● Order of Commencement of Debate

○ The general order followed at the start of the first Committee Session is as
stated below:

■ Roll Call
■ Motion to Open the Floor for Debate
■ Motion to Set the Agenda

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 ■ Motion to Establish the General Speakers’ List

● Yielding of Remaining Time in a Speech

○ A delegate who is granted the right to speak once recognize from the
Speakers List may, after speaking if their allotted speaking time is not
completed, yield their remaining time in one of the three following:

■ Yield to the Chair: Such a yield results in the remaining time to not
be subject to questions or any further comments from the house.
Once the speaker has finished their speech and wishes for the
Committee to move on directly to the next speaker, they may use
this.
■ Yield to Points of Information: With this, the speaker wishes to
open themselves to questions. Delegates are recognized to state their
Point of Information pertaining to the speech in accordance to the
details given in Introduction to Points.
■ Yield to another Delegate: The remaining time is given to the other
delegate who is not on the floor for the speech in question. Delegates
are encouraged to inform the Committee Staff in advance if they
wish to yield in this manner. Note that the second delegate may not
yield the time further to a third delegate.

● Precedence of Points and Motions:

○ Motions are voted upon in order of disruptiveness, and not in order of

introduction. This is done in order to ensure that the House does not waste
any Committee time.

○ The following is a list of motions, in descending order of disruptiveness as

followed in this conference are:

1. Point of Personal Privilege

2. Point of Order

30
3. Point of Parliamentary Inquiry
4. Right to Reply
5. Point of Information/ Plea to Follow up
6. Motion to Extend Points of Information
7. Right to Comment
8. Motion to Move to the Previous Question
9. Motion to Establish a Speaker’s List
10. Motion to Establish an Unmoderated Caucus
11. Extension of a Moderated Caucus
12. Introduction of a Moderated Caucus
13. Introduction of a Question & Answer Session
14. Introduction of a Working Paper
15. Introduction of a Resolution/Directive
16. Motion for Division of Question
17. Introduction of an Amendment to a Resolution/Directive
18. Motion for Vote by Roll Call
19. Motion to Divide the House
20. Motion to Adjourn Debate
21. Motion for Postponement of Debate
22. Motion for Resumption of Debate
23. Motion for Closure of Debate

31
Rules of Procedure for Written Documents

● Position Paper

○ Delegates have to prepare a Position Paper, which summarizes their

country's stand on the issue being discussed.

○ Delegates are expected to use their sources to form their own ideas and
suggestions, which should be in line with their assigned Member State’s
policy and framed in their own words.

○ The information in the position paper must pertain to the topic at hand, and
follow a logical order. It is advisable that a position paper includes brief
background knowledge of the roots of the problem. However, it is more
important that it includes the relevance of the topic to the country, the
country’s policies regarding the topic, and any possible solutions that the
country is proposing.

○ Within the introduction of your position paper, you will provide a very
simple overall introduction to the topics that your committee is discussing
and your Member State’s or Observer’s interest in discussing those topics at
the upcoming conference. The delegate only needs to give a concise history
of the agenda and the history of the represented country with respect to the
topic in question.

○ Once done with the introduction, the delegate can tell us what the current
global situation is in relation to your topic. Questions along the line of the
following should supplement your understanding.

■ What is the “problem” in relation to the topic that needs to be

addressed?

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 ■ What is the current state of this topic globally, regionally, and/or
locally?

■ Consider providing statistics on the topic, listing some of the real

issues that global citizens face in relation to the topic, and telling the
reader why it is important to address it. This will help your reader
understand why the topic is significant and will provide good
context for the rest of your discussion on it.

○ After the above has been established, then tell us about the international and
national precedents in relation to each topic. In Model UN, “precedents”
constitute what has been done before to discuss a topic. For better
understanding, answer questions such as:

■ How has the international community addressed this topic thus far?
What are key international documents, conferences, conventions,
resolutions, treaties, etc. that the UN, regional organizations, and/or
your committee have created on the topic, and what are key efforts
previously undertaken to address this topic internationally?

■ In addition, what has your Member State or Observer done to

address this topic?

■ You can also provide specific examples of programs, documents,

laws, civil society and NGO work, and other efforts that your
specific Member State or Observer has made in relation to this issue.

○ While each aspect of your position paper is important, proposing solutions

to the topic is perhaps the most significant, as it allows you to show that
your delegation has researched the topics and can offer thoughtful and
creative solutions to address the topic going forward.

○ In this section of your topic, the solutions that you propose can be both
general and specific. Some solutions may be more general to encourage
overall directions where additional action can occur in line with your
Member State’s or Observer’s positions and/or to point out larger areas that

33
 need to be further addressed. In many solutions, however, look to provide
specific details by describing the who, what, where, when, and why to
make it something that could feasibly be put into action. You can look at
what has been successful in your own Member State or region, or in
another Member State or region, and use those ideas to spark thoughts on
solutions to propose going forward.

○ As you propose solutions, focus on solutions within the committee’s

mandate which are also realistic for the committee to carry out in the near
future. The mandate specifies what your committee has the power to do and
not do, whom it can tell what to do and whom it cannot, what it can discuss,
and in what ways it can work.

○ When proposing solutions, also consider where there are existing entities
that you can work with rather than creating a new committee or
organization for each recommendation – whenever creating something new,
you have to consider how it will be created, who will oversee it, how it will
be financed, etc. Through research, you can often find an existing
committee or organization that you can propose to work with for your new
campaign, fund, and so on, rather than creating a new entity.

○ Do not use the first person in a position paper. Instead simply use the
delegation's name or alternatively expressions such as "our government",
"our country", "our nation". Long essay-type position papers presenting a
nation's history or background information on the topic are not useful.

● Parameters for formatting the position paper:

○ Maximum of one A4 size page;

○ Single Spacing;
○ Paragraph form;
○ Font Size: 11 or 12;
○ Font Style: Times New Roman;
○ 1-inch margin on all sides;

34
 ○ Justify the text of your paragraphs so both the right and left sides have
straight edges;
○ Do not include maps, graphs, drawings, etc;
○ The limit for plagiarism including quotes, statistics and so forth is subject to
information given to the delegates by their respective Executive Board.

● Plagiarism in Official Conference Documents

○ Plagiarism will not be tolerated in any work prepared and submitted by

delegates either before or during the conference. Plagiarism is the use of
original work (including language, structure, and ideas) without an
appropriate citation in material submitted as the author’s own.

○ Plagiarism can be considered valid in Position Papers, Speeches, and

clauses or resolutions. Please follow the guidelines below to avoid
accidental plagiarism which will result in severe consequences:

■ Closely sourced clauses, statistics in clauses, and ideas highly

similar to the original clauses passed in the UN, must be stated to
chairs prior to using them in speech, debate, or written work
(resolutions), to avoid situations of delegate accusation and or
otherwise.

■ Always cite statistics, or particular explanations used during debate.

It adds more authenticity to those listening and prevents plagiarism.

■ Avoid chunks taken from other sources (books, websites) in written

work such as but not limited to Position Papers.

■ Always use other delegate’s clause ideas with their consent and
otherwise avoid using them. Also always ensure that if a particular
delegate has submitted clauses, you acknowledge them for this
through adding them as sponsors and yielding the floor to them in
matters with relation to the clause.

35
● Working Papers

○ Delegates may propose working papers for committee consideration.

Working Papers are intended to aid the committee in its discussion and
formulation of resolutions and need not be written in resolution format.
They are concise and an abridged form of the resolution. Working papers
represent the first step in the process of resolution writing.

○ The wonderful thing about working papers is that unlike other formal
documents in a MUN, they are absolutely informal. They require no
signatories, have no absolute format, and can be about anything under your
topic area.

● Resolution

○ Resolutions are the tools with which the United Nations aims to solve
problems. They are statements from the international community
expressing the desire and need to change a certain situation and the ways in
which it can be done. At the United Nations, a country drafts a resolution,
and lobbies it with other diplomats. In order for a resolution to pass, more
diplomats have to vote in favour of the resolution than against it.
Resolutions at Model United Nations conferences show how a country feels
about a certain issue. It is a pretext for lobbying and forming alliances.
Resolutions at conferences need to go into the specifics of a given topic.

○ Before it is formally introduced to the committee, a resolution is referred to

as a Draft Resolution. The Director of your committee would like all drafts
to deal with ideas and opinions presented in working papers and existing
resolutions, as well as new ideas and innovations.

36
 ○ Remember, a final resolution has to present a well thought out, feasible
solution that will solve the agenda at hand. Your draft resolution should
present the same logical flow that will be present in the final resolution.

○ The draft needs the signatures (but not approval) of at least 1/5th of the
total members to that committee. A word about signing - being a signatory
in no way signifies approval for that resolution, you are not bound to vote
for or against a resolution just by being a signatory. Being a signatory
merely implies that you feel that this resolution should be introduced to
formal debate.

○ A resolution also needs authors, who will actually be sponsors , and who
are willing to amend the resolution until it suits everybody else, without
compromising the meaning or original premises of the resolution. The
sponsors are also required to answer questions arising in their introduction
draft if asked to do so.

● Amendments

○ Amending a resolution is just like writing the resolution itself. Your

amendment has to be presented in resolution format, and along with it you
should specify which parts of the resolution you wish to amend.

○ Amendments are to be made through notes written addressed towards the

Committee Staff. Amendments can be used for the purpose to: edit, add, or
delete specific clauses of the resolution

○ Once an Amendment in order is proposed, the Chairperson asks the

representative sponsors to exercise their right to declare the amendment as
friendly or unfriendly.

■ Friendly Amendment - An amendment that the sponsors believe

support the cause of the draft while respecting its ideals and not
violating or compromising the basic idea of what the resolution
stands for as seen by the sponsors.

37
 ■ Unfriendly Amendment - An amendment that the sponsor see as to
be either against the goals of the original draft or as to be producing
a paradoxical effect when implemented with the rest of the
resolution.

○ If over 40% of a resolution is amended in an unfriendly manner, the draft is

automatically considered null and void.

● Voting Procedures:

○ Each member state will have one vote. Each vote can be a "Yes", "No",
"Yes with Rights", "No with Rights", or "Abstain". Should a member not be
present and voting during a substantive vote, that member shall have not
voted (technically equivalent to "Abstain"). All votes on substantive issues
will be conducted by roll call. No outside observers may be present during
a vote, and the Director shall ensure that the room is sealed before
proceeding with the vote.

○ During the first round of voting, delegates may vote for their member
nations in alphabetical order, choosing to vote a "Yes", "No", "Yes with
Rights", “No with Rights", ''Abstain”.

● Resolution Format

● Headings

○ The heading of a resolution needs to contain four things: the committee the
resolution is being debated in, written in their full form (e.g. United Nations
Security Council, United Nations Economic and Social Council, United
Nations Human Rights Council, etc.), the topic or question the resolution
addresses (e.g. The Exploitation of African countries through industrialized
and industrializing nations), the sponsors (authors) of the resolution – it has
to be the full name of your delegation (e.g. The Kingdom of Belgium), and

38
 the signatories, which needs to be at least 1/5th of the Committee, in order
for the Draft Resolution to be eligible for discussion in the Committee.

● Preambulatory Clauses

○ The first half of the resolution consists of preambulatory clauses. These

clauses define the issue, recognize its importance, state any previous
resolutions or action addressing the issue or mention important statistics.
Basically, they acknowledge and describe the problem. Each preamble must
need the following:

■ Preambulatory phrases must be italicized;

■ The first letter must be capitalized;
■ Preambulatory clauses are written without an ordered or unordered
list;
■ Each preamble ends with a comma;
■ Skip a line between each clause;
■ Preambulatory clauses cannot have sub-clauses;
■ Abbreviations must be written out in full the first time they appear
and can be shortened thereafter.

○ Examples of preambulatory phrases include but are not limited to the

following:

Affirming Desiring Having considered Noting with approval

Alarmed by Emphasizing Having realized Observing

Approving Expecting Further understanding Reaffirming

Aware of Expressing its Having devoted Realizing

39
Bearing in mind In appreciation of Paying attention to Recalling

Believing Expressing its Having examined Recognizing

Confident Satisfied by Having heard Seeking

Contemplating Fulfilling Having received Taking into account

Convinced of Fully alarmed Having studied Taking into factor

Declaring Fully aware Keeping in mind Taking into

consideration

Deeply concerned Fully believing Noting with regret Noting with skepticism

Deeply conscious Further deploring Noting with deep Taking note

Deeply convinced Further recalling Concerned about Viewing with

Deeply disturbed Guided by Noting with Appreciating

satisfaction

Deeply regretting Having adopted Noting further Welcoming

● Operative Clauses

40
 ○ Operative clauses are the second and most important half of the resolution.
They are the clauses that are focused on during debate. Operative clauses
indicate what action a resolution calls for. Each clause must address only
one point or issue. Operative clauses can contain sub-clauses as well as
sub-sub-clauses, in order to be elaborate. The operative clauses, which are
the final component of the draft resolutions, must meet the following:

■ Operative phrases must be underlined;

■ The first letter must be capitalized;
■ Operative clauses must be numbered;
■ Each operative clause ends with a semicolon;
■ May have sub-clauses, sub-sub-clauses and further;
■ Sub-clauses must be indented and listed next to letters (i.e. a., b., c.);
■ Sub-sub-clauses must be indented one further and listed next to
numberings (i.e. i., ii., iii.);
■ Abbreviations must be written out in full the first time they appear,
and can be shortened thereafter.

○ Examples of operative phrases include but are not limited to:

Accepts Deplores Emphasizes Notes

Affirms Designates Encourages Proclaims

Approves Draws the attention Endorses Reaffirms

Authorizes Emphasizes Expresses its Recommends

Calls Encourages appreciation Regrets

Calls upon Endorses Expresses its hope Reminds

41
 Condemns Expresses its Further invites Requests

Confirms Appreciates Further proclaims Solemnly affirms

Congratulates Expresses its hope Further reminds Strongly condemns

Considers Further invites Further recommends Supports

Declares accordingly Deplores Further requests Takes note of

Urges Designates Further resolves Transmits

Communicates Draws the attention Has resolved Trusts

Note : The phrase “ condemns ” can only be used in a resolution tabled in the security
council.

42
Crisis

● What is a Crisis in MUN?

○ A crisis situation in a Model United Nations conference is a hypothetical

situation presented to the committee by the Secretary-General/President,
members of the Secretariat or the members of the Committee Staff. It is the
simulation of a global or regional crisis that necessarily needs the
spontaneous response from the international community. The committee
where the crisis is introduced is called upon to set aside or table debate on
the current Agenda to allow the delegates of that specific committee to pay
attention to the occurence.

○ During this time the secretariat member describes the situation according to
the specific and possibly life-threatening information received by them
from a given or anonymous source, and may entertain points of information
regarding the same once they conclude offering the information to the
delegates as received by them.

○ Following this the committee immediately establishes a “Provisional

Speaker’s List” to discuss the crisis at hand. During the period in which the
committee is in a crisis, the house would receive real time “updates” on the
developments on the issue. A committee shall discuss a crisis until a
directive (plan of action) has been passed on it or until decided by a
member of the secretariat.

○ The considerations that should be made by the committee during a crisis

situation are:

■ Understanding the crisis and its potential implications.

■ Informing or not informing the public and press regarding a situation
or a planned action.
■ Taking immediate short term action and damage control.

43
 ■ Reacting to and negotiating with other entities.
■ Preventing further escalation and future crises.

● Directives

○ In the case of Crisis Situations, the committee does not have the time to
pass a Draft Resolution. The Crisis Situation needs immediate attention and
therefore a directive needs to be passed. A Directive is a short operative
document regarding the crisis at hand. It can be hand written as well and
doesn’t need pre-ambulatory clauses.

○ Public Directive - It is a directive entailing action that the committee will

take in response to the crisis as it happens. A public directive needs a
minimum of 20% of the committee as signatories. All in presentable format
need to be submitted to the Chairperson before their first reading to the
committee. They have no officially recognized authors but do require its
submitting delegate to be answerable to the contents of the directive.

○ A Directive needs to be first introduced in Committee on the discretion of

the Chairperson when the floor is open. A motion to this effect needs to be
raised and passed by simple majority. If the motion to introduce passes, the
Chairperson will read the directive for the benefit of the Committee. If there
are more than one directive, then all directives need to be introduced, in the
order that the Chairperson received them, before moving on to voting. More
than one Directive can be passed in a Committee if they do not contradict
the operative clauses of another Directive. The Committee then moves to
voting on the Directive(s). A simple majority is required to pass the
Directive, following which the Directive is put into effect.

○ Private Directive - It is a directive which dictates actions taken by an

individual nation, or a certain group of nations bilaterally or multilaterally
(Joint Directive) for working towards resolving the crisis faced by the
committee. It, like the aforementioned, is to be submitted to the
Chairperson in a presentable format but unlike the Public Directives, these

44
 actions need not be revealed to the committee unless the delegate(s) decide
otherwise.

○ These specified actions in the operative clauses can only be of scope within
the individual or collective mandates/powers of the author nations and these
actions are considered to be executed by them or on their order. As these
Directives are not voted upon by the committee, the implementation of any
Private Directive is upto the discretion of the Chairperson.

● Communiqués

○ A communiqué is used to communicate with individuals/ organizations

outside the committee. It is written in the form of a note that contains the
name/ post of the recipient, the name/ post of the author and the message
itself.

○ These communiqués on the discretion of the delegate have to be specified

in the written note to the Chairperson or crisis staff as open, that is,
disclosed to the committee, or closed, which are communications made
with the committee unaware of them.

● Press Releases

○ A press release is used to publicly reveal information through specified/

unspecified press channels. These provide lines of communication to the
outside world as the occurrences within the committee are of highly
secretive nature.

Notes to the crisis staff/ chair: These can be used to clear doubts and retrieve
further data regarding a current/ previous crisis situation or update.

● Presidential Statements

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○ A presidential statement is used to make statements on behalf or from the
Executive Head of the member represented in order to show the seriousness
of the situation or action, or lack thereof.

○ The delegates must send in their speeches through chit form to the dias,
after the approval of which, the delegates must present the speech verbatim.
Under special circumstances, delegates may directly be given the
permission to present a presidential statement without the requirement of
the contents of the speech, but for the benefit of the crisis staff, delegates
are still requested to mention the ideas to be put forward in their
presidential address.

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Conference Policies

Official Language of the Conference

● The official and working language accepted at this conference in its official
documents and speeches is English.

Gadgetary Policy

● The Delegates are permitted the usage of one laptop or any other electronic device
of their comfort for the purposes of accessing their research, formulating
committee documents and so on and so forth.

● The delegates are requested not to misuse the provisions for accessible WiFi to
watch or present undignified content in the duration of the conference.

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ANNEX 1 - The Charter of the United
Nations
(Note: These do not include all articles of the charter, and just the most important ones
that every delegate should know about. An extensive reading and understanding of the
complete documents is highly suggested.)

● CHAPTER I - PURPOSES AND PRINCIPLES

○ Article 2, Clause 5 - All Members shall give the United Nations every
assistance in any action it takes in accordance with the present Charter, and
shall refrain from giving assistance to any state against which the United
Nations is taking preventive or enforcement action.

○ Article 2, Clause 7 - Nothing contained in the present Charter shall

authorize the United Nations to intervene in matters which are essentially
within the domestic jurisdiction of any state or shall require the Members to
submit such matters to settlement under the present Charter; but this
principle shall not prejudice the application of enforcement measures under
Chapter VII.

● CHAPTER II - MEMBERSHIP

○ Article 5 - A Member of the United Nations against which preventive or

enforcement action has been taken by the Security Council may be
suspended from the exercise of the rights and privileges of membership by
the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council.
The exercise of these rights and privileges may be restored by the Security
Council.

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 ○ Article 6 - A Member of the United Nations which has persistently violated
the Principles contained in the present Charter may be expelled from the
Organization by the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the
Security Council.

● CHAPTER IV -THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY

○ Article 11, Clause 3 - The General Assembly may call the attention of the
Security Council to situations which are likely to endanger international
peace and security.

○ Article 12, Clause 1 - While the Security Council is exercising in respect

of any dispute or situation the functions assigned to it in the present
Charter, the General Assembly shall not make any recommendation with
regard to that dispute or situation unless the Security Council so requests.

○ Article 14 - Subject to the provisions of Article 12, the General Assembly

may recommend measures for the peaceful adjustment of any situation,
regardless of origin, which it deems likely to impair the general welfare or
friendly relations among nations, including situations resulting from a
violation of the provisions of the present Charter setting forth the Purposes
and Principles of the United Nations.

● CHAPTER V - SECURITY COUNCIL

○ Article 23, Clause 1 - The General Assembly shall elect six other Members
of the United Nations to be non-permanent members of the Security
Council, due regard being specially paid, in the first instance to the
contribution of Members of the United Nations to the maintenance of
international peace and security and to the other purposes of the
Organization, and also to equitable geographical distribution.

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 ○ Article 25 - The Members of the United Nations agree to accept and carry
out the decisions of the Security Council in accordance with the present
Charter.

○ Article 27, Clause 3 - Decisions of the Security Council on all other

matters shall be made by an affirmative vote of nine members including the
concurring votes of the permanent members; provided that, in decisions
under Chapter VI, and under paragraph 3 of Article 52, a party to a dispute
shall abstain from voting.

○ Article 31 - Any Member of the United Nations which is not a member of

the Security Council may participate, without a vote, in the discussion of
any question brought before the Security Council whenever the latter
considers that the interests of that Member are specially affected.

○ Article 32 - Any Member of the United Nations which is not a member of

the Security Council or any state which is not a Member of the United
Nations, if it is a party to a dispute under consideration by the Security
Council, shall be invited to participate, without vote, in the discussion
relating to the dispute. The Security Council shall lay down such conditions
as it deems just for the participation of a state which is not a Member of the
United Nations.

● CHAPTER VI - PACIFIC SETTLEMENT OF

DISPUTES

○ Article 34 - The Security Council may investigate any dispute, or any

situation which might lead to international friction or give rise to a dispute,
in order to determine whether the continuance of the dispute or situation is
likely to endanger the maintenance of international peace and security.

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 ○ Article 36, Clause 3 - In making recommendations under this Article the
Security Council should also take into consideration that legal disputes
should as a general rule be referred by the parties to the International Court
of Justice in accordance with the provisions of the Statute of the Court.

● CHAPTER 7 -ACTION WITH RESPECT TO

THREATS TO THE PEACE, BREACHES OF THE
PEACE, AND ACTS OF AGGRESSION

○ Article 41 - The Security Council may decide what measures not involving
the use of armed force are to be employed to give effect to its decisions,
and it may call upon the Members of the United Nations to apply such
measures. These may include complete or partial interruption of economic
relations and of rail, sea, air, postal, telegraphic, radio, and other means of
communication, and the severance of diplomatic relations.

○ Article 42 - Should the Security Council consider that measures provided

for in Article 41 would be inadequate or have proved to be inadequate, it
may take such action by air, sea, or land forces as may be necessary to
maintain or restore international peace and security. Such action may
include demonstrations, blockade, and other operations by air, sea, or land
forces of Members of the United Nations.

○ Article 45 - In order to enable the United Nations to take urgent military

measures, Members shall hold immediately available national air-force
contingents for combined international enforcement action. The strength
and degree of readiness of these contingents and plans for their combined
action shall be determined, within the limits laid down in the special
agreement or agreements referred to in Article 43, by the Security Council
with the assistance of the Military Staff Committee.

○ Article 47, Clause 3 - The Military Staff Committee shall be responsible

under the Security Council for the strategic direction of any armed forces

51
 placed at the disposal of the Security Council. Questions relating to the
command of such forces shall be worked out subsequently.

○ Article 51 -Nothing in the present Charter shall impair the inherent right of
individual or collective self defense if an armed attack occurs against a
Member of the United Nations, until the Security Council has taken
measures necessary to maintain international peace and security. Measures
taken by Members in the exercise of this right of self-defense shall be
immediately reported to the Security Council and shall not in any way
affect the authority and responsibility of the Security Council under the
present Charter to take at any time such action as it deems necessary in
order to maintain or restore international peace and security.

● CHAPTER XIV - THE INTERNATIONAL COURT

OF JUSTICE

○ Article 94, Clause 1 - Each Member of the United Nations undertakes to

comply with the decision of the International Court of Justice in any case to
which it is a party. 2. If any party to a case fails to perform the obligations
incumbent upon it under a judgment rendered by the Court, the other party
may have recourse to the Security Council, which may, if it deems
necessary, make recommendations or decide upon measures to be taken to
give effect to the judgment.

● CHAPTER XV - SECRETARIAT

○ Article 99 - The Secretary-General may bring to the attention of the

Security Council any matter which in his opinion may threaten the
maintenance of international peace and security.

● CHAPTER XVI - MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS

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○ Article 102, Clause 1 - Every treaty and every international agreement
entered into by any Member of the United Nations after the present Charter
comes into force shall as soon as possible be registered with the Secretariat
and published by it

○ Article 102, Clause 2 - No party to any such treaty or international

agreement which has not been registered in accordance with the provisions
of paragraph 1 of this Article may invoke that treaty or agreement before
any organ of the United Nations.

○ Article 103 - In the event of a conflict between the obligations of the

Members of the United Nations under the present Charter and their
obligations under any other international agreement, their obligations under
the present Charter shall prevail

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