CGS MUN

Delegate Manual
Table of Contents:
Research………...............................................................................................pg. 3

Policy Statements..………………………………………………………….. pg. 6

Lobbying…………………………………………………………………….. pg. 6

Rules of Procedure

-Debate……………………………………………………………… pg. 7

-Points………………………………………………………………. pg. 7

-Motions…………………………………………………………….. pg. 8

-Amendments…………………………………………...................... pg. 9

-Yielding……………………………………………………………. pg. 9

-Voting……………………………………………………………… pg. 9

-Note-passing……………………………………………………….. pg. 10

-Funding…………………………………………………………….. pg. 10

-Miscellaneous……………………………………………………… pg. 10

Appendix

-Sample Resolution Format…………………....……………………. pg. 11

-Words and Phrases to introduce Clauses…………………………… pg. 12

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 Research
Once the school has assigned you to your respective Committee, it is crucial to do in-depth
research about the topics of the committee and the country’s / organization’s policies.

How to research a country?

In-depth knowledge about the country is essential. Firstly, you must know the
fundamental facts in order to place the country in a global context. A historical
background of your country is useful to know so as to understand the impact that the
topics of your committee have on your country but also what stance you should take. Also
important to explore is how your country perceives other countries and the other way
around. Knowing foreign policy is always helpful and can assist in working well with
other member states. It is best to gain an insight on the relations that your country
has with the rest of the international community so as to know with which Member
States you can cooperate during lobbying.

Regarding sources of information, websites and books prove to be easily available

resources. A few good examples are:

CIA: The World Fact Book

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/

BBC Country Profiles

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/country_profiles/default.stm

US Department of State
https://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/subject/index.htm

Permanent Missions to the United

Nations https://www.un.int/

UN System: UN
Organizations
http://www.unsystem.org/

Council of World Affairs http://www.worldaffairs.org/

Also, the ministry of foreign affairs of the country you represent is a good source of
information.

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There are some questions that you can ask yourself every time you profile a country.
- In which region is my country and what are the major disputes and
issues in this part of the world?
- What is the political regime of my country (e.g. democracy,
dictatorship etc.)? On this question do not only rely to official
websites, since they can be “misleading” (e.g. The North Korea or
DPRK claims that it is a democracy but it is apparent that this is not
so.)
- What are my country’s relations with the rest of the nations in the region?
- Is my country currently or has ever been in a dispute with any other
country?
- Is my country a member of large organizations (such as EU, Arab
League, African Union, NATO etc.)?
- Has my country signed all major treaties and does it abide by them? (e.g.
Non-Proliferation Treaty, Kyoto Protocol etc.)
- Historically (in the past decades), have there been any major
conflicts that my country took part in?

How to research an issue?

Once delegates have knowledge about the country, they must also do in-depth research on
the topic. This may include an explanation of the problem and its international
importance, relevant facts, statistics, previous UN resolutions, documents, treaties and
prior attempts at solutions. It is best to start the research with the oldest information and
work towards the most recent. Things to consider are the country’s policy on the issue,
how they have (if they have) taken any measures to resolve it, as well as the view of other
member states.

As for sources, at first the Study Guides on the conference’s website are a good way to
form an early opinion. It is also beneficial to check the bibliography of the study guide as
it might contain useful websites.

Since most topics are from the UN, the United Nations website is a good way to start
research (www.un.org). Try to isolate key words to use while researching rather than
whole titles. Another website is:

Global Policy Forum http://www.globalpolicy.org

Also it would be advisable to use News Channels as a source, such as BBC, CNN, Al
Jazeera, Deutsche Welle, Franc 24, Reuters etc. Generally keeping up to date will help you
form an opinion about international politics and issues and help you operate in a committee
handling international crises.

If you want to test yourself, you can try to answer the following questions fully. If
you can answer, you most probably have the knowledge to stand in a committee:

- What does my topic refer to? Does it have a historic background?

- Has the UN taken any previous measures to alleviate the issue?
- What are (if any) the major events, conventions and treaties around the
issue?
- Has my country taken any measures on the current issue?
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 - What are in general the points of view of the rest of the countries in the
committee?
- Are t here any UN bodies or other Non-Governmental Organizations
established in the wake of this issue?

After obtaining a rounded view on the issue you should start writing your draft resolution.
You can find a sample resolution in the Appendix. It is essential that you bring a draft
resolution as you will merge it with other delegates during lobbying to compose the
resolution which will later be debated in the Committee.

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 Policy Statements
A policy statement is a short speech, in which you express your country’s point of view
on the issues of the committee. It can concern either one of the issues or all of them. It
should be as brief as possible, as it should not exceed the time length of one minute (~one
paragraph). It is essential to prepare one, as you may be asked for policy statements at the
beginning of debate.

Lobbying
During Lobbying, you may freely move around the room and form alliances.
Alliances or blocs are groups of countries that, according to their national policy, co-
operate well with each other and will work together on producing resolutions. The members
of an alliance sign the co-submitter sheet, which is approved by the Chairs, and start
working together by discussing their ideas and merging the clauses of their draft
resolutions. In this process, teamwork is essential!
(Please keep in mind that even if your countries policies are the same on one issue
there are certain states that cannot be in the same alliance e.g. the US with DPRK. Also, if
you have co-submitted a resolution it does not mean that you agree with it, but rather that
you want it to be discussed)

After the draft resolution is ready, the bloc decides on a main-submitter, who will be the
representative of the resolution, and the one who will introduce it to the Committee
(also, often referred to as “House”).

The Chairs will mainly check the draft resolutions for: grammar, syntax and content errors
as well accordance to the UN principals and the Committee’s jurisdiction (what the
Committee is allowed to do). Another point the Chairs will check is plagiarism (using the
work of someone else and claiming it as your own).
Plagiarism will not be tolerated!

After corrections are made, the main-submitter types the resolution in the Computer Room
(you are encouraged to use your own laptops in order to speed-up the process), and the
paper gets a D-number (where D stands for Draft). The resolution is then sent via internal
network to the Approval Panel, which will make final corrections, (such as checking
accordance to the countries’ policies and the UN Charter) and assign the resolution an A-
number (A means Approved). Then copies will be made and sent to the Committee to be
debated.

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 Rules of Procedure11
Debate Time and Debate Mode
Open Debate is the mode followed in CGSMUN when debating resolutions. This means
that a member of the House can deliver a speech and take any appropriate stance against a
resolution. However, upon debating amendments the mode changes to Closed Debate,
meaning that there is separate and set time for speakers in favour and speakers against.

We would like to remind you that speeches should always respect diplomatic courtesy and
you should refrain from using the first person.

Points
Note: The only point allowed to interrupt a speaker is the Point of Personal Privilege, when
referring to audibility.

i. Point of Personal Privilege

▪ Refers to the comfort and well-being of the delegate
▪ It may only interrupt a speaker if it refers to audibility
▪ It may not refer to the content of a speech
▪ Not debatable and does not require a second

ii. Point of Parliamentary Enquiry

A point that may not interrupt the speaker and is a question referring directed to the chairs referring to
the Rules of Procedure.

iii. Point of Order

▪ It refers to procedural matters only, i.e. if the chair makes an error in the order of debate or in the
setting/observing of debate time
▪ May NOT interrupt a speaker and is not debatable. It can only interrupt the voting procedure, if a
char makes an error concerning voting.
▪ It can only refer to something that just happened, direct referral.
▪ If used by a delegate simply to cause disorder or to get their point across, called out of order.

iv. Point of Information to the Speaker

▪ Point of Information to the speaker is a question directed to the delegate having the floor, and
who has opened himself/herself to points of information.
▪ The delegate asking the Point of Information may only speak if recognized by the Chair.
▪ Delegates asking questions should remain standing when the speaker is replying to their Point of
Information. Male delegates should have their jacket on.
▪ Must be formulated in the form of a question. A short introductory statement may precede the
question. Only ONE question comes by the same questioner.
▪ There will be no dialogue between speaker and questioner on the floor. There are NO follow-ups!

v. Point of Information to the Chair

▪ It is a question directed to the chair and may NOT interrupt a speaker
▪ It is a question referring to anything that does not fall under the category of Point of Parliamentary
Enquiry, Point of Order or Point of Personal Privilege.
▪ Delegates should remain standing when the chair is answering their point of information.

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Please note that CGSMUN follows the THIMUN Rules of Procedure and therefore this Manual is based upon them.
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Motions
a. Motion to Move to the Previous Question
▪ This motion indicates the closure of debate and a vote to be taken.
▪ It requires a second from the house and the Chair has to ask for possible objections.
▪ When in time in favour of discussing an amendment, this motion means that the delegates wish to
move to time against.
▪ This motion is up to the discretion of the Chair, who can overrule it if he/she thinks that the topic at
hand has not been fully covered.

b. Motion to Adjourn Debate

▪ Calls for the temporary disposal of debate.
▪ The delegate putting the motion forward will have to deliver a short speech as a justification and
then the Chair will have to give to give the floor to some other delegates as well (either in favour or
against the motion).
▪ Then there will be voting, in which simple majority is needed, so that the resolution debated is put
aside.
▪ If the motion fails, debate will continue, if the forum passes the motion, debate on the resolution
will come to an immediate end but can be restarted by any member of the forum, if a two thirds
majority of the forum supports this.

c. Motion to Reconsider a Resolution

▪ Needs a majority of 2/3 of the house to pass.
▪ It is not debatable and refers to a resolution that has been previously debated and voted upon.

d. Motion to withdraw a resolution

▪ This motion can be put forward only if all co-submitters of a resolution agree on the withdrawal.
▪ Is only to be entertained and raised before voting on the resolution takes place.
▪ The motion can be moved by any member of the forum.
▪ A resolution can also be withdrawn by the Chair/ a secretariat member due to plagiarism or any
other important reason.

e. Motion to extend debate time

▪ It is up to the discretion of the Chairs whether this motion will be entertained or not.
▪ Needs a second from the house.

f. Motion to divide the house

▪ This motion disables voting delegations from abstaining, thus only votes in favour and against are
valid.
▪ No Roll-Call takes place. Delegates vote collectively.
▪ May only be entertained when voting on resolutions.
▪ It is at the Chair’s discretion to entertain it or not.

g. Motion to vote by Roll-Call

▪ This motion should only be raised if votes in favour and against are very close, and the delegate
feels that Admin Staff and/or Chairs have made a mistake in counting the votes or that a delegate
has accidentally voted twice.
▪ It is not debatable and at the Chair’s discretion to entertain it or not.
▪ This motion is almost never entertained, as it is EXTREMELY time-consuming, and most of the
time the voting outcome has little to no difference from the original since abstentions are allowed

h. Motion to retake the vote

▪ Should only be raised if the delegate feels that Staff and/or Chairs have made a mistake in counting
the votes or that a delegate has accidentally voted twice.
▪ Not debatable. It is at the Chair’s discretion to entertain it or not.
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Amendment of the First Degree

The Amendment should be written on an official Amendment Sheet that is available at the
Chairs desk. The handwriting should be clear and legible. The delegate is responsible for
moving the amendment and the Chair, knowing who has submitted an amendment, will
recognize or not the delegate in particular. It is therefore the responsibility of the delegate to
put an amendment forward.

If the Chair entertains an amendment, he/she will have to read it out to the house, so that the
delegates are informed about the content of the proposed change. The amendment will be
debated, and must always be put to a vote even if it is only a change of one word. However,
if there is a grammatical/spelling mistake, it is up to the discretion of the Chair to step in and
speed up the process. This change can be adopted without a vote, as long as there are no
objections from the submitters of the resolution.

Closed debate is the norm for amendments and the guillotine time is usually set to 2 minutes
in favour, two minutes against the amendment. However, the time is flexible, according to
the significance of the change proposed. In any case, the debate on the amendment will have
to take place with the same amount of speakers in favour and against of it (e.g. 2 for, 2
against).

Amendment of the Second Degree

An amendment of the second degree can only be entertained in time against of the
amendment of the first degree (though it should have been sent to the Chairs earlier). The
same procedure followed in the debate of Amendments of the first degree also applies here.
The debate time on this amendment does not count as time against the Amendment of the
first degree and the discussion on the initial amendment will be continued, regardless of the
result of the voting on the amendment of the second degree.

There are no third and further degree amendments.

Yielding the floor to other delegations

The floor may be yielded by one delegation to another only once consecutively.
Points of Information are in order even after yielding the floor to another delegation. It is
still however under the Chairs discretion if they are going to allow the yield.

Voting

All delegations can vote on resolutions and amendments. When voting for resolutions and
amendments, the members of the house can vote in favour, against or abstain from voting.
When voting on procedural issues there are no abstentions from voting. During the voting
procedure all points are out of order, except for the point of order, when it refers to
the actual voting procedure. A resolution with a tied vote fails.

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 Note-passing

Note-passing is allowed between the delegates. All notes passing through the House will be
read by members of the Administrative Staff. Note-passing between Committees is not
allowed. Please keep in mind that Notes are only for diplomatic discussions and Notes with
inappropriate content will be delivered to the Student Officers.

Funding

There is common confusion, on whether a Committee whose focus is not financial, has
to include methods of funding the measures mentioned in the resolution. You should keep
in mind that it is in order to include possible funding methods, without however explicitly
referring to sums (e.g. Asks the World Bank to provide 5.43 million US dollars funds
to…).

Miscellaneous

▪ Always make reference to Less Economically Developed countries as LEDCs, not ‘Poor
Countries’ or ‘Third World’.
▪ Mobile phones must be switched off at all times.
▪ You may use Laptops/Tablets in the Committee room only during lobbying and only to
type a resolution. Otherwise all other devices are prohibited.
▪ Decency for both sexes is essential. Women should not wear revealing clothes and
men should always wear their jackets while standing.
▪ There will be a Computer room available for you to go and type your Resolutions. At
any given moment only two members may exit to type the Resolution, one of which should
be the Main Submitter.
▪ Whenever y o u e x i t t h e r o o m i n d i v i d u a l l y (meaning t h a t n o t the entire Committee
exits for lunch or a plenary session), you should leave your badge on the Chairs desk.

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 Sample Resolution Format22

FORUM: Special Political and Decolonization Committee (4th GA)

QUESTION OF: The situation in Pakistan

SUBMITTED BY: Brazil

CO-SUBMITTED BY: Argentina, Belarus, Iran, Mexico, Somalia, Venezuela

THE 4TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE,

Guided by the principles and the objectives of the Charter of the United Nations and the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights,

Expressing its appreciation for the work of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
in Pakistan,

1. Calls for the implementation of measures to ensure that the madrassas (religious
schools) refrain from recruiting mujahedeen fighters and religious terrorists, such as
but not limited to:
a) revision of the current legislation for schools stating that:
i. the State is mainly responsible for providing education to
children,
ii. school education is free of charge for all children,
b) interference of UN peacekeeping forces for a limited period of time;

2. Proposes the cooperation of the Security Council and the Disarmament Committee as
far as the disarmament of Pakistani armed terrorists is concerned;

3. Decides to remain actively seized of the matter.

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Normally, a resolution should have more clauses. This is a sample to demonstrate the correct format.

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 Words and Phrases to introduce Preamble Clauses

Acknowledging Expecting Noting with appreciation

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

Words and Phrases to introduce Operative Clauses

Accepts Emphasizes Proposes

Affirms Encourages Recommends
Approves Endorses Regrets
Asks Expresses its appreciation Requests
Authorizes Expresses its hope Resolves
Calls for Further invites Seeks
Calls upon Further proclaims Strongly affirms
Condemns Further recommends Strongly condemns
Congratulates Further requests Strongly urges
Confirms Further resolves Suggests
Declares accordingly Hopes Supports
Deplores Identifies Trusts
Draws the attention Invites Transmits
Designates Proclaims Urges

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