LOBBYING
Lobbying will begin at 12.30 and will take place in the individual committee rooms (maps will be available at registration). The committee chairs will address all the delegates. They will formally introduce the rules of co-submitting resolutions. The committee chairs will then divide the room by topic and oversee the lobbying process for their topic.
Delegates will be free to meet other delegates in their committees, to discuss their resolutions and merge with each other. The committee chairs will be available in the room to ask any questions, this will be particularly useful for new delegates.
Co-submitter sheets will be issued by the Secretaries General at their discretion. It is anticipated that this will take place at approximately 15.30; this may be delayed to allow for more lobbying or merging in a particular committee. Resolutions and co-submitter sheets will be submitted in the committee rooms.
Please note
- A resolution requires a minimum of 12 co-submitters and a maximum of 15
- A maximum of two students from a school can co-submit a resolution (this does not include the main submitter)
- Resolutions must have a minimum of 10 clauses including sub clauses and a maximum of 20 clauses, including sub- clauses.
- Merging of co-submitter sheets is not permitted (i.e. only one sheet allowed per resolution).
- This sheet must be completed in blue or black ink, not pencil or other colours as they will not photocopy.
POLICY STATEMENTS/POSITION PAPERS
Every delegate will give their policy statement on the topics in their committee prior to lobbying. These will be a maximum of one minute long. The primary focus of the policy statement will be on the topic which you plan to lobby on (time only really allows each delegate to actively join one lobbying group). You should refer to your policies or ideas on the other topics too but not to the same extent.
AMBASSADORS’ OPENING SPEECHES
Opening Speeches are an integral part of Model United Nations and The Ambassador’s contribution to it. In many ways, the Ambassador of a delegation represents the seriousness of purpose and intentions of the Delegation. For that reason, he or she must be aware that a badly-researched, lightly given, opening speech reflects poorly on the person giving the speech, the delegation, the adviser, the school attended and not least the country represented.
The opening speech lasts for one minute which means that the content should be serious, meaningful and relevant to the country’s policies and ethos. The language chosen should be clear, intelligent, and, if appropriate, clever. It should never be offensive, obscene, designed to be “funny” or pandering to the base instincts within a youthful audience.
In the event of an opening speech being considered inappropriate, any or all of the following sanctions may be imposed, depending on the circumstance involved:
- The delegate or delegation, may be suspended for the remainder of that day, or the following day; and the delegate or delegation will be excluded from any consideration for any individual or team awards at the conference;
- The delegate or delegation, may be expelled from the conference entirely.
RESOLUTIONS
INTRODUCTION – THE FUNDAMENTALS
- All delegates must arrive with a draft resolution on an issue in their committee as well as sound knowledge of the other issues.
- Resolution must be in digital format
- Resolutions must not exceed 20 clauses including sub-clauses and not less than 10.
- Delegates should possess 20 – 25 copies of their resolution for lobbying the first afternoon with the resolution on USB.
- Please do not put line numbers on the resolution
- Delegates are encouraged to merge resolutions, merged resolutions will be given priority through approval panel.
- Only one of the submitting delegations may present the Resolution to the Approval Panel, although any of the submitters of the resolution may read or speak on the resolution in Committee.
CRITERIA FOR APPROVAL
The criteria for the approval of a resolution will be:
- format (Sample Resolution)
- language (grammar, punctuation etc)
- logical consistency
The Panel will not presume to make judgements about the content of the resolutions, nor does “approval” imply that the resolution is “in order” according to the rules and procedures of the particular forum.
AMENDMENTS
Amendments to resolutions will only be entertained in Committee not in General Assembly.
All amendments must be submitted to the Chair at the appropriate time on an Official Amendment Sheet, which will be available in committee.
A separate Amendment Sheet must be used for each amendment or amendment to an amendment (amendments to the second degree).
All amendments must state clearly:
- the clauses which are affected by the amendment;
- the kind of amendment e.g. strike, insert, strike and insert, add;
- the text of the amendment (if applicable) and exactly where it would be inserted.
Amendments may be hand-written but must be LEGIBLE. Illegal or untidy amendments will be ruled out of order.
