Student Information Table of Contents
Who's in Model United Nations?
What will I be doing in MUN?
Guidelines and Policies
Research and Fun Stuff
Who's in Model United Nations?
California YMCA Model United Nations is a program that's open to 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th grade students from across the state of California. These students meet on a local level to prepare for their annual conference in Bakersfield, California. MUN is your chance to express your opinion among hundreds of your peers.
You also can meet a lot of great friends in MUN. When you're exposed to hundreds of energetic middle school students and put into an environment where you can't help but talk to one another, you're bound to make some new friends.
For a more formal description of the United Nations and the Model United Nation, see the Programs section.
What will I be doing in MUN?
Delegates will participate in MUN as either members of the General Assembly (GA), Security Council, Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), or International Court of Justice (ICJ). Much of the work of the MUN is done in the preparation phase, where delegates will research the countries they are representing and prepare background and position papers. Once they have developed these papers, and depending on the organ they choose to work with, delegates will present and debate resolution or hear court cases (called Memorials).
This is your chance to speak out, let the world know what you think about today's most important issues, and help other teens find their political voice.
Papers and Resolutions
Background Papers – Once a delegation has been assigned their country(s), the delegates will fill out a Background Paper on their country. There may be several countries assigned to a delegation, so each delegation may be working on more than one country. Background Papers are designed to help delegates become familiar with the countries they are representing – its populations, economic situation, politics, history, culture, religions, position on various topics, etc. These will be turned into the Youth & Government office, and made available to other countries, for research
Position Papers – A Position Paper is your country’s official position on a topic being addressed by the MUN during its session. The topics you will write your position papers on will depend on which General Assembly committee you're assigned to. Your country(s) will submit a position paper for each topic in each committee that you have ambassadors in. ECOSOC delegates will also prepare papers for the ECOSOC topics. Position papers are typed on an official form. They are one page and should be short, concise and thoughtful. Delegates should remember that they are representing a country and not necessarily a personal opinion.
Resolutions – Resolutions are the formal statements the U.N. makes to express its opinion, suggest a course of action, or commit its resources (money, peacekeeping forces, etc) to a specific activity. They are written during the MUN. When a consensus is reached on a topic being debated in a GA committee, the ECOSOC, or the Security Council, the body expresses its decision in the form of a Resolution. Resolutions may be general statements or directions for an organization, a condemnation of a country’s actions, or require military or economic sanctions (if from the Security Council). A great deal of negotiation occurs within a committee before a Resolution is written. Even though one person actually writes a resolution, there are no individual authors – the committee itself is considered the author.
Where do delegates get information for each of these papers?
Advisors and delegates will be provided with all forms and samples of the papers. In addition, a list of potential websites will be provided to delegations. During the MUN, delegates will be able to utilize the Secretariat as a resource for information about the various topics being heard.
Memorials
To present a case to the Model International Court of Justice (ICJ), an ICJ delegate must prepare and present a Memorial.
Memorials are from 1 – 3 pages in length and must include three elements: Claims of Fact, Assertions of Law, and Prayers for Relief. There is no official form. All nations sitting on the ICJ are required to write a memorial. ICJ participants will receive training on preparing memorials at the training conferences.
Debate and Caucusing
Delegates will spend a good portion of their time discussing and debating issues in committee, GA, ECOSOC, Security Council, etc., but a good part of negotiations also takes place during caucuses. In these sessions delegates meet informally to negotiate with nations from various blocks. In MUN, caucus groups are informally organized groups of nations who tend to vote together.
Role Playing
MUN is a simulation of the UN where the countries of the world send delegates to act as representatives of those country’s governments. A delegates primary role is to give your government’s views on the issues in front of the U.N. The key to doing this well is to get into the character of the country you are representing – almost like being in a play in some ways. Pay special attention to the economic, religious and educational issues of your country when you do your background paper – that will help you to understand how your country might respond to an issue. Caucuses will help you to do this as well.
Guidelines and Policies
To ensure the safety and well-being of everyone, we must have a few rules. You can view some of our important policies here, so nothing will surprise you later:
Code of Conduct
Resources and Fun Stuff
To find information on your country, check out the Research Center.
To find out more about your role in Model UN, look in the Program section. |
