Ambassador Guide 2019
Ambassador Guide 2019
Ambassador Guide 2019
First dition
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Respect: Your Chair worked hard to provide you with a great MUN experience– respect their
authority and hopefully their expertise on the topic.
Smooth Sailing: Your Chair wants their committee to run smoothly– this means on schedule,
with constructive debate, and with all of the delegates in the room having a fun, empowering,
and educational experience. If you take that away, you’ll lose any chance you had of an award.
Grateful Delegates: Your Chair is taking a weekend from their lives to Chair your committee–
they usually have no chance at an award or other recognition for their role. Be grateful! This means
don’t frantically wave your placard or stare daggers at them when you’re not being called on. It also
means thanking your Chair for their hard work, cleaning up after committee ends, and not making
it personal if anything goes wrong procedurally during committee.
This means it’s especially important to capitalize on what your Chairs do see. The most obvious,
of course, are your speeches in front of the entire committee. Through your speeches in moderated
caucuses and work in unmoderated caucuses, you can show your Chair what they’re missing by
demonstrating leadership of a resolution bloc, authorship of certain clauses, or knowledge of your
precise country policy. We’ll call this “branding”– associating yourself and your country with positive
attributes that your Chair is looking for.
Holistic
at the end of the conference), the end of the conference), the
the Dais will score delegates Dais will give an impression of the
with points in several different overall performance of each of the
categories delegates
Favors delegates that are well Favors delegates that are seen
rounded across the categories as the leaders of their committee
being scored- for example: either through their leadership of
Speaking, Resolution Writing, resolutions or their leadership of
Negotiation, Knowledge of ideas and debate in the committee.
Procedure, and Professionalism Less skill focused
UN, NGOs, and Member States Member States Member States, UN Secretariat,
Member State meeting to negotiate adopting or rejecting the UN, and NGOs NGOs, and Member
speeches policy resolutions, implementing States reporting
conventions and Resolutions, on the progress of
treaties. Conventions, and different programs
Treaties. in implementing
solutions.
UN Precedent Sources
Speeches by the UN Major UN Events and Resolutions, Existing and Past Reports of the
and NGOs to the Outcome Documents Conventions, and Programs of UN Secretary General,
General Assembly Treaties Bodies and NGOs NGOs, and ECOSOC
Branding Note
When you’re thinking about what kind of research you’re going to focus on, think about how
you’re going to leverage it in committee. Do you want to come across as the well-researched
legal expert? Spend your time researching past resolution, treaties, and charters to cite in
speeches and resolutions. Want to be the inspirational reformer? Research potential solutions
that the UN hasn’t tried yet. Are you going to be a combative delegate? Research speeches
and statements by leaders of other countries that you can bring as ammunition against them.
Topic Background
• What is the definition of the topic? Try to get this from UN websites.
• Where does the topic take place? Who is involved?
• How many people does it affect? Where, and in what ways?
• What are the different sub-issues associated with this topic that must be addressed?
Country Policy
• How has this topic impacted your country?
• What has your country tried to do about this topic?
• What have your political leaders (your President, Prime Minister, Foreign Minister, or UN
representatives) said about this topic? Use quotes.
• What types of policies would your country want the UN to adopt (or not adopt) on this topic?
• What other Member States or Political Groups does your country prefer to work with on this topic?
Possible Solutions
• What specific plans would your country like the UN to undertake?
• What existing UN solutions would your country like to see expanded or scaled back?
• What specific plans would your country like Members States to undertake independently?
• Why would your ideas work? Give specific plans.
Tip
If you’re going to be in a large GA, your Chairs may have over 200 Position Papers to read.
They can’t spend more than a few minutes on each resolution. They will look for two main
things: (1) Did you follow the instructions about deadlines, length, formatting, etc., and (2)
Do you offer decent Possible Solutions to the issue? If the answer is “no” to either of these
questions, your Chairs could use this to disqualify your paper from research award contention
and save themselves the time of actually reviewing the entire paper.
According to UN Women, gender equality refers to “the equal rights, responsibilities and opportunities
of women and men and girls and boys.” Gender inequality is a global issue: many women lack
adequate access to healthcare, are underrepresented in political arenas (women hold only 22% of
parliamentary seats worldwide), are victims of gender-based violence (approximately one in three
women worldwide have experienced physical or sexual violence), face discrimination in the workplace
and in wages, and lack equal access to education (two-thirds of illiterate adults are women).
These issues have myriad causes, including cultural beliefs about gender and marital roles, and legal
regulation. These detrimental inequalities are cyclical and complex: a female’s educational career,
for example, is affected by pregnancy, household work, access to sanitation facilities at school,
and the danger of physical and sexual assault.
The creation of United Nations Women in 2010 through resolution A/64/588 was a “historic step”
in achieving gender equality, by “bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact”. In
addition to UN Women, the main mechanism to promote gender equality worldwide is the legally-
binding Convention of the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW),
adopted in 1979 with nearly universal participation. The UN General Assembly has also recently
adopted A/RES/69/149 on combatting trafficking of women and girls, A/RES/69/147 to eliminate
violence against women, and A/RES/69/236 to emphasize the role of women in development.
Through these resolutions, organisms, and NGO partners, the UN and Member States work to
invest in women, provide legal protections, and educate women to accomplish these goals and
achieve gender equality.
Given the integral role of women’s economic equality and independence in achieving gender equality,
the Russian Federation strives to ensure that women had equal access to education and employment
in order to achieve their potential, as Russian President Vladimir Putin has stated to the UN General
Assembly. Russia encourages cooperation between UN Women and Developing Countries, not just
Developed Countries. Because of the importance of economic development in empowering women,
Russia would like cooperation between UN Women and the International Labor Organization as well as
other UN bodies to craft plans for equality based in each nation’s traditional values and norms. Russia
also feels it is critical that the United States ratifies CEDAW, as it is the largest nation not to do so.
The Russian Federation feels that important subtopics that must be addressed are gender-based
violence, women’s lack of access to education and jobs, and women’s lack of representation in politics
and political decision-making. To address women’s lack of representation in politics, countries can be
encouraged to ensure inclusion of women candidates and create recruitment and training programs to
introduce young women to politics. In order to combat and prevent gender based violence, countries
can develop crisis centers and hotlines for women and develop rehabilitation programs for victims of
violence. Also, Russia believes countries should ensure the safe transport of girls and women to and
from schools, invest in hiring female teachers, provide adequate sanitation facilities at schools, and
emphasize skill-based hiring programs in all industries, including those normally reserved for men.
3. Call to Action: Your solutions to the topic that you plan to put into a resolution.
Feet: If you move around the room too much, or if you rock back and forth, then you may be
distracting your audience. Keep still! You should only move when you need to step toward your
audience for emphasis on a specific point or direct your comments toward a specific section.
Hands: Make sure your hands aren’t distracting– if they’re moving too much, it’s best to just keep
them at your side. If you want to go a bit more advanced, try either the Palm-Up gesture (First)
or the Fingertip Touch (Second). Never point at your audience (Third) and avoid the Palm-Down
gesture (Fourth).
Sound
Volume: You should be heard, and sound confident throughout the room! Pretend you’re speaking to
the delegates in the back row– can they hear you properly?
Speed: If you speak too quickly, you’ll sound like you’re nervous to get the words out. While it may be
hard to change the pace that you actually say words, trying adding strategic pauses after sentences or
strong points in your speech. Count to two, and then continue.
Tone: If you’re monotone, then you will sound boring to your audience. To create tone, you actually need
to feel some emotion about what you’re saying. Basically- don’t read it off a script!
Branding Note
Want to deliver your speech with some extra “umph” to sell your point? If you’re angry,
try some of the more aggressive tactics listed above (finger pointing, angry tone, loud
voice). If you’re calling for everybody to come together, focus on welcoming elements
of style (open palms, eye contact, slow speaking). Use these skills!
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Framing Debate
If you’ve researched properly, you should have a few solutions related to sub-topics of the issue before
your committee that you hope to champion throughout debate and brand as your solutions. There are
also likely a few sub-topics that you don’t want to talk about, either due to lack of research/solutions or
because of the policy of your country. Use moderated caucuses to keep debate in the areas of the topic
that you’re strong with, and present your solutions as the main solutions to these sub-issues. During
moderated caucuses, advanced delegates may do something like the following to “frame” the debate
in a way that is favorable to themselves.
Yemen: “It seems like the committee is in agreement that Desertification and Climate
Change Related Natural Disasters are the most critical sub-issues of this topic for our
committee to address. Yemen would like to draw the committee’s attention to the working
paper “Hot as a Sana’a” which in detail addresses desertification and natural disasters, and
we encourage the entire committee to come on board with these solutions and commit any
additional ideas you have pertaining to these issues.
Unmoderated Caucuses can be viewed as having 5 main stages– during these stages, you can move
your bloc forward while also propelling yourself forward as a leader.
1. Bloc Discovery- During this stage, delegates are running around the room or standing on chairs
yelling to find other delegates for their bloc. However, a strong delegate has already networked before
committee and sent notes to delegates to form their bloc, and can quickly slip away to get to work.
2. Bloc Formation- While blocs are forming, your goal is to solidify your group and get to work.
This means that instead of fighting about differences, the team should start listing everything they can
agree on to plan clauses quickly so there’s a document the group can be formed around, and a reason
to stay because they’ve contributed their ideas and they’ve been accepted by the group.
3. Bloc Management- Figure out what your personal main clause or two will be, and make sure
everybody in the group has a role to move the bloc forward. Some potential roles may include the
following, but roles can rotate throughout the conference:
Writer- The person who is literally writing or typing the resolution for your group.
Note-takers- Delegates who will go to other groups to see what they’re writing about, what
they’re not writing about (to take advantage of being the only resolution about certain topics),
and what groups could potentially be merged with.
Recruiters- Delegates who will travel around the room to find more contributors, more votes,
or encourage delegates who would otherwise oppose the resolution to abstain.
Defender- The delegate who will fend off any delegates that come to fight with your group,
to prevent the entire group from getting derailed.
4. Bloc Leadership- Here is where you assert yourself as the leader of the group. During debates
between members of the bloc, try to place yourself as the “Chair” or “Mediator” of these disputes to
demonstrate authority. Determine a name for your bloc (for example, the Africa bloc, or something more
creative related to the membership of your bloc) and resolution (can be a funny name or something
related to your solutions) to brand it, and then be the first person to openly mention these names in a
speech so the entire committee associates you with your bloc and your resolution.
5. Bloc Defense- Defend your resolution in formal debate, as well as making sure mergers are on your
terms rather than another bloc’s. During this phase you should actively pursue more votes for your
resolution, and get your resolution as much air-time in front of the committee as possible.
Tip
The Best Delegate brings out the best in other delegates. Don’t be aggressive, don’t
dominate your group, and don’t roll over people. If your bloc likes you, the Chair will
see this and judge accordingly.
Preambular Paragraphs
There’s actually a very specific structure to the preamble of any resolution. By following this structure
you not only make sure your resolution looks more professional, but it also gives you ideas on more
content you can include to beef up your resolution.
1. Your first preambular paragraph should refer to the UN Charter or specific articles within the Charter.
If you can’t find something that works in the Charter, use the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
2. Second, refer to past treaties, conventions, or UN resolutions (in that order). As you can see,
your preamble should open with listing the international precedent from most important to least.
3. Third, include general observations about the topic. This is what most MUN resolutions have in their
preamble, and this is where you can identify different sub-topics or share statistics about why this
resolution is important.
4. Lastly, refer to any Reports of the Secretary-General about the issue being discussed.
Operative Paragraphs
As you know, your operative paragraphs are what you use to take action and make recommendations
to Member States. However, the Operative Phrases that you use can make a huge difference in
the resolution– keep this in mind while defending your resolution, but also in your critiques of other
resolutions.
1. In order from least strong to most strong common operative phrases, it would be Requests, then
Calls Upon, then Urges, and finally Demands if you’re asking Member States to take action.
2. General Assembly resolutions would use Recommends or Invites to ask the Security Council or any
other UN bodies to do something.
3. The second time in a row you use an operative phrase, you should add an “Also”, for example “Also
Requests”. The third time, you add a “Further”, for example “Further Requests”
4. Your final Operative Paragraph should be a request to the Secretary General to deliver a report on the
issues and solutions included in your resolution if you’re determining any UN actions.
Bearing in mind Article 1 of the Charter of the United Nations, which states that the purposes of the
United Nations include “To maintain international peace and security, and to that end: to take effective
collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace...”,
Recalling its resolution A/RES/68/178 which sought to limit the use of armed Unmanned Aerial
Vehicles UAVs in combating terrorism without the express permission of Member States,
Concerned by the recent high rate of civilian casualties in the rate of armed UAV strikes,
Aware of potential medical, commercial, agricultural, and other beneficial functions of unarmed UAVs,
Expressing concern that countries’ national sovereignty is being violated by certain nations,
conducting extrajudicial targeted killing in their territory with UAVs without declaring war,
Welcoming the January 2014 report of the Secretary General S/2014/9 on the need for global
cooperation to combat terrorism, specifically in sub-saharan Africa,
1. Encourages countries to adopt a UNHCR and UNODA orchestrated 2014 Covenant on Extrajudicial
Drone Strikes that:
a. Treats extrajudicial targeted assassination outside declared conflict zones as violations
of the 1966 Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,
b. Reaffirms the rights of nations to develop drones, especially for nonviolent purposes,
c. Acknowledges that drone use in self-defense and inside declared war zones is acceptable
in accordance with existing international law;
2. Strongly encourages the use of drones in peaceful and primarily civilian affairs within each nation for
instances of agricultural progress, surveillance, monitoring natural disasters and the environment;
3. Notes that the 2014 Covenant on Extrajudicial Drone Strikes will be based on the principles that:
a. Every state has the right to develop unmanned aerial vehicles for peaceful civilian purposes
such as development and transportation of goods,
b. In times of peace, no state can operate UAVs in another state’s airspace without consent,
c. Parties undergoing war must adhere to the norm of proportionality, which states that the
anticipated benefits of waging war are greater than the expected evils or harms;
4. Calls for the establishment of the World Forum on Drone Innovation (WFDI) that will meet annually
starting in 2015 for private companies, national governments, and NGOs to discuss drone uses for
peaceful purposes including but not limited to scientific, agricultural, and economic uses;
6. Encourages the creation of a fund supported by the UN ICS to develop satellite technology drones
(instead of the actual antenna technology drones) in the following five years specificaly for efficient
longer-ranged operations that contribute to international security;
7. Recognizes the work of the “Responsibility to Protect” which was launched in 2005 and insists that
drones should be used under the following guidelines:
a. carry the primary responsibility to protect populations from genocide, war crimes,
crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing, and their incitement,
b. international communities have the responsibility to encourage and assist states in fulfilling
the protection of their countries,
c. the international community has the right to use appropriate diplomatic humanitarian and
other means to protect populations from crimes;
8. Emphasizes the need for protective measures used against any violations that destabilize public
security and pose any nation to the threat of terrorism, which can be done by methods including but
not limited to expanding the relations between the UN Counter-Terrorism Center and governments;
9. Calls for the international community wishing to increase their aid for expanding and enhancing
community centres that ensure the rehabilitation of people traumatized and physically affected by
drones that can be done by means including but not limited to:
a. providing psychological aid for those suffering the aftermath of drone attacks such as PTSD,
b. insuring the medical care for physically injured persons,
c. providing shelter and food for those affected by drones until they are physically and mentally
able to pursue their lives;
10. Requests the Secretary General to deliver a global report on the progress toward achieving peace
through the use of unarmed UAVs in UN Peacekeeping Operations and UN Special Political Missions.
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Precedence of Motions
“Precedence” describes what motions will be voted on first when there are competing motions.
With most motions, precedence won’t make a big difference– you will rarely be trying to Open Debate,
Open the Speakers’ List, Close the Speakers’ List, or Adjourn while there are other motions to consider.
However, there are two key instances when precedence of motions matters.
1. A Motion to Close Debate will be voted upon before anything except for adjournment. This means
that if you want to move into Voting Procedure and other delegates want to keep discussing a topic,
your Motion to Close Debate will be voted on first!
2, Unmoderated Caucuses are voted on before Moderated Caucuses, and Moderated Caucuses
are voted on based on which motion is for the most time. So, a minute unmoderated will be voted
on before a 5-minute moderated, and an 11 minute moderated will be voted on before a 10 minute
moderated. This can be used to get your motion voted on first (usually the person that moved for a
moderated caucus gets to deliver the first speech).
Rights of Reply
At many conferences, if you feel that you have been personally attacked or your country has been
unfairly insulted in debate, you can send a note to the Dais to request a Right of Reply. A Right of
Reply enables you to deliver a speech on why your country is offended and why the statements are
inaccurate, and can be a great way to show off your speaking ability and procedural knowledge.
Quorum Check
If you’re in a Security Council committee, and you want to try to trick your way into avoiding a veto by
a P5 nation, you can try to get the veto power you’re worried about to leave the room and then move to
Close Debate. Nobody can enter the room during Voting, so they’ll be unable to veto. Note: You can’t
do this if they responded Present and Voting, because a vote can only take place with them present.
Motions to comment
If a delegate forgets to “yield their time” at the end of their speech, you can raise a “motion to
comment”, to deliver a remark on the speech that was just delivered, no matter where you are on
the Speaker’s List.
Types of Yields
Though you may be used to saying “I yield my time to the Chair”, you have two other options– you can
yield to another delegate, or yield to questions. Try yielding to questions after you present an especially
innovative idea, or yielding to another delegate if you need somebody to back up your point and know
that they’re on board.
u lic ea ing
tinyurl.com/publicspeakinghands Actions Speak Louder Than Words: Body Language in MUN- Part 1, Hands
tinyurl.com/publicspeakingarmslegs Body Language in MUN Part 2: Arms and Legs
tinyurl.com/publicspeakingfirstaid Public Speaking First Aid: How to Overcome Nervousness, Intimidation, &
Perfectionism
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tinyurl.com/WIMUNresolutionguide e MUN Guide to riting an A esome esolution
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