Y.U.V.
A MODEL UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE 2020
TRAINING MODULE
History of the United Nations-
1 January 1942-The name "United Nations" is coined
The name "United Nations", coined by United States President Franklin D.
Roosevelt was first used in the Declaration by United Nations of 1 January 1942,
during the Second World War, when representatives of 26 nations pledged their
Governments to continue fighting together against the Axis Powers.
24 October 1945-The United Nations officially comes into existence
In 1945, representatives of 50 countries met in San Francisco at the United Nations
Conference on International Organization to draw up the United Nations Charter.
Those delegates deliberated on the basis of proposals worked out by the
representatives of China, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United
States in August-October 1944.
The Charter was signed on 26 June 1945 by the representatives of the 50 countries.
Poland, which was not represented at the Conference, signed it later and became
one of the original 51 Member States.
The United Nations officially came into existence on 24 October 1945, when the
Charter had been ratified by China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom,
and the United States and by a majority of other signatories.
Committees of the United Nations-
1) UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY- discuss and work together
on a wide array of international issues covered by the Charter pf the United
Nations, such as development, peace and security, international law, etc.
1) Disarmament & International Security Council- DISEC
2) Economic and Social Council-ECOSOC
3) Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee- SOCHUM
4) Special Political and Decolonization Committee- SPECPOL
5) Trusteeship Council
6) Legal Committee
2) UNITED NATIONS SECURITY COUNCIL- Takes decisions on Security
matters of the world and it’s resolutions are implementory.
3) INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE- Handles International disputes
between countries.
4) SPECIALIZED AGENCIES- Formed for specialized issues like
humanitarian crisis, health organizations etc.
Flow of Debate-
Roll Call-
The Roll Call is the first thing you do in the committee. It is the calling out the
countries in the alphabetical order. The Chairperson (or Chair) will announce
each country’s name. After hearing their country, the delegate should raise
their placard and answer “Present” (which means you can abstain in voting
procedures) OR “Present and Voting” (in this case, you have to vote either
“yes” or “no” for every resolution)
Setting the Agenda
Some committees have two agendas to discuss, in such cases, the delegates
have to raise a motion set up the agenda and decide which agenda should be
discussed first. In case a committee only has one agenda , then a delegate will
have to make a “Motion to open debate”. After the Agenda has been set, the
debate may officially start.
Debate
A. FORMAL/GENERAL DEBATE
The formal debate revolves around a General Speaker’s list. When the sessions
begin, speeches focus on stating country positions and offering
recommendations for action.
The GSL is the formal and the official statement of a country, and hence the
diplomat/ delegate of the country has to keep all the foreign policies in mind
while giving this statement.
The closure of the speaker’s signifies the closure of debate, hence for the
committee to continue, the GSL should also continue.
Note- There is another kind of formal debate known as the Provisional Speakers
List(PSL) which is just like the GSL but is established when there is a special
matter(crisis) in the committee, which has to be the priority of the debate and
needs to be discussed.
The default time for the GSL is 90 seconds.
B. INFORMAL DEBATE (MODERATED AND UNMODERATED
CAUCUSES)
Informal debate involves discussion outside of the speaker’s list.
It includes-
Moderated Caucus
A moderated caucus has many purposes, but its main purpose is to allow
delegates to discuss sub-topics under the main topic for the debate. Since the
topic is generally very broad, it is up to the delegates to steer the discussion in
the direction they want to go and towards issues that are relevant to them.
For ex- If the agenda of a committee is pollution, so a moderated caucus topic
can be Air pollution and it’s effects.
Unmoderated Caucus
In unmoderated caucuses (also called lobbying session or “unmods”), the
committee breaks for a temporary recess (max. 20 minutes) so that delegates
may meet with each other and discuss ideas.
This is a non-moderated debate, normally used to exchange ideas, draft
working papers or resolutions, gather support for a specific draft resolution.
Closing of debate and Voting Procedure
Once the speaker’s list is exhausted, the committee automatically moves to
voting.
Once a motion to close the debate has been approved, the committee moves into
voting procedure. The voting procedures change depending on the committee
in question.
A delegate can vote “yes”, “no” or abstain from voting. Abstentions are noted,
but do not count towards the majority.
Order of the voting procedure:
1) Draft Resolutions (they can be voted as a whole or clause by clause).
2) Amendments to resolutions (only the unfriendly amendments need to be
voted on, the ones that are not supported by the sponsors – for more
information, please see our Help Guide regarding Draft Resolutions and
Working Papers)
Documentation
Working Papers
Working papers are informal documents containing a framework for the
resolution. They can be created individually. They do not have to be formatted
to the UN rules.
Draft Resolutions
Draft resolutions are more formal documents that have to be written in the
correct UN resolution format. These are the documents that will be voted upon,
and become resolutions after the voting procedures.
Delegates involved in the discussion of a draft resolution are-
1) Sponsors – people who wrote the resolution
2) Signatories – people who do not necessarily agree, but want to hear the
resolution and it’s discussed.
Once the Draft Resolution is introduced, there is a discussion on the same.
There are two ways of discussion
1) Through Moderated Caucus- Delegates are recognized and present their
opinions on the document
2) Clause by Clause discussion- Each and every clause is read and explained by
the sponsors and then the signatories or any other delegates are allowed to
ask questions on the same.
Example of draft resolution-
Perambulatory and operative clauses list-
Amendments and Voting
After the discussion of the Draft resolution, the floor is open for amendments in
it’s clauses.
There are two types of amendments-
1) Friendly- Introduced by either of the sponsors of the resolution and is
implimentory (no voting required)
2) Un-Friendly- Introduced by any of the delegate in the committee and
requires voting to be implemented
After this process, the resolution is put to final voting procedure, and if the
document passes, it becomes the formal document of the committee.
Motions
Motions are raised to continue the debate in the committee.
1) Motion to open the debate
2) Motion to suspend the debate
3) Motion to adjourn the debate
4) Motion to move into a moderated; for ex- The delegate of xyz would like to
suspend the debate and move into a moderated caucus for xyz topic, for the
total time being , individual speakers time being .
5) Motion to move into an unmoderated caucus; for ex- The delegate of xyz
would like to suspend the debate and move into an unmoderated caucus for
total time being .
6) Motion to introduce a draft resolution.
7) Motion to move into voting for a draft resolution.
Points
A point is something you raise when it concerns something you'd like to
address yourself.
Point of order;
When a delegate believes the chair has made an error in the running of the
committee; violation of the rules of procedure by the Chair. The delegate should
only specify the errors they believe were made in the formal committee
procedure, and may not address the topic being discussed.
Point of parliamentary procedure;
To clarify the RoP, flow of debate, or if you are uncertain of what is going on
etc.
Point of information;
A delegate has a substantive question for a speaker during formal debate. The
speaker chooses whether or not to yield his or her time to points of
information.
Point of personal privilege.
When a delegate’s ability to participate in committee is impaired, for example:
you cannot hear the other delegate speaking, or you cannot see the working
paper that is displayed on the screen.
Yields
When a delegate has completed their speech and still some time is left, they
yield their time in the following ways-
1) Yield to points of Information- Other delegates are recognized to ask
questions to the delegate.
2) Yield to a delegate- if some other delegate wishes to give a statement in the
remaining time, they may ask for such yields.
3) Yield to the chair- The delegate yield the time back to the dias.