Dear delegate, remember that thorough preparation is vital for being successful and enjoying the conference. Read carefully all the steps and prepare for the conference accordingly. In case something is not clear or you have a problem with preparing for the conference, email us and we will help you.
After you have chosen a country and a committee, your first steps should be to gain as much background knowledge about your country as possible. You should research your country's political structure, culture, history, geography, economy. You should also make sure that you are familiar with the views and opinions of your country on international issues. Most importantly however, you should become well acquainted with your country's opinion on the topic that is to be discussed in your committee. In conclusion, as experienced MUN participants say, you should become “a citizen of your country” (meaning the country you represent) before you attend the conference.
General knowledge is the foundation for all of your further research.
Below you can find questions which you should ask about your country. You do not have to remember all the facts, but these information will help you build the basic image of the country you are representing. We recommend you to write a short comprehensive summary to bring with you to the conference.
What is its name and flag? Where does it lay? How big is it? What are the needs of the different provinces? How many inhabitans does it have? How was our nation formed? What wars were we in? Which countries were our allies? How did our borders change thoughout the time? Were there any significant historical events?
What is the political situation? What is the leading political direction? What recent laws or reforms were adopted? What are the targets of the contemporary government? How strong is our economy? How does it influence our political relations? What trading groups are we in? How developed the country is? How good is the health and education system? What is our infrastructure like? What developments is the government working on?
How is the society divided? Is there a great difference between the rich and the poor? What does this cause? What ethnic groups are there? What is the situation with the ethnic minorities? What traditions are there? Are there any problems with the traditions? What religions are there? What do these religons prohibit? What is our crime rate?
Do we posses nuclear weapons? How strong is our military? In what missions are we active? Are there any disputed territories?
There are many good resources with general information, which are listed below. If you want to find more specific, topic-related or thorough information, definitely look at RefWorld. There you can find Annual Reports of your country and many other reports, often on a specific topic. These are a perfect source of information.
This is the most relevant topic for the lobbying sessions and voting procedures.
You want to know, who your allies are and act accordingly. During the lobbying sessions you and other delegates will be getting into groups and creating resolutions together. Research the political relations of your country and have a quick look at possible allies in the discussions.
Look at what neighbors your country has and what are your relations with them. Look at what conflicts you have and what your governments agree on. Also find out, whether your country is a part of any different union apart from the UN, such EU, NATO, NAFTA and many others. Some of these could bound you to revalue your approach to the problem.
Research your topic thoroughly, think about how this relates to your country and what would your government’s approach to the problem be.
As a delegate, you will spend most of the time trying to tackle the problems of your committee. Try to completely avoid your personal opinion. Remember, you represent your country, not yourself at the conference.
Finding what your government has done for the problem of your committee can be dificult, but it will be the most important information for you during the discussions. Try to find resolutions submitted or co-submitted by your country or projects your country has funded. Put together your country’s approach to the problem and you will know, how to react to the discussions appropriately. Go through the Research papers provided by your Chairs and do a reseerch the topic itself. This will provide you with the right arguments for the debating.
We can recommend you to start with the UNbisnet and RefWorld. Then you will have to find more information by yourself.
As PORGMUN is a Model UN conference, we advise you do a little research on how the UN works, what parts it has and what is the basic hierarchy. Don’t worry if it gets overwhelming, we will teach the way UN operates at the conference! However, it is highly advisable that you have a quick read through the charter, so that you do not violate the basic rules of the UN during the debates.
Your duty as a delegate is to prepare a resolution. What is a resolution? A resolution is a formal document which represents the opinion and position of a country regarding a specific topic. In a resolution, a delegate proposes actions that their country supports in regard of the discussed issue (committee topic). There is a particular structure that every delegate must follow when writing a resolution.
A resolution consists of two parts: Preambulatory Clauses and Operative Clauses. Writing a resolution may seem complicated at first but with the step-by-step guide provided lower, it will quickly become a lot easier. All clauses, in other words –both the preambulatory and the operative clauses, must begin with appropriate phrases. Preambulatory clauses state the reasons for which the committee is addressing the topic and highlights past international actions on the issue. Preambulatory clauses can include reference to the UN Charter, cite past UN resolutions and most importantly –include general facts and statements on the topic, its significance and impact. Preambulatory clauses always begin with a present principle (see list of Preambulatory clauses) and end with a comma.
Operative clauses are committee’s proposals on what should be done in regards to the discussed topic. In other words, operative clauses should describe the course of action that you as delegate of your country propose –and if the committee votes for your resolution, your proposed action becomes UN’s proposed action. Clearly, operative clauses are much more important than preambulatory clauses, because preambulatory clauses only describe the reasons behind the operative clauses. Operative clauses should be the strongest part of your resolution. Operative clauses always start with a verb (see list of Operative Phrases).
There are several other important things about clauses in general. Your clauses in the resolution should be logically arranged and clearly formulated. Clauses should not repeat themselves –every clause should be dealing with a different aspect of the given matter. The resolution must also be written correctly in terms of grammar, spelling and punctuation. Remember that during debate, the committee can accept amendments on operative clauses of the resolution, but the preambulatory clauses stay just as they were in the draft that you submitted.
FORUM: Environmental Committee
QUESTION OF: The security implications of rising sea levels on Island States
SUBMITTED BY: Republic of Korea
CO-SUBMITTERS: Russian Federation, Cuba, USA, Brazil, Venezuela, Argentina, Syrian
Arab Republic, Australia, Amnesty International, Canada, Israel
The Environmental Committee,
Acknowledging that the main cause of the large-scale melting of snow and ice is the surging levels of greenhouse gases,
Deeply concerned about the impact of climate change in the polar regions, especially the Arctic, because of the likely impacts of high rates of projected warming on natural systems with potential significant global consequences e.g. through contributions of glaciers in rising sea level,
Noting with deep concern the vulnerability of the environment and ecosystems of the Arctic and the Antarctic Ocean,
Emphasizing that the exploitation of Arctic and Antarctic resources should be done in a sustainable manner,
Taking into account that all countries face increased risks from the negative effects of climate change,
Noting with regret that the states with the least responsibility over climate change suffer the most from its effect,
1. Endorses the decisions made at the United Nations Climate Change Conferences;
2. Recommends the improvement of education in island states to promote sustainable development;
3. Trusts that the developed countries will be more ambitious in reducing CO2 emissions in the near future;
4. Reminds all nations of the importance that the issue’s continued substantive consideration of the promotion of new and renewable sources of energy is vital;
5. Supports the increase of the share of new and renewable sources of energy in the global energy mix as an important contribution to achieving universal access to sustainable modern energy services;
6. Emphasizes that improving energy efficiency and cleaner, energy-efficient technologies are important for sustainable development;
7. Notes that the current share of new and renewable sources of energy in the global energy supply is still low owing to, among other factors, high costs and the lack of access to appropriate technologies;
8. Calls for energy saving campaigns to raise the awareness of global warming;
9. Proclaims this an on-going matter, for there has been a considerable lack of long-term solutions and this issue can only be truly solved when global warming has been brought under control.
Every delegation as a whole has to prepare an opening speech. This opening speech will be read out by a chosen delegate at the Opening Ceremony. The speech should represent the beliefs and targets of the whole delegation at the conference. It can briefly inform other delegations what your approach in some committees, which are highly relevant to your country, is going to be. If your nation finds itself in hardships related to the topic, state them and outline an approach to the problem. However, try not to insult other nations.
Once your opening speech is finished and checked, the ambassador should prepare reading it out loud. Try it in front of a small audience so that you don’t feel any uncertainty at the Opening ceremony. When read out to audience, the opening speech should not be any longer than 2 minutes.
Republic of South Africa
Mister/Madam President, Distinguished Delegates, Honorable Guests,
The theme of this year’s conference is „Frameworks for Freedom“. I believe we have achieved freedom in Republic of South Africa, although it was a long and thorough process. We are honored by this opportunity to learn how to advance our democracy and to share our own historical experiences with the world.
We are looking forward to discussing all of the important
topics in every committee.
We are ready to face
deforestation, a major issue in many South African regions.
We are ready to enact legislation to reduce human
trafficking, which is shamefully a rather common practice in
some large South African cities.
We are ready to
ensure freedom of speech while maintaining protection of both
religious and ethnic minorities.
We are ready to,
along the rest of the world, to cut the overgrown military
budgets in order to provide a safer global environment.
The delegation of South Africa would like to wish everyone fruitful discussions and would also like to thank the beautiful city of Rostock and the hospitable ISS Rostock for hosting the BALMUN conference.
Thank you.
The Delegate's Handbook will provide you with all the necessary information about the conference, what to expect and what's it going to be like. You will be given a copy at the conference, so you don't have to worry about printing it. However, have a good look at it before coming to the conference, as it explains the debating procedure. If you don’t fully understand it, don’t worry. Before you start the actual debates, we will teach you how the debating works. Also, in case you will be unsure, just check your Handbook.