PREPARATION FOR MUN
There are various aspects of your preparation to the conference that are important for your successful participation. Below we present some of them. Please treat/consider them as guidelines that, however, may be extended by yourself. The more research you do, the better. Please also note that you do not necessarily have to follow the order of this aspects presented below. Good luck!
A. Rules of Procedure
Good knowledge of the rules of procedure is extremely important, because these are the rules that govern the debate so you cannot escape from using them. Furthermore, knowing well the rules of procedure may help you win a lot for the country that you represent. It is also a sign of your professionalism and preparation for the conference. Remember: rules of procedure are so to say your rights and obligations within the committee, so it is in your best interest to know them well.
Take your time and read through rules provided by the organisers. Write down the points that are difficult or hard to understand. Remember that you can always ask somebody from the secretariat or your chair to clarify procedural aspects of the conference.
B. Country that you represent
It is important to learn more about the country that you represent, just to avoid the situation when someone asks you some simple questions about it and you do not know the answer during the conference. Furthermore, some of the research done here might be useful for you to get the idea of your country’s position towards the topic discussed within your committee.
It is always good to be familiar with the following topics in relation to the country that you represent:
C. Your committee
During the conference you will be working within a particular committee. United Nations bodies differ very much when it comes to their power, ways of working, internal rules and composition (for example the Security Council has much bigger power than other committees and it is composed with 5 permanent members that is not the case for other councils). It is extremely important to understand the position of your committee in the UN family and to learn more about its power and role. Therefore, read the information about your committee on the official UN websites, learn more about its history, composition and role and look through some examples of its past resolutions.
D. Topic
In your committee you will be discussing a particular topic proposed by the organizers. It is very important to have a deep knowledge about the problem at hand. Firstly, it is good to have a general idea about the topic – what it is all about, what parties are especially involved etc.
Furthermore, it is important to know what has happened before in relation to particular problem/conflict. What are the roots of the problem, what kind of actions were taken, by whom, why and what was the outcome of them? Maybe some UN committee was already dealing with the problem, so it might be the case that there are some UN resolutions existing on that topic. Look for them and read them carefully.
It is also helpful to write a short timeline of events related to the particular problem.
Having the idea of what has happened before, concentrate on the current situation. Follow regularly news related to the topic (also international ones) to be updated on the most recent developments.
E. Your country’s position
This part of your research is one of the most important ones. It is actually the sum up of all above aspects, but purely in relation to your country. Please remember that you should not express your own ideas or beliefs on the topic, but represent the foreign policy of your country towards the problem given.
Try to learn as much as possible what are the interests of your country in relation to the issue discussed. Think what are the solutions that you definitely cannot support and which ones are acceptable. Define the space for negotiations – which aspects are actually negotiable for your country and which are definitely not.
It is a common practice to prepare two documents before the conference:
F. Resolutions and working papers
First of all, you should familiarize yourself with the UN resolution format, so that you can write your own resolutions later during the conference. The best idea how to do it, is to read some sample UN resolutions before the conference and notice some characteristic features about them.
It is also advisable to come to the conference with own draft resolution already prepared. It helps very much to push the interests of your country through to the final resolution, because there is a great chance that everybody will start working on your draft and then you may expect that some of its content will be retained in the final version of the resolution.
It is also good to prepare some working papers beforehand. Working paper is a document that has no particular form and that is created in order to share your ideas with the rest of your committee.
A. Rules of Procedure
Good knowledge of the rules of procedure is extremely important, because these are the rules that govern the debate so you cannot escape from using them. Furthermore, knowing well the rules of procedure may help you win a lot for the country that you represent. It is also a sign of your professionalism and preparation for the conference. Remember: rules of procedure are so to say your rights and obligations within the committee, so it is in your best interest to know them well.
Take your time and read through rules provided by the organisers. Write down the points that are difficult or hard to understand. Remember that you can always ask somebody from the secretariat or your chair to clarify procedural aspects of the conference.
B. Country that you represent
It is important to learn more about the country that you represent, just to avoid the situation when someone asks you some simple questions about it and you do not know the answer during the conference. Furthermore, some of the research done here might be useful for you to get the idea of your country’s position towards the topic discussed within your committee.
It is always good to be familiar with the following topics in relation to the country that you represent:
- Security policy;
- Economy;
- Alliances;
- Culture;
- Demography;
- Internal political situation;
- History;
- Geography.
C. Your committee
During the conference you will be working within a particular committee. United Nations bodies differ very much when it comes to their power, ways of working, internal rules and composition (for example the Security Council has much bigger power than other committees and it is composed with 5 permanent members that is not the case for other councils). It is extremely important to understand the position of your committee in the UN family and to learn more about its power and role. Therefore, read the information about your committee on the official UN websites, learn more about its history, composition and role and look through some examples of its past resolutions.
D. Topic
In your committee you will be discussing a particular topic proposed by the organizers. It is very important to have a deep knowledge about the problem at hand. Firstly, it is good to have a general idea about the topic – what it is all about, what parties are especially involved etc.
Furthermore, it is important to know what has happened before in relation to particular problem/conflict. What are the roots of the problem, what kind of actions were taken, by whom, why and what was the outcome of them? Maybe some UN committee was already dealing with the problem, so it might be the case that there are some UN resolutions existing on that topic. Look for them and read them carefully.
It is also helpful to write a short timeline of events related to the particular problem.
Having the idea of what has happened before, concentrate on the current situation. Follow regularly news related to the topic (also international ones) to be updated on the most recent developments.
E. Your country’s position
This part of your research is one of the most important ones. It is actually the sum up of all above aspects, but purely in relation to your country. Please remember that you should not express your own ideas or beliefs on the topic, but represent the foreign policy of your country towards the problem given.
Try to learn as much as possible what are the interests of your country in relation to the issue discussed. Think what are the solutions that you definitely cannot support and which ones are acceptable. Define the space for negotiations – which aspects are actually negotiable for your country and which are definitely not.
It is a common practice to prepare two documents before the conference:
- Position paper – it is a document that should outline the position of your country towards the topic. It should be comprehensive. Consider as many aspects of the policy of your country towards the topic as possible.
- Opening speech – at the beginning of the conference you will be asked to deliver an opening speech. It should outline the most important aspects of the position of your country, therefore must be based on your position paper. However, since it is an official speech, it should contain appropriate diplomatic language and formulations. Although you will need to deliver many ad hoc speeches, it is good to prepare this one in writing, because firstly it will build the first impression of yourself among other delegates and secondly you can use it later as a basis to develop other speeches.
F. Resolutions and working papers
First of all, you should familiarize yourself with the UN resolution format, so that you can write your own resolutions later during the conference. The best idea how to do it, is to read some sample UN resolutions before the conference and notice some characteristic features about them.
It is also advisable to come to the conference with own draft resolution already prepared. It helps very much to push the interests of your country through to the final resolution, because there is a great chance that everybody will start working on your draft and then you may expect that some of its content will be retained in the final version of the resolution.
It is also good to prepare some working papers beforehand. Working paper is a document that has no particular form and that is created in order to share your ideas with the rest of your committee.