Global Classrooms: Position Papers

A position paper is the most important and most substantial document that you and your country
partner must prepare before a Model United Nations conference. A position paper explains the
importance of the conference issue, the actions that your country has taken on a national and
international level to address the issue, and the recommendations that your country has for the
committee about how to continue addressing the issue. Your position paper influences the
opening speech that you write as well as your contributions to the conference, so you must spend
a lot of time and thought crafting the position paper.
REMEMBER, in a position paper you use your own words to describe your country’s attitudes
about the issue. You can reference statistics, political speeches, and other information you find
online, but if you do, you must CITE your sources. If you copy another person’s words without
giving that person credit, then you are plagiarizing, and you will receive a zero on the assignment
and lose your opportunity to participate in the December conference.
Position Paper Basics
1 to 1.5 pages in length (single-spaced, 12-point Times New Roman font).
Gives facts about your country and the topic.
Includes proposals for resolutions (ideas for what countries should do to address the topic).
Can be used later to write the Opening Speech.
Include citations for the sources you use.
Below is a recommended guide for writing your position paper. You do not have to follow the
guide, as long as you think that another format would work better for your country.
Position Paper: Introduction
The introduction summarizes the basic facts of the conference topic, with a slight bias toward
your country’s position. The introduction should be 4-5 sentences or 2-3 longer, more developed
sentences, and it should explain the main issues of the debate, why the United Nations should
care, why your country cares, and what your country’s opinion about the topic is.
Outline of Introduction
Name of Country: .
Name of Committee: UN Human Rights Council
Name of School: IES Profesor Máximo Trueba.
Topic: Protecting the Rights of Older People.

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First Sentence: Is protecting the rights of older people an important issue for the committee to
address? In other words, should the United Nations care about this issue?
✔ Write an interesting/exciting first sentence that gets the reader’s attention.
✔ Begin with a general description of the issue; do not get too technical, because the
reader may not know a lot about the issue.
Second Sentence: What are the essential components of protecting the rights of older people?
✔ Summarize the issues of the topic. For the topic, the issues are human rights for
the elderly, their workforce and retirement, healthcare and the elderly, and
age-friendly environment and infrastructure. Why are these issues the most
important? (You do not need to go into detail to all 4 issues if you do not have
space.)
Third/Fourth Sentence: Why does your country care about the issue protecting the rights of
older people?
✔ Think about how your country is affected by the issue. Does your country have a
large proportion of individuals over the age of 65? An aging population? Any
economic issues relating to assisting this population? Have people in your country
organized protests regarding protecting the rights of older citizens? Does your
country place any cultural significance on the importance of elders/older people?
✔ This is a good place to use quotes or statistics to support your statements.

Fourth/Fifth Sentence: What is your country’s opinion/attitude about the topic?

✔ Does your country think that the idea of protecting the rights of older people
needs to be addressed? Is your country in favor of taking action in the debate to
address the issue?
✔ Write a strong ending that the reader will remember.
Position Paper: Body Paragraphs
Your position paper should have two body paragraphs, which explain how your country has
addressed the issue on a national and international level, and which establish the context for the
resolutions that you will propose later. In the body paragraphs, you can and should include more
quotes and statistics to illustrate your country’s position. Each paragraph should have 4-6
well-developed sentences.
Outline of National Action Paragraph
First/Second Sentence: How does the issue of protecting the rights of older people affect your
country? For example, is your country a developed nation that favors economic prosperity over
the rights of its citizens? Is your country a nation that wants to set a global example for the
protection of human rights? Do older people in your country suffer because your country places

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too little value on their rights?? How else does the UN Human Rights Council affect your
country? Are there statistics that illustrate these problems?
✔ This is your chance to explain in more detail why your country cares about the
topic.
Second and Third Sentences: Provide an example of an action your country has taken to
address the issue on a national level.
✔ For example, has your country organized conferences/events/forums where
citizens can discuss their opinions about the Human Rights Council? Have
officials from your country spoken at national events about human rights reform
related to human rights for the elderly, their workforce and retirement, healthcare
and the elderly, and age-friendly environment and infrastructure? Has your
country implemented political reforms, specifically laws or decrees? Has your
country responded to citizen requests for reform?
✔ How does this example show that your country wants to address the issue of
protecting the rights of older people?
Fourth and Fifth Sentences: Provide a second example of an action your country has taken to
address the issue on a national level.
Sixth Sentence: Provide a summary of why these national actions are important, and transition
into the paragraph on international action.
Outline of International Action Paragraph
First Sentence: Demonstrate that your country recognizes the international importance of this
issue.
✔ Why is protecting the rights of older people an important topic on an international
level? You should have already explained the international importance in the
introduction, and you can describe the international importance in more detail
here.
Second, Third, and Fourth Sentences: What has your country done on an international scale to
address the issue?
✔ Although there has not been a legally binding document on the international level
that was created and directed at older people’s rights, there have been
conferences, soft treaties, and national legislation. Did your country
support/participate in past events? For example, did your country support/ratify
the Vienna International Plan of Action on Aging (1982)? Does your country
follow the United Nations Principles for Older Persons (created in 1991)? Does
your country celebrate International Day of Older Persons? Does your country
follow the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing (adopted by the UN in

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 2002)? Does your country have any involvement with the UN Open-Ended
Working Group on Ageing (OEWG)?
✔ There has been considerable involvement at a regional level related to protecting
the rights of older people. The European Council has demanded all countries from
the European Union ban ageism in the work field. If in Europe, does your country
follow this demand? Other potential agreements include the Inter-American
Convention on Human Rights of Older Persons (2015). Research potential
agreements like these!
✔ Have officials from your country spoken at international events about the
importance of human rights reforms related to the workplace, retirement,
healthcare, or age-friendly infrastructure?
✔ Does your country support international
conventions/treaties/declarations/resolutions that focus on the problems caused by
denying the human rights of citizens?
Fifth/Sixth Sentence: Why are these international actions important?
✔ Why should the United Nations care that your country has taken these actions?
✔ Make sure that your country’s stance on the issues (human rights for the elderly,
their workforce and retirement, healthcare and the elderly, and age-friendly
environment and infrastructure) is clear.
✔ Transition into proposed resolutions.

Position Paper: Resolutions and Conclusion

In this section, you state your country’s recommendations for what actions the committee should
take to address the issue. The recommendations should be biased toward your country, but
should be possible within the context of the entire international community. You should present
at least TWO recommendations, which may become ideas that you try to include in resolutions at
the Model United Nations conference. The conclusion should include 4-6 well-developed
sentences.
Outline of Conclusion
First Sentence: What is your country’s first recommendation?
✔ For example, does your country think that the UNHRC should do something
specific to address the failure of protecting the rights of older people? Be creative!
How can we address this issue on a global scale? Your recommendation should be
specific (“the Human Rights council must improve the rights of older people” is
too general, for example)
Second/Third Sentence: Explain how to implement your country’s first recommendation.
✔ WHO should take action?

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 ✔ WHERE should the action take place?
✔ WHEN should this action occur?
✔ HOW? This is the most important question. In particular, you must explain where
the money will come from to implement the recommendation.
Third/Fourth Sentence: What is your country’s second recommendation? Remember to be
specific.
Fourth/Fifth Sentence: Explain how to implement your country’s second recommendation. For
this recommendation, try to answer all the questions listed in the first recommendation section
(who, where, when, and how).
Fifth/Sixth Sentence: What role should the international community play in addressing the
issue?
✔ This is the last sentence of your position paper, so you should explain, in a
memorable way, why the issue is important and how countries around the world
should cooperate to deal with the issue.

Questions to consider:
1. Human Rights of Older People
✔ Does your country have any national legislation that protects the rights of older
people? Do they report on any human rights violations to national courts? Are
older women and/or racial minority groups disproportionately affected? Are there
laws to prevent abuse of elders? What gaps have you seen in your country
between laws and implementation when it comes to the rights of the elderly?

Key Gaps:

Normative Gap: which is the “lack of provision in human rights law”.

Implementation Gap: the existing treaties, whether soft or hard, that were created to protect the
rights of the elderly are not being implemented in real life.

The Monitoring Gap: At the moment, there is no committee, group of experts, or board to study,
examine and ensure that the countries are complying with their duties.

The Data Gap: The data gap refers to the lack of research data that should exist to make
policymakers of countries aware of the challenges that the elderly face.

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2. Workforce and Retirement
✔ What is the minimum retirement age in your country? Is there mandatory
retirement? What is the percentage of older people that receive pensions in your
country? What is the percentage of older people in your country? Is your
population aging? Are there protections against ageism in the workplace?
3. Healthcare and the Elderly
✔ What are some innovative ways to ensure proper long-term care? How can we
ensure fair medical coverage and insurance plans for the elderly? How can we
deal with the shortage of geriatricians? How has COVID-19 affected the elderly
in your country?
4. Age-Friendly Environment and Infrastructure
✔ How has your country built infrastructure with the elderly in mind? Where do
most of your country’s elderly population reside- in urban or rural areas? What
are the societal norms and expectations regarding treatment towards the elderly?
Is elderly care considered a priority for advancing technology? Who is
responsible for the decisions on the care of older persons societally and legally?