Information for New Delegates
MUN can be a frightening and stressful experience for new delegates. To prevent it from being one, new members participating in Model United Nation conferences must be aware of certain things.
What to do?
Delegates must research on their topic’s general outlook as well as their delegation’s view on it and its policies (Take a look at the ‘Preparing to be a delegate’ page under the ‘Delegates’ tab for a complete explanation). Most importantly, however, delegates must understand how the conference and committees work in order to contribute to them.
How CLIMUN works
The 1-day Model UN conference, which is part of the CLima conference, will host a minimum of three committees: a General Assembly, a Security Crisis, and an Ecology and Environment Committee. Each committee will address one question/topic.
The General Assembly and the Ecology and Environment committee will follow the standard UN structure:
-Start of Committee (Introduction of staff and members, collection of position papers, brief recap of rules and parliamentary procedures, and agenda setting)
-Topic Discussion (Setting speaking time and following the speaker’s list of opening speeches, entering into caucuses)
-Creation/Merging of Resolutions (Combining pre-made resolutions or drafting new ones among delegates)
-Resolution Debate (Introducing resolutions, and defending/attacking them)
-Voting Procedures (Voting on reach resolution at a time)
And the Security Crisis committee will follow and discuss the continuous and unexpected events that delegates are presented to at the ‘current’ moment. All members will need to be present at all times. In this structure resolutions are not drafted.
The committees will be revealed soon, comeback to the ‘Committees’ page ‘Welcome’ tab to see them.
Motions
Motions are proposal/requests from delegates to the chair to do a particular task. The task may be entering into a caucus, moving to voting procedures, adjourning a meeting, etcetera. A motion must be shouted at the chair when the floor is open. For a motion to pass it must be accepted by simple majority. Once a motion has been introduced other delegates must express their take on it; by shouting ‘Second’ it means they are also requesting the order, by shouting ‘Objection’ the delegates are wanting for the motion not to happen, and by remaining quiet the delegates are showing no direct preference to it passing or not. For a motion to pass there must be no objections. If there are objections the delegate must explain his/her reasons for it. Depending on the reason, when the second wave of comments is cast, delegates may choose to stick to their original intention or change it. After hearing the second wave of words, if the Chair believes the motion would be a valuable contribution to the meeting, it is up to the Chair’s discretion to pass it or not.
Some Common Motions:
Motion to Set the Speaking Time: to determine the time each delegate has for his/her opening speech
Motion to Open the Speakers List: to open the list to speak for delegates to enroll in
Motion to Adjourn Debate: to recess the meeting for a specific period of time
Motion to Move into a Moderated/Un-moderated Caucus: to have a small debate for a determined period of time on a particular topic. Moderated being with a speakers list, Un-moderated being delegates can get out of their seats and informally discuss with other delegates.
Motion to Move into Open Debate: to speak in for/against a resolution
Motion to Extend Time For/Against: to spend more time debating on a resolution
Motion to Introduce a Friendly/Unfriendly Amendment: to add a modification to the resolution
Motion to Close Debate: to stop the current debate on resolution
Motion to Move into Voting Procedures: to stop debating a resolution and start voting on whether it should or shouldn’t pass.
Motion to Divide the House: to force all members vote again without the option of abstaining
Motion to Change the Order of Consideration of the Working Agenda: to change the order of events to be done at the committee
Motion to Evict a Member: to remove a delegate or a chair from the committee for a defined period of time
Motion to Add an Agenda Topic: to introduce another topic/question once all resolutions have been voted upon
Parliamentary Procedures and Terms
Modes of Address:
Delegates must address the chair and other delegates in a formal and third person manner. A proper example is: “Is the Delegate of Perú aware of...” A bad example is: “Hey Joel, are you aware…”
Motions of Parliamentary Procedure:
A point or request from a delegate to make the Chair aware of something. They do not have to be approved, they are just shouted. The only ‘Point’ that can interrupt a speaker is the ‘Point of Personal Privilege’, which will be referred to below.
Most used Points:
Point of Personal Privilege: to let the chair know something is preventing you from participating. Such things being: the speaker is too loud, too quiet, too fast, too unclear, or some delegate is bothering you, or you simply have to go to the bathroom.
Point of Information: a question a speaker can (or can’t) open him/herself too after a speech. All ‘Points of Information’ from delegates to the speaker must be phrased as a question (it can only be one question). The speaker must reply to the delegate’s point, but must wait for the delegate to finish to reply. The delegate may then ‘Request a Follow-up’, but its up to the Chair’s discretion to allow it or not.
Point of Order: to make the Chair aware of a mistake in the committee or of a delegate violating the parliamentary procedure.
Point of Parliamentary Inquiry: to ask a direct question to the Chair regarding the rules of procedure.
Behavior
All students are simulated delegates, and hence are expected to be in their best behavior, as they must realistically represent their delegation. In addition, students are representing their school and country. They may not interrupt another speaker unless with a ‘Point of Personal Privilege’. Delegates must respect all members of the conference and the Chair’s decision. Students involved have to follow the schedule and will not be allowed to smoke or drink during or outside the conference even if they are over 18 years of age. They must also be present in the committee at all times.
Delegates with constant behavior problems will be removed temporarily or permanently from the conference.
Dress Code
Delegates must be formally dressed to simulate real international relations and diplomacy. It is not a suggestion, rather an obligation.
Men can wear a suit or blazer, a pair of trousers, a jacket, a tie, and dark shoes. And women can wear a skirt, a dress, a pair of trousers, a blouse, high heels, or elegant shoes.
What delegates can’t wear is sportswear, jeans, too short shirts, traditional clothes, military uniforms, facial piercings, colored hair, or delegation shawl.
Pins, small flags or other representations of the delegate’s nation or signs of diplomacy are allowed.
Resources:
United Nations: www.un.org
The Web site of the United Nations, which will allow delegates to access individual committee sites, links to specific issues on the UN’s agenda and related information and data, links to missions of Member States to the UN, etc.
United Nations Bibliographic Information System: http://unbisnet.un.org
This source is one of the most basic and useful sources delegates should be using when preparing for the conference. It includes landmark UN documents, resolutions of UN bodies, meeting and voting records, and press releases. It provides a research guide to get acquainted with the UN documentation system; it allows delegates to research by organ or by main issues; in short, this is an excellent gateway to explore the work of the United Nations, the agenda items and individual Member States role in committee.
http://www.nmun.org/ny_archives/ny12_downloads/NMUN_Preparation_Guide2012.pdf
MUN can be a frightening and stressful experience for new delegates. To prevent it from being one, new members participating in Model United Nation conferences must be aware of certain things.
What to do?
Delegates must research on their topic’s general outlook as well as their delegation’s view on it and its policies (Take a look at the ‘Preparing to be a delegate’ page under the ‘Delegates’ tab for a complete explanation). Most importantly, however, delegates must understand how the conference and committees work in order to contribute to them.
How CLIMUN works
The 1-day Model UN conference, which is part of the CLima conference, will host a minimum of three committees: a General Assembly, a Security Crisis, and an Ecology and Environment Committee. Each committee will address one question/topic.
The General Assembly and the Ecology and Environment committee will follow the standard UN structure:
-Start of Committee (Introduction of staff and members, collection of position papers, brief recap of rules and parliamentary procedures, and agenda setting)
-Topic Discussion (Setting speaking time and following the speaker’s list of opening speeches, entering into caucuses)
-Creation/Merging of Resolutions (Combining pre-made resolutions or drafting new ones among delegates)
-Resolution Debate (Introducing resolutions, and defending/attacking them)
-Voting Procedures (Voting on reach resolution at a time)
And the Security Crisis committee will follow and discuss the continuous and unexpected events that delegates are presented to at the ‘current’ moment. All members will need to be present at all times. In this structure resolutions are not drafted.
The committees will be revealed soon, comeback to the ‘Committees’ page ‘Welcome’ tab to see them.
Motions
Motions are proposal/requests from delegates to the chair to do a particular task. The task may be entering into a caucus, moving to voting procedures, adjourning a meeting, etcetera. A motion must be shouted at the chair when the floor is open. For a motion to pass it must be accepted by simple majority. Once a motion has been introduced other delegates must express their take on it; by shouting ‘Second’ it means they are also requesting the order, by shouting ‘Objection’ the delegates are wanting for the motion not to happen, and by remaining quiet the delegates are showing no direct preference to it passing or not. For a motion to pass there must be no objections. If there are objections the delegate must explain his/her reasons for it. Depending on the reason, when the second wave of comments is cast, delegates may choose to stick to their original intention or change it. After hearing the second wave of words, if the Chair believes the motion would be a valuable contribution to the meeting, it is up to the Chair’s discretion to pass it or not.
Some Common Motions:
Motion to Set the Speaking Time: to determine the time each delegate has for his/her opening speech
Motion to Open the Speakers List: to open the list to speak for delegates to enroll in
Motion to Adjourn Debate: to recess the meeting for a specific period of time
Motion to Move into a Moderated/Un-moderated Caucus: to have a small debate for a determined period of time on a particular topic. Moderated being with a speakers list, Un-moderated being delegates can get out of their seats and informally discuss with other delegates.
Motion to Move into Open Debate: to speak in for/against a resolution
Motion to Extend Time For/Against: to spend more time debating on a resolution
Motion to Introduce a Friendly/Unfriendly Amendment: to add a modification to the resolution
Motion to Close Debate: to stop the current debate on resolution
Motion to Move into Voting Procedures: to stop debating a resolution and start voting on whether it should or shouldn’t pass.
Motion to Divide the House: to force all members vote again without the option of abstaining
Motion to Change the Order of Consideration of the Working Agenda: to change the order of events to be done at the committee
Motion to Evict a Member: to remove a delegate or a chair from the committee for a defined period of time
Motion to Add an Agenda Topic: to introduce another topic/question once all resolutions have been voted upon
Parliamentary Procedures and Terms
Modes of Address:
Delegates must address the chair and other delegates in a formal and third person manner. A proper example is: “Is the Delegate of Perú aware of...” A bad example is: “Hey Joel, are you aware…”
Motions of Parliamentary Procedure:
A point or request from a delegate to make the Chair aware of something. They do not have to be approved, they are just shouted. The only ‘Point’ that can interrupt a speaker is the ‘Point of Personal Privilege’, which will be referred to below.
Most used Points:
Point of Personal Privilege: to let the chair know something is preventing you from participating. Such things being: the speaker is too loud, too quiet, too fast, too unclear, or some delegate is bothering you, or you simply have to go to the bathroom.
Point of Information: a question a speaker can (or can’t) open him/herself too after a speech. All ‘Points of Information’ from delegates to the speaker must be phrased as a question (it can only be one question). The speaker must reply to the delegate’s point, but must wait for the delegate to finish to reply. The delegate may then ‘Request a Follow-up’, but its up to the Chair’s discretion to allow it or not.
Point of Order: to make the Chair aware of a mistake in the committee or of a delegate violating the parliamentary procedure.
Point of Parliamentary Inquiry: to ask a direct question to the Chair regarding the rules of procedure.
Behavior
All students are simulated delegates, and hence are expected to be in their best behavior, as they must realistically represent their delegation. In addition, students are representing their school and country. They may not interrupt another speaker unless with a ‘Point of Personal Privilege’. Delegates must respect all members of the conference and the Chair’s decision. Students involved have to follow the schedule and will not be allowed to smoke or drink during or outside the conference even if they are over 18 years of age. They must also be present in the committee at all times.
Delegates with constant behavior problems will be removed temporarily or permanently from the conference.
Dress Code
Delegates must be formally dressed to simulate real international relations and diplomacy. It is not a suggestion, rather an obligation.
Men can wear a suit or blazer, a pair of trousers, a jacket, a tie, and dark shoes. And women can wear a skirt, a dress, a pair of trousers, a blouse, high heels, or elegant shoes.
What delegates can’t wear is sportswear, jeans, too short shirts, traditional clothes, military uniforms, facial piercings, colored hair, or delegation shawl.
Pins, small flags or other representations of the delegate’s nation or signs of diplomacy are allowed.
Resources:
United Nations: www.un.org
The Web site of the United Nations, which will allow delegates to access individual committee sites, links to specific issues on the UN’s agenda and related information and data, links to missions of Member States to the UN, etc.
United Nations Bibliographic Information System: http://unbisnet.un.org
This source is one of the most basic and useful sources delegates should be using when preparing for the conference. It includes landmark UN documents, resolutions of UN bodies, meeting and voting records, and press releases. It provides a research guide to get acquainted with the UN documentation system; it allows delegates to research by organ or by main issues; in short, this is an excellent gateway to explore the work of the United Nations, the agenda items and individual Member States role in committee.
http://www.nmun.org/ny_archives/ny12_downloads/NMUN_Preparation_Guide2012.pdf