Crisis Committee Guide by İpek GÜNEŞ

Crisis committees differ from one another in MUN simulations; they are less formal and, in many ways, far more dynamic. In these kinds of committees, delegates are given the chance to apply their research and conflict strategies in an exciting and dynamic setting. In this article, I would like to give some specific information about these committees.

 

There are four types of crisis committees:

• Normal crisis committee,
• Joint crisis committee,
• Historical crisis committee
• and Futuristic crisis committee.

Normal Crisis Committee

In a normal crisis committee, delegates are obligated to find solutions to the problem or problems that their committee is tackling and solve the crises concerning the same topic. There can also be updates regarding the crises, but that is up to the crisis team of the conference. There is only one cabinet in normal crisis committees.

Joint Crisis Committee

However, A joint crisis committee consists of two opposite sides that tackle the same topic. For example, in my first ever joint crisis committee, we were dealing with the Spanish Civil War as the two opposing sides and we actually fought each other. The crises are solved by writing a small document called “Directive”, which I’m going to explain in this article further on.

But here is a sample directive from BHMUN’19:

1) Urges a press conference attended by all the nations in the Security Council to be done in order to:

            a)make public aware of the fact that the situation is under control,

            b)show every person that the United Nations stands united against the issue;

2) Invites all the nations in the Security Council to share the information that their intelligence agencies find about terrorist organizations, with main priority being Al-Qaeda with the intentions of:

          a) locating the Al-Qaeda members that have abducted the ambassadors from Saudi Arabia and the United States of America,

          b) getting further information about their terrorist groups;

3) Requests help from the United Nations peacekeeping troops in order to:

         a) neutralize mentioned Al-Qaeda members,

         b) rescue the kidnapped ambassadors from Saudi Arabia and the United States of America;

4) Encourages all the countries in the Security Council to provide any kind of aid to the United Nations peacekeeping troops that are going to locate and neutralize the Al-Qaeda members, with the priority being the members that were involved with the abducting.

In GA committees delegates write a working paper, turn it into a draft resolution and then vote upon it to make it become a resolution paper. However, in crisis committees, delegates usually make their progress by writing papers called directives. One should not forget that there still is a possibility of writing a resolution even in crisis committees, but it depends on the decision of the Secretary-General of that conference. Directives are shortened versions of a resolution paper, and they usually contain fewer articles than a resolution. They are written to solve crises as quickly and as efficiently as the delegates possibly can.

There are 3 main types of directives that are used in crisis committees. A committee directive, a joint directive, and a personal directive. A committee directive is usually written when all the delegates are on the same page about a solution since it requires consensus. A joint directive has the same idea of a committee directive, except it can pass with the 2/3 of the majority in the committee. Lastly, a personal directive is written when a single delegate wants to take action concerning the agenda, this type of directive only needs the approval of the secretariat, and depending on the preference of the delegate who wrote the directive, it will not be read out loud to the committee.

There is also a type of document called a press release. The main purpose of a press release is to inform the world of what you have done during your sessions and encouraging the world to do something. There is also another type of document which is called a declaration. A declaration is one of the final documents of the committee that contains the decisions that the delegates have come up with. It can also be considered as a resolution paper as well. Declarations are not frequently used documents in MUNs.

An Example of Press Release from SBMUN: 

Recent reports from news sources indicate that an alien spacecraft crashed through our atmosphere and landed somewhere in the desert near LasVegas, Nevada. After investigation, the Department of Defense has issued a statement that the downed craft wasaprototypeAir Force research project. Unfortunately, it still needs some work. The Cabinet would like to extend regret over the lives lost in the crash and dispel rumors of alien landings.

The last document you will write in a crisis committee is a communique. Communiques are used to contact with bodies or organizations outside your committee. Communiques are mostly used in NATO committees.

        Here is a part of Communiques from GCMUN’20:

Be it hereby resolved that the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation:

Is fully aware of the tension between North Atlantic Treaty Organization member states in the Eastern Mediterranean region, which is a major issue that concerns the countries in the region such as Israel, Lebanon and Egypt,

Is aware of the fact that the reason for the tension in Eastern Mediterranean are recently found oil, neutral gas and hydrocarbon resources, economic benefits that every country demands and increasing military activities in the region and the existence of Russian Federation,

Takes note that the tension caused by the recent resource foundations have been addressed the out 3+1 Energy Summit which was discussed at the committee which has to be discussed further at another meeting,

Draws attention to how the current conflict between the countries of the region and those seeking to gain their own countries profits from the Eastern Mediterranean affects the rise in military activity and the economic issues,

Affirms that a treaty is designed for the purposes of all the signatories and will fit profits of every countries’ policies to handle the tension of the Eastern Mediterranean,

Recalls the discussions the members of the house had with the representatives of Israel, Egypt and the Russian Federation that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization has made about maritime borders in order to prevent the tension in the Eastern Mediterranean,

Contemplate Turkish, Greek, Norwegian, Canadian and Icelander observers in order to get information about maritime borders, in accordance with the Libya-Turkey Agreement,

Expects for all the countries to inform the countries involved in the situation of Eastern Mediterranean operations that they are going to have in the region to signatories,

Reminds the countries to only use military forces in order to protect themselves from unexpected attacks,

Is declaring that there will be a future conference on 23rd January  2023, which will be held in Norway in order to address  Turkey’s position in East Mediterranean Gas Forum (EMGF),

Keeping in mind that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization has decided to give offers to Turkey which is mentioned in article 2,

Further deploring the countries which rejected the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s offer to minimize the military activities,

Taking notes for amendment of the United States of America which was having a future conference in order to discuss upon the offers that the United States of America made,

…..

…

.

Historical Crisis Committee

A historical crisis committee is basically a crisis committee that tries to find alternative solutions to historical events. For example, my last historical crisis committee tackled the issue of the Tehran Hostage Crisis, and as a committee, we found a different and more efficient solution rather than what actually happened.

Futuristic Crisis Committee

A futuristic crisis committee could be considered as quite the opposite of a historical crisis committee. In futuristic committees, the delegates try to find solutions regarding the predictions about possible future events.

The rules of procedure that are used in crisis committees differ from one conference to another. Therefore I would suggest that before a delegate studies for the given agenda item regarding the committee allocated, s/he should first briefly read the rules of procedure to have a better understanding of how his/her committee will work.

How to Get Ready for a Crisis Committee

Now that I’ve explained the basics of crisis committees, I would like to make my point on how to get ready for them. Getting ready for a crisis committee is easier than it may seem at first. When I was getting ready for my first ever crisis committee, I was really scared that my research would not be sufficient. But later on in that conference, I realized that I had more information than I needed. I hereby may give you 3 steps on how to get ready for a crisis committee:

1. Do research regarding your country or the person you represent and what their correlation with your agenda is,
2. Read your study guide,
3. Go through some websites that give information concerning the contents of your study guide.

These 3 steps are all you have to do. However, if you believe that your research is not enough, you can visit more websites but try not to stress it too much.

How to Get an Award in a Crisis Committee

I also would like to give you some tips on how to win awards in crisis committees. These are what I have done to win awards in crisis committees. I believe that, in order to win any awards,  your speeches have to contain these two things: knowledge about your topic and confidence. I assume that you all already know how important it is to know about your topic but I think delegates tend not to pay attention to other delegates who give their speeches without any confidence. I am aware that being confident while publicly speaking might be hard for some people, but they can start to learn how to be confident by speaking to a mirror or getting help from the members of their MUN clubs and their advisors.

I really would like to think that you’ve found this article helpful in terms of the different kinds of crisis committees and how they work. I try to cover as many points as possible such as how to get prepared in advance and tips for awards. Lastly, I would like to reassure you that if you have confidence and knowledge, you will succeed in the conferences unless you are too stressed.

If you do have any further questions about crisis committees, please do not hesitate to contact me.

İpek GÜNEŞ

Writer of MUNTurkey.com

ipekmgunes2004@gmail.com