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Resolution Writing

Page history last edited by Tumal Karunaratne 12 years ago

 

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What is a resolution?

 

A Model United Nations (MUN) conference creates an opportunity for students to step into the shoes of United Nations ambassadors through a 3 stage process known as the 3 R’s:

  1.  Research
  2.  Reflection / Debate
  3.  Resolution

 

During the reflection stage, delegates are supposed to utilize the time designated for pre-conference research in order to come up with solutions/recommendations with which to tackle a given global issue. Consequently the committee session will move on to the resolution writing stage where it will consist of compiling all the recommendations that were agreed upon during the reflection stage. However, to create a resolution delegates are required to adhere to the United Nations resolution writing format. This phase ends after the resolutions are voted on by the committee.

 

 

 

What are the 4 stages of a resolution?

 

During a committee session, a resolution flows through 4 stages. A brief description of each stage is clearly illustrated through Figure 1. 

 

 

 

Figure 1: Stages of a Resolution

 

 

 

What does a resolution look like? 

 

 

Figure 2: Sample MUN resolution

This sample resolution was taken from the ILO Executive Board Committee 2007 UNA-USA Model UN Conference in New York City.

 

As shown above in Figure 2, a resolution consists of 4 parts:

               1.       Sponsors

               2.       Signatories     

               3.       Preambulatory Clauses

               4.       Operative Clauses

 

1.       Sponsors: Delegates who are the principal authors of the resolution. The sponsors of a resolution can be identified as the voice of the resolution. They fully support all the solutions presented through the document and are also responsible for its content. There can be more than one sponsor in a resolution. Furthermore a resolution can only be amended with the approval of all its sponsors.

 

2.       Signatories: Delegates who may or may not agree with the solutions but who are interested in debating the resolution. For a resolution to be accepted, it should have a certain percentage of signatories (the percentage depends on the committee).

 

3.       Preambulatory Clauses: It is the problem statement section. The preambles are a list of reasons as to why the committee is addressing the given topic. Within this section, a delegate can make references to the UN charter, past UN resolutions, statements made by the UN, or a general statement regarding the topic.

 

4.       Operative Clauses: This is the solutions/recommendations section, along with being the essence of the resolution. All the solutions which were agreed upon during debates should be presented in this section. The solutions must be organized in a logical order where each solution should be written as a single clause. If there are any further explanations, it should be added to that clause as a sub-bullet.

 

How to write a resolution?

 

1.       Write down all the solutions that were generated and agreed upon during the reflection/debate phase.

 

2.       Arrange all the ideas in a logical progression where each solution must be a single clause. Make sure to number all the solutions. 

 

3.       Begin the drafting of operative clauses.  In order to convert the solutions which you organized logically in step 2 into operatives, you need to begin each clause with a verb (also known as operative phrase) and end it with a semicolon. Use the sample operative phrases given in Figure 3 to begin your clauses. If you want to add more details, use sub bullets as shown in Figure 2 from rows 14-18. Remember to underline the operative phrase.

 

 

Figure 3: Operative Phrases 

Source: http://www.unol.org/res/rw7.shtml

 

4.       Proof read your operative clauses. As operative clauses are the most important section in a resolution, you need to ensure the grammatical accuracy of each clause.

 

5.       Start writing the perambulatory clauses. The preambles are a list of reasons as to why your committee is addressing the given issue. They are not as significant as operatives, so do not waste a lot of time trying to structure preambles. Each preamble should begin with a present participle (also known as perambulatory phrase) and end with a comma as shown in Figure 2 (row 1-11). Utilize the preambulatory phrases given in Figure 4 to draft your clauses. Remember to underline the preambulatory phrase.

 

Figure 4: Preambulatory Phrases

Source: http://www.patana.ac.th/secondary/MUN/myweb/resolution_writing.htm

 

6.       Write down the names of all the sponsors or the people who made a significant contribution to the writing process of the resolution.

 

7.       Canvass to gather the required number of signatories.  Use your diplomatic skills to persuade other delegates to support your draft resolution and become a signatory. In order for your draft resolution to be submitted to the head table you need to get the support of a certain percentage of signatories. If you are not aware of the required percentage, don’t be afraid to ask a member of the head table for the necessary percentage.

 

8.       Submit the draft resolution. After getting the necessary signatories, you need to submit the resolution to the head table. Try your utmost best to submit your resolution first, because it is a MUN tradition to discuss the draft resolutions on a first come, first served basis. 

 

 

 

Let’s use the instructions, & draft a resolution

 

As shown below in Figure 5, let’s use three operative clauses and two preambulatory clauses from the sample resolution in figure 2 to go through the 8 stages of writing a resolution. 

 

Figure 5: Using the instructions to draft a resolution

 

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