ADDMUN Delegate Training Handbook

ACAMIS Middle School

Delegate Training Handbook

Table of Contents

Overview and Aim / 3
Country and Issue Research / 4
Policy Statements / 5
Opening Speeches / 6
Resolutions / 7
Sample Resolution / 9
Phrases for Resolution Writing / 10
Non-Voting Representatives / 12
Interest Groups / 13
Lobbying and Merging / 14
Registering the Resolution / 16
The Debate / 18
Modes of Address / 18
General Rules During Debating / 19
An Overview of the Order of Debate for Assembly Sessions / 20
Definitions of Debating Terms / 22
Amendments / 23
Note Passing / 23
The Debate - Techniques and Tactics / 24
Speaking Tips / 25
Chair’s Jobs During Formal Debate / 26
Order of Events / 26
Rules of Procedure in Formal Debate / 27

ADDMUN Delegate Training Handbook

Note: Some information in this booklet is taken from the THIMUN training manual.

To see their complete manual go to www.thimun.org.

Overview and Aim

MUN is a chance for you, the student to gain hands on experience about what the real UN does on a day-to-day basis. The more involved you get with the country you’re representing and the more passionate you get about learning how your representative country’s diplomats would act, the more fun you’ll find yourself having and the more you will actually gain from the experience. So, Get involved - Get passionate!

Country Research and Issue Research

This is the heart of the preparation for the conference. Without having done a good job at this you will not be able to do a good job when it comes to representing your country.

In a separate document accompanying this one you will find a long list of information that you should try finding out about the country you are setting out to represent. Get as much of this information as you can - the more the better in reality as every little bit of information about your country will be able to help you build up a good working knowledge of how your country runs and operates.

If you’re stuck for places to begin research there are a few different ways to go:

ACAMMUN, Middle School Delegate Training Handbook

v Look in the 900's of your library. This section should have the history books, arranged by country, in it. History is NOT a dead subject, and some books should cover recent history, too.

v Look in recent magazines your library has. Magazines like Maclean’s, Time, The Economist, Newsweek and others that cover recent political and economic events often have articles of interest for many different countries.

v Start using the Reference section of your library. Books like almanacs, atlases, Facts on File, and others will give you good basic statistical information about your country

v Use the Internet. is a site where many of the good web sites for all countries are collected. You may have to look around for the correct window, but there’s lots of web sites linked to this one. It’s a good place to start.

v The US state department web site, with it’s CIA fact book page is also a good source of information for basic statistics. www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/

v The actual UN website is another good place to start looking. Try to find out past resolutions on issues that you currently are discussing. Many old resolutions have some good ideas, even some ideas that didn’t work, to give you a new perspective. (www.un.org)

v Definitely look up your country in the search engines of several different major news agencies from around the world. Try BBC, CNN, Reuters, The Globe and Mail, The New York Times, and The Guardian as a starting place. Doing this will help you see where and how your country has been recently mentioned... Current events are things you should DEFINITELY know about. Seeing how the same story is treated in several different papers will also help give you knowledge about the alliances existing between countries.

ADDMUN Delegate Training Handbook

By the end of your researching period you should have a good, solid understanding of both what your country is like and also how your country feels and behaves about the issues you’re going to debate. Make this your goal.

Some countries are far less in the news than others and far less information is available. Don’t let this stop you. There’s no such thing as an unimportant country. If your country does not have a published policy statement on an issue then count this may be a good thing for you. You can create it based on the knowledge you’ve found about the country itself and how it has behaved for similar issues. If your country has a public stance on an issue them you should know it. The most embarrassing thing to happen at an MUN conference is to be caught “off policy” - not behaving as a true representative of the country.

Policy Statements

A policy statement is a country’s internal (not to be shown to anyone) beliefs on an issue. This is what you will base your conduct on for an issue. Policy statements never get shared, and honestly hardly ever are published, but they are non-the-less an important step to take. When you have finished researching the country and the issue, you should create this document for yourself for each issue so that you know what (about the issue) is at the heart of importance for your country

Components of a Policy Statement:

ACAMMUN, Middle School Delegate Training Handbook

v An explanation and definition of the issue and its key terms as they appear on the agenda.

§ For example, it is essential to define terms such as Nuclear Free Zone (NFZ) and what would or would not be part of an NFZ, and state the limits of what constitutes “central” in the creation of an NFZ in Central Europe.

v A short summary of recent international action related to the question. International actions are things that your country has done either with other countries, or within the UN itself.

v Reference to key documents relating to the issue (which should be underlined).

v A general statement of the country’s position on the issue.

v Specific suggestions for a solution to the question which may provide ideas for the first draft operative clauses of a resolution.

v A reminder of what recent actions the country has taken in regards to this matter.

ADDMUN Delegate Training Handbook

Sample Policy Statement
Delegation: Botswana
Commission: Disarmament
The Question of Nuclear Weapon-Free Zones (NFZ’s)
Botswana sees it as vital for peaceful development that we encourage the establishment of nuclear weapon-free zones in various regions of the world as we hope that such efforts will lead the total denuclearisation of the world. As defined in previous GA resolution, nuclear weapon-free zones shall be any zone, recognized as such by the GA, established by any group of states in the free exercise of their sovereignty, under a treaty or convention which:
a. defines the status of complete absence of nuclear weapons to which the zone shall be subject; and
b. establishes an international system of verification and control to guarantee compliance with the obligations derived . from this status.
Botswana applauds the recent efforts made by the members of the UN to facilitate the establishment of a nuclear weapon-free zone in Africa, under the 1996 Treaty of Pelindaba. We also praise the setting up of such zones in Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America. Botswana hopes that all nations will lend support to the creation of nuclear weapon-free zones in such areas and urges that nuclear energy be used only for peaceful means. However, Botswana expresses its deepest regret that, in recent efforts to establish NFZs, some countries have refused to abide by the will of the international community. It is in our deepest interest to see that nuclear energy is used for peaceful purposes, and that nations with nuclear capability prevent the proliferation of such weapons to nations in potential NFZs.

The Opening Speech

In this Conference all delegates will be asked to give an opening speech to begin the conference. Opening speeches have very strict time limits. The chair WILL interrupt you if you go even 1 second over your allotted time. For the ACAMMUN conference the time given per delegation is as follows:

1 minute for all non-voting delegation representatives

30 Seconds for all voting delegation representatives

What should an opening speech contain?

ACAMMUN, Middle School Delegate Training Handbook

v Definitely details like your country’s full and official name (IE “The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea”, instead of “DPRK”).

v After this, well, you have at least 30 seconds to fill. Try to make it interesting. It is NOT necessary to state your country’s policy on the issue you’re about to debate. It’s far more important to use your speech as a way of being recognized. Say something interesting. Tell your audience, who probably have far less understanding about your country than you do, some surprising facts, make people think of your country as a force to be dealt with.

v Above all, strive for interest. Listening to 65 delegates getting up and repeating “How pleased country “X” is to be in attendance at this conference” tends to bore even the most fervent of MUN delegates. Be different, and stand out from the crowd!

ADDMUN Delegate Training Handbook

Your opening speech should start something like this: “Madame (or Mister) chairperson, honoured guests, delegates, and favoured visitors...” Always start with acknowledging your audience, after that when you state your country name and what else you say in your speech is up to you.

After every 5 opening speeches the delegates on the floor have a “right of reply”, which means that someone from the audience, selected by the chair, can stand up and ask a question or make a short statement to one of the delegates who has just spoken. This question or statement will be directed to one particular country’s delegate and will address an issue in the opening speech. The delegate so addressed does not have the right to respond to this question or statement. Why does this happen? Well, it gives people listening to you a right to challenge you - making both you and them think. This sometimes reveals friends or foes - politically speaking - to you.

See later in the booklet for hints on how to address an audience.

Resolutions

First off, what is a resolution? It’s a piece of formal writing, done in a very particular format, having two sections. The first section explains a bit of the background of the small slice of the issue you’re trying to solve, the second gives your opinions about how you propose to actually solve problem as you see it. It’s really as simple as that, the rest is just details!

A resolution starts of with pre-ambulatory phrases. These are the bits that tell the history of the problem, you use these to define the part of the problem you are trying to solve. (Background information, past resolutions that have tried to focus on this same problem, pertinent facts, and past injustices are all examples of the information that goes into this section.)

A resolution ends with operative clauses. Operative clauses are the parts of resolutions that actually suggest a solution to the problem that you defined in the pre-ambulatory clauses. The operative clauses suggest real and possible solutions for the problem you’ve defined.

Now for the details of how this information gets put into correct format:

Resolution Set Up

Look at the sample resolution appearing on page 9, notice particularly the Headings which appear on each resolution. Each resolution must have these headings. Each page of a resolution must be numbered.

Headings:

The first line states the FORUM: (for us this will be “The General Assembly -1st Committee”)

The Second line states the QUESTION OF: (write in what issue will be looked at in the resolution)

The Resolution begins with the words, in caps lock, “THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY” or “ECOSOC,” and then continues on the next line with the pre-ambulatory clauses of the resolution.

Other formatting style to notice:

1. The introductory word or phrase of each clause is underlined.

2. There is a line-space between each clause in both pre-ambulatory and operative clauses.

3. The lines of text are numbered.

4. Each operative clause is numbered.

5. Sub-clauses are lettered: a), b), c), etc; sub-sub-clauses numbered i), ii), iii), etc.

6. Operative clauses and sub-clauses are indented (by using the tab settings not the space-bar!).

7. Acronyms and abbreviations are written out in full the first time they are used in a resolution.

ACAMMUN, Middle School Delegate Training Handbook

8. Neither School names nor Country names appear on a resolution.

9. The whole resolution is one long sentence, commas and semi-colons are used to end lines, not periods.

ADDMUN Delegate Training Handbook

10. Submitting and co-submitting delegation names appear only on the co-submitter’s sheet.

More Important Concepts to Remember/Know about Resolutions: