How to Write Documents in GA Committees for MUNs and Online MUNs by Azranur ERCİN

In this article, I’m going to explain all kinds of documents that you should know about for General Assembly committees. Let’s start!

 

Position Paper:

It is a document that you have to send to your chair board members (or USG) before the conference. Basically, this paper proves that you are aware of the agenda items and you know your country’s policy about the topic. You should, in your position paper, mention the problems and your country’s approach upon the topic. You don’t need to list all of your possible solutions, but make sure to include some ideas. Just make sure your chairs are persuaded that you have studied for the conference.

A position paper usually consists of 4 major subjects and these also make up the paragraphs of the position paper. The first paragraph gives general information about the country, when it was established, what the regime is, and how the government is put together. It may also include geographical information about the location of the country and its relations with neighboring countries.

The second and third paragraphs usually focus on the country’s relation with the committee and agenda item(s). It may give information about past actions on the topic, present legislation about it, and constitutional implementations.
The last section of the document should be wrapped up with possible new and creative solutions on the agenda item(s). These ideas may later be introduced to the committee.

Press Release:

This document is indispensable for crisis committees, together with directives. In press releases, you should briefly give information or respond (depends on the situation) to the public opinion. You should think of press releases as brief news articles. They have to appeal to the public. The important part is finding a catchy and pretentious headline. You can strengthen your press releases with mottos or hashtags.

Working Paper:

This document is written before the draft resolution. A working paper doesn’t have any writing format, so most of the time delegates prefer to write it like a draft resolution to save time. As a suggestion, you can list all delegates’ possible solution ideas. It can be useful in order to remember them while writing a draft resolution. Based on the working paper, delegates can find similar ideas and work on things together if their countries’ policies allow them to do so.

Draft Resolution:

The draft resolution is usually not very different from the official resolution. It is the final state of the document before the actual resolution. The draft resolution is basically the document in which the ideas from the working paper are merged together, detailed, and finalized. You must call it a draft resolution before voting upon it and granting it. If the draft resolution successfully passes, then you call it a resolution.

Resolution:

The resolution is a document that has been passed by the committee and aims to address a particular problem or issue. A perfect resolution includes effective and reasonable solutions and all of them should be detailed. The ’Questions to be addressed’ section of the chair report/study guide will be our best friend while focusing on problems that we should tackle.
There are two parts in a resolution paper, which are: preambulatory clauses and operative clauses.
a. Preambulatory clauses are the reasons and the facts of why the committee began to act. Basically, you should mention the problems, empowered by data. There are significant phrases to start a preambulatory clause such as affirming that, keeping in mind that, guided by, etc. The common format of preambulatory clauses is writing the first phrases in italic. There should be a comma at the end of the sentences.

Example:
“Recognizing that 20% of all international health aid goes to support the government’s overall programs while an estimated 50 % of health aid is off-budget,”

b. Operative clauses are the solution ideas that are discussed in the committee. You must answer WH-questions (What, Why, When, Where, Who, and How). A perfect operative clause is a rational solution and it should be detailed. You can use subordinate (sub.) and sub-sub-clauses in order to give further information and elaborate on the main operative clause. There should be a semicolon at the end of the sentences. If you explain a clause using sub-clauses, you should put a colon at the end of the sentence that comes before the sub-clause.
Example:
1. Encourages all the member states in order to have core elements of the healthcare system in 3 years period which includes:
a. a safety plan to eradicate and control over a possible emergency crisis over by:
i. analyzing possible health emergencies;
ii. establishing charters regarding imminent health disasters;

Signatory: A country’s delegate that signs the draft resolution to be put on the floor. A signatory doesn’t need to support a draft resolution, he/she only wants it to be discussed. Generally, there should be a minimum number of signatories of 1/5 of the total number of committee members.
Sponsor: A delegation that supports and is an author of the resolution. It is not required to include this part in a resolution.

Here is the format of a proper resolution:
________________________________________
Committee: UN Social, Cultural, and Humanitarian Committee
Topic: Promoting Efforts to Eliminate Human Right Violations Against Migrant Workers

Sponsors: The United States, Republic of Korea
Signatories: Algeria, Belgium, Canada

The General Assembly,

Preambulatory clauses,
.
.
1.Operative clauses;
.
.
________________________________________
Amendment:
It is a document in order to change or remove an operative clause. Preambulatory clauses cannot be amended. The writing format of an amendment is quite simple. You need to write the clause that you would like to be changed and under it, you write the amended version of the clause. Here is the format:
Amendment 1.1 Resolution 1.1
Amend clause 2 from the draft resolution which originally reads as:
“Declares that abcd”
To:
“Declares that dcba”

There are two kinds of amendments: friendly and unfriendly. Friendly amendments do not include anything controversial, so all of the sponsors accept it. Unfriendly amendments need to be voted upon. These documents are open for debate. In general, 20% of the house should vote in favor of an unfriendly amendment for it to be passed.

HOW DO WE WRITE THESE DOCUMENTS IN ONLINE MUNs?

Online MUNs have got a place in our lives recently and they have become our lifesavers during this challenging quarantine process. While writing all these documents, cooperation is the key point in both physical and online conferences. Joint working fields such as Google Documents are quite appropriate to write them in. In Online MUNs sometimes it can be hard to communicate in unmoderated caucuses so it would be better to share topics before starting to write the draft resolution. For example, delegates who have solution ideas about the same issue can work together and combine their ideas in the same or a few operative clauses.
You should share the work and communicate with other delegates as much as possible. Please do not hesitate to ask your chairs if you need any help.

 

Further Readings:

I explained all the documents you need to know really briefly. If you need further information, here are our other articles from MUNTurkey.com:

https://www.munturkey.com/how-to-write-a-position-paper-by-neris-aydemir/
https://www.munturkey.com/how-to-write-a-resolution-by-kayra-balikci/
https://www.munturkey.com/write-resolution-step-step-tutorial-written-miray-ayyildiz/

List of frequently used phrases in a resolution:

SAMPLE PREAMBULATORY PHRASES

Affirming Desiring Having considered Noting with approval
Alarmed by Emphasizing Having considered Observing
Approving Expecting further Reaffirming
Aware of Expressing its Having devoted Realizing
Bearing in mind appreciation attention Recalling
Believing Expressing its Having examined Recognizing
Confident satisfaction Having heard Seeking
Contemplating Fulfilling Having received Taking into account
Convinced Fully alarmed Having studied Taking into account
Declaring Fully aware Keeping in mind Taking into
Deeply concerned Fully believing Noting with regret consideration
Deeply conscious Further deploring Noting with deep Taking note
Deeply convinced Further recalling concern Viewing with
Deeply disturbed Guided by Noting with satisfaction appreciation
Deeply regretting Having adopted Noting further Welcoming

SAMPLE OPERATIVE PHRASES

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
Condemns Expresses its Further invites Requests
Confirms appreciation 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
Designates Further resolves Transmits
Draws the attention Has resolved Trusts

Author: Azranur ERCİN

Team Leader Meltem ESER

D.Team Leader Sezen ÖZKALP

Editor: Güneş BODUR