MUN RULES AND PROCEDURE

A typical Model United Nations session consists of a committee that

debates to form a resolution about an international issue (agenda).
Different countries put forward their views with respect to their
international relations to form a solution or resolution to the issue.

Things to Prepare before the Session

➢ Research your country thoroughly including the history, cultural
aspects, current events and relationship with other countries.
Prepare and collect all the information to be at hand during the
session for reference
➢ Write a position paper. Position paper is simply a short
explanation of your country's stance on the agenda including
past action on the same and relevant history.
➢ Prepare one General Speaker’s List speech whose content is
similar to that of your position paper but in speech form. The
GSL speech can extend anywhere between 45s to 1.5 minutes
➢ Go over the rules of procedure as well as you can. In case you
have doubts you can always ask the chairperson by raising a
point of parliamentary enquiry.
Rules of procedure
Motion to Open Debate
This opens the floor for debate, allowing other points or motions. The
delegate must
simply say: "The delegate of [nation] proposes a motion to open
debate"

Motion to begin Roll Call

The delegate will propose this motion. The chairpersons will read out a
list of countries,
and the delegate must answer "present" or "present and voting"
Answering "present"
means the delegate can vote yes, no, or abstain from voting on the
resolution. Answering
"present and voting" means the delegate must vote yes or no.

Motion to commence Round Robin

The delegate will propose this motion immediately after Roll Call. This
must be proposed
as "Motion to begin round robin with individual speaker time (x)
minutes". The Chairs will
look favourably upon round robins with individual speaker time 45
seconds or one minute.
This will cause the secretariat to vote on this motion in committee or
pass it by their discretion. Upon this passing, every delegation will
have to speak. The Executive Board will call out countries, in
alphabetical order, and they must deliver-a-speech to set the tone
and their stance for the conference.
Motion to Open the Speaker's List
Following roll call, a General Speaker's List (GL) is proposed. The
delegate must say "The delegate of [nation] proposes to begin the
General Speakers List, allotting (time] per speaker". By default, 90s is
allowed per speaker. However, the chairpersons would like to
see a shorter duration, perhaps 45s, to allow more countries to speak.
Opening the Speaker's List requires a simple majority to pass. A
delegate may only be present on the Speaker's List once but may
re-enter after he / she has spoken. To re-enter, a chit must be
sent to the chairpersons: "The delegate of [nation) would like to be
added to the GSL.The GSL can never be exhausted.

Motion to Enter a Moderated Caucus

This motion must include three specifications:
a. Total Length of the Caucus
b. Individual Speaking time
c. Reason for the Caucus
The delegate must say: "The delegate of [nation] proposes a motion to
suspend formal debate and move into a moderated caucus of [length
of caucus], allowing (individual speaker time] per speaker, on the
topic of [reason for caucus]." The chairperson will allow 2-3
Moderated caucuses to be proposed at once, and then the
committee will vote (by raising placards) on the one they would like to
debate. This motion requires a simple majority to pass.
During a moderated caucus, delegates will be called on to speak by the
chairpersons. Delegates will use their placards to be recognised.
Delegates must maintain the same degree of decorum throughout a
Moderated Caucus as in a formal debate. The delegate
who proposed the moderated caucus must speak either first or last
Motion to Enter an Unmoderated Caucus
This motion must include the length of the Caucus. During an
unmoderated caucus, delegates may get up from their seats and talk
amongst themselves. It is completely informal, and delegates may use
this time to work on resolutions etc. This motion requires
a simple majority to pass. The length of an unmoderated caucus
should never exceed twenty minutes.

Motion to Suspend the Meeting

This motion is in order if there is a scheduled break in debate to be
observed. (ie. Lunch!). This motion requires a simple majority vote.
The chairperson may refuse to entertain this motion at their
discretion.

Motion to Adjourn the Meeting

This motion is in order at the end of the last committee session. It
signifies the closing of
the committee until next year's conference.

Points
1. Points of Order
• Points of Order on speeches will only be recognised for the following
items:
Logical fallacy, Factual inaccuracy
• However, the chairpersons can suspend points of order on speeches
if it is disrupting the flow of debate, as there is not much time.

2. Points of Personal Privilege

• If the delegate has a personal problem, they can raise this point. Say
if they need to use the bathroom, or feeling cold, or can't hear the
speaker.
3. Points of Parliamentary Inquiry
• If a delegate cannot understand, or has a doubt, about a procedure
that has taken place, or will take place, they can raise this point and
the chairpersons will answer

Motion to Close Debate and Voting

A motion to close debate may only pass with a two-thirds majority.
Once this motion passes, and the committee enters Voting Procedure,
no occupants of the committee room may exit the Committee Room,
and no individual may enter the Committee Room from
outside. A member of the Dais Will secure all doors. No talking,
passing notes, or communicating of any kind will be tolerated during
voting procedures. Each Draft Resolution will be read to the body and
voted upon in the order in which they were introduced. Any Proposed
Unfriendly Amendments to each Draft Resolution will be read to the
body and voted upon before the main body of the Draft Resolution as a
whole is put to a vote.

Motion to Introduce a Resolution

The end goal of the committee is to develop a resolution in response to
the agenda. The resolution is made up of clauses - preambulatory and
operative.

Format of Chits
On cover,
From: (Delegate of X)
To: (Delegate of Y/Executive Board)
Please specify if you wish the chits between delegates to be passed via
the EB. Also make sure to keep the chits concise and to-the-point,
writing in points rather than paragraphs.
Roll Call Voting
A resolution may be introduced when it receives the approval of the
Director and it has received a certain number of signatories, the
number of which will be decided as per committee strength by the
Dais. Signing a resolution need not indicate support of the
resolution, and the signatory has no further rights or obligations and
may sign more than one resolution. Resolutions require a simple
majority to pass unless otherwise stated in specific committee rules.
Once a resolution has been approved as stipulated above and
has been copied and distributed, a delegate may make a motion to
introduce the resolution.

This motion requires only authorisation by the Moderator and does

not require a substantive vote. The dais staff, time permitting, may
choose to read the operative clauses of the resolution. Immediately
after a draft resolution has been introduced and distributed
the Moderator may entertain non substantive points of clarification,
typically used to address typographical, spelling, or punctuation
errors. A resolution will remain on the floor until debate is postponed
or a resolution on that topic area has been passed.

Amending the Resolution

An amendment is a document which modifies, deletes, adds, or revises
one or more parts of the Draft Resolution. Amendments can be
proposed by any delegate on any part or Clause of the Draft
Resolution. All amendments shall be submitted in the written form to
the Chairpersons. Amendments to Pre-ambulatory Clauses are out of
order. Any grammatical, Spelling or formatting mistakes in the Draft
Resolution shall be corrected without a vote. The final corrections are
at the discretion of Chairpersons. Friendly Amendments
(Amendments accepted and approved by all Sponsors of the Draft
Resolution shall be considered Friendly shall be implemented in the
Draft Resolution without the need to be voted upon. Unfriendly
Amendments (Amendments not approved by all the Sponsors shall be
considered Unfriendly) require a certain number of Sponsors
to pass, set by the Chairpersons according to the strength of the
Committee.

Yields
A delegate granted the right to speak from a speakers' list may, after
speaking, yield in one
of four ways: to another delegate, to questions, to comments or to the
dais.
• Yield to another delegate:
Any remaining time will be given to that delegate, who may not,
however, then yield any remaining time to a third delegate. To turn the
floor over to a co-delegate is not considered a yield.
• Yield to questions:
Questions will be selected by the chairpersons and limited to one
question each. Only the speaker's answers to questions will be
deducted from the speaker's remaining time.
• Yield to comments:
Commenters will be selected by the Moderator and limited to one
question each. Short comments of not more than 30 seconds can be
made by a delegate to which there should be no follow up.
• Yield to the Chair:
Such a yield should be made if the delegate has finished speaking and
does not wish to yield to another delegate or to questions, and further
does not wish his or her speech to be subject to comments.

Rights of Reply
At the chairperson's discretion, any member nation or observer may
be granted a Right of Reply to answer serious insults directed at the
dignity of the delegate present. The chairperson has the ABSOLUTE
AUTHORITY to accept or reject Rights of Reply, and the decision IS
NOT SUBJECT TO APPEAL. Delegates who feel they are being treated
unfairly may take their complaint to any member of the Secretariat.

Lobbying
In between committee sessions, and during unmoderated caucuses,
delegates must actively speak with his fellow delegates representing
different nations. Coming with future moderated caucus topics,
discussing solutions, and convincing other nations to support
your resolutions are all part of lobbying.
Do not underestimate its importance in Model UN!

Press
In between the session a press session is usually held where members
of the press question delegates regarding any statements they might
have made throughout the day. Further questioning regarding current
events of the nation or international events the country has been
involved with is possible.

It is to be remembered that the final aim of the committee is to pass a

resolution to the agenda at hand.