GA COMMITTEES

*There are 6 General Assembly committees.

*All member states have an equal vote and P5+1 members do not have the veto power.

*There must be a simple majority to pass the documents drafted by these committees.

*All committees of the General Assembly are unable to impose sanctions, authorize armed intervention, or pass connective resolutions.

 

GA 1 – Disarmament and International Security Committee

DISEC considers the issues regarding the promotion, establishment, and maintaining global peace while simultaneously working to prevent weapon proliferation. WMDs and arms trade are major topics of DISEC.

DISEC cannot require that countries take a specific action. However, the committee can make recommendations to the Security Council about what should be done on a specific issue

When you do your research, it is important to look up for the countries that are involved in and related to the issue besides your country. DISEC requires resolutions to be detailed. You should make your research very detailed because of the nature of the topics.

 

GA 2 – Economic and Financial Committee

ECOFIN acts to discuss issues related to economic growth and development, financing for development, sustainable development, human settlements, eradication of poverty, globalization and interdependence, development operations, and development ICTs.

 

GA 3 – Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee

Since this committee examines human, social and culture related issues, the scale of its agenda items is quite extensive and may vary depending on the socio-cultural environment. It considers humanitarian affairs and human rights issues that affect people all over the world. Some issues discussed within SOCHUM related to women’s advancement, child protection, indigenous issues, refugee treatment, the promotion of fundamental freedom through the elimination of racism and racial discrimination, and the right to self-determination.

In order to effectually address its mandated issues, SOCHUM also operates closely with many other UN bodies.

When you do research, looking up for previous documents that are related to the agenda items will help you to understand the topics. You can also search if your country is involved in or affected by the issues on the agenda item.

 

GA 4 – Special Political and Decolonization Committee

The SPECPOL addresses a wide variety of issues such as broad range of issues covering a cluster of five decolonization-related agenda items, the effects of atomic radiation, questions relating to information, a comprehensive review of the question of peacekeeping operations as well as a review of special political missions.

 

GA 5 – Administrative and Budgetary Committee

The Fifth Committee is responsible for administrative and budgetary matters.

The Assembly is also considering and approving economic and budgetary agreements with specialized agencies and making suggestions to the relevant organizations.

The Fifth Committee may also consider urgent matters concerning the financing of a Security Council-approved peacekeeping mission.

 

GA 6 – Legal Committee

Legal Committee is basically the primary forum for the consideration of legal questions in the General Assembly.

It is tasked to promote the development of international law and each delegate in this committee is obligated to it.

Legal Committee considers the issues regarding international relations, trade, terrorism, diplomacy, disputes among states, people, organizations, and their reflections towards law.

 

HOW TO GET READY?

First Step: Read the study guide/chair report.

 

First of all, you need to read the study guide/chair report (you can find it on the conference’s website). I suggest you print them out because that makes it easier to take notes, highlight and underline the useful and important facts. If study guide/chair report makes you bored, imagine that you are a real delegate in the UN(actually that is the point of MUN but people usually forget that) and discuss upon the issues by yourself while reading the study guide/chair report. You can also note solutions down when you detect a problem written in the study guide/chair report.

 

This will be the base of the research.

 

Sometimes, study guides/chair reports may be uploaded on the website very late(1 or 2 weeks before the conference) or you might want to research before study guides/chair reports are uploaded on the website. In these cases, you can start to research directly from the next step.

 

Second Step: Make general and extensive research on the agenda items.

 

This step is optional but it will be more helpful if you search by your own except the given information by your chairs.

 

While making your research, you can get information from the PDFs provided by the UN. You can search for websites related to the issues on the agenda. Try to search as much as you can upon the agenda items.

 

Third Step: Learn your country’s policy!

 

Now it’s time to learn your country’s policy which you should follow during the conference. You need to know your country’s approach to the specific things upon the issues or directly to the issue. Search if your country is involved in the issues. If yes, look for the ways that you are involved. You should stick to your policy on the topic that you will be debating. Otherwise, you may get a warning by your chair or you won’t be able to get an award if they will recognize that you do not follow your policy.

 

Fourth Step: Write a position paper/policy statement.

 

When you write a position paper/policy statement, you should explain your country’s policy on the agenda items. Some MUN conferences require this, while others may not. But I suggest you write it even it is not necessary. That will help you to memorize and assimilate the topics.

Fifth Step: Search other countries’ policy…

 

This step is also not necessary but that may help you to understand the course of the issue and the debate.

 

Sixth Step: Think about solutions.

 

When you are done with your research and everything, try to come up with solutions. You may take notes in order to merge your ideas with other delegates while you are writing a resolution.

 

Seventh Step: Review the rules of procedure.

 

If you review the procedure and some phrases, you will understand the flow of the conference better and make it more comfortable. You can either search for them on the internet or you can read my article about the procedure.

https://www.munturkey.com/what-is-the-thimun-procedure-by-dila-kadigil/   

 

Eighth Step: It’s time to debate!

 

If you follow these steps, there is nothing to worry about. You know your country’s policy and you know about the topic. All you need to do is being brave. Don’t be shy, speak up! Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. If you have something to say, just raise your placard. If you are not out of time, try to make long and significant speeches. Try not to go off the topic. You got it!

 

 

Dila KADIGİL

The Writer of MUNTurkey.com

Email: dilakadigil@gmail.com