Embedded Files
Resolution Submission:
Please submit all resolutions to your committee's e-mail (e.g. sochum@blackrockcollege.com) with your Country, Committee and then Topic clearly labelled on the resolution, the title of the document and in the e-mail itself.
Please attach your resolution as a word document in the e-mail.
Resolution Page and Clause Limit:
At ROCKMUN there will be a limit of 4 pages for resolutions in all committees that aren’t the Security Council. There will also be a limit of 8 clauses in every resolution in all committees that aren’t the Security Council.
In Security Council, there is no limit on the number of pages or clauses for a resolution.
Running of Debate:
The chairs will open debate by inviting the main submitter of the current resolution to the podium to read a small part of their resolution. The chairs will then suggest 1-2 minutes of silent reading time to which a delegate must ‘second.’ Once the silent reading time has elapsed, the chairs will invite the main submitter to commence with their opening speech.
Once the speaker has finished their speech, the chairs will ask if they are open to answering ‘Points of Information’. The delegate can either accept or decline POI’s. After all POI’s have been said the chairs will ask the delegate to yield their time.
Speeches:
Speeches should ideally be roughly 2-3 minutes long. If the chairs believe that a delegate is taking too long with their speech, they will ask them to ‘come to your closing remarks, please delegate.’ At this point the speaker should start finishing their speech.
If you are selected to speak on an amendment, you must speak on the amendment and only refer to the resolution briefly. You must also remain respectful when speaking and avoid using unparliamentary language.
If you are yielded to by a delegate who has made a speech in favour of the resolution or amendment, then you must also speak in favour (the same goes for speeches against). If you do not, you will be asked to yield your time to the chair and return to your seat.
Points of Information (POI’s):
A Point of Information, or POI for short, is a question that delegates can ask the current speaker about the resolution/amendment or their speech. They must be phrased as a question.
After a delegate has concluded their speech, the chairs will ask the delegate ‘Does the delegate wish to open themselves up to any points of information?’ The delegate may then choose to open themselves up to POI’s, or they can choose to not accept any POIs.
If the delegate has opened themselves up to POIs, then the chair will ask that all delegates who wish to make a POI to raise their placards. The chairs will then select an appropriate number of POIs.
After the speaker has answered a POI the delegate who made the POI may ask the chairs for a ‘Right to reply.’ The chairs then choose whether or not to grant the delegate this right. If they do, then the delegate may ask the speaker a follow up question. If they do not, the delegate must take their seat.
Amendments:
Amendments must be submitted to the chairs using the same e-mail address as sending a resolution. This will be written on the board in your committee room and can be found on our Instagram and Website.
If you submit an amendment that does nothing but ‘strike’ a part of the resolution, it will not be debated. It is required that all amendments be constructive and must ‘add’ or ‘replace’ parts of the resolution.
Amendments to the second degree are in order at ROCKMUN. These should be submitted in the same way as amendments. Amendments to the second degree are effectively amendments on an amendment that is currently being debated. An amendment to the second degree can ‘strike,’ ‘add’ or ‘replace’ the amendment but not the resolution. Yields are not in order when debating amendments to the second degree.
Yields:
After a delegate has finished answering all POI’s the chair can either ask them to ‘Please yield your time to the chair’ to which the delegate should reply ‘So yielded.’ The chair can also ask the delegate how they wish to yield. The delegate can then choose to yield to another delegate or to the chairs.
When yielding to another delegate, the chair may refuse this yield if you are yielding to another delegate from the same school or if this yield was not agreed before you started your speech. If you have been yielded to by another delegate, then you must yield to the chair after answering POIs as yields to the second degree are not in order at ROCKMUN.
Open vs Closed Debate:
Open debate will be the majority of debating time. This is when delegates can submit amendments to the resolution. The chairs will ask the committee ‘If there are any speeches for or against or on any amendments please raise your placards now.’ They will then select someone to make a speech or to speak on their amendment.
Open debate on either the resolution or an amendment will continue until the chairs decide to enter into closed debate. In closed debate, there will be a minimum of one and a maximum of two speeches either for or against the resolution or amendment. At this time, there will not be any further amendments debated. After closed debate, voting procedure on the resolution or amendment begins. Yields to other delegates will also not be accepted.
Voting:
When voting on the resolution, delegates should bear in mind all amendments that have also passed and changed the resolution. Delegates may vote ‘For,’ ‘Against,’ or ‘Abstain.’ If the number of votes ‘For’ the resolution is higher than the votes ‘Against’ then the resolution will have passed and clapping will be in order. If the result is a tie, then the resolution will fail. A motion to ‘split/divide the house’ is not a valid motion and will be disregarded by the chairs.
When voting on an amendment you must vote ‘For’ the amendment or ‘Against’ the amendment. Abstaining from voting on an amendment or an amendment to the second degree is not in order. If the vote should result in a tie, the amendment will fail. If an amendment to the second-degree passes, the amendment as a whole will pass.
Motions and Points:
There are many different points and motions in MUN. These are used for different reasons. The only point or motion that may interrupt a delegate speaking is a ‘Pont of Personal Privilege’ that refers to audibility as you can’t hear the speaker. If a point or motion is not listed below, then it is not in order at ROCKMUN and should be disregarded by your chairs;
Point of Personal Privilege:
A Point of Personal Privilege refers to something that causes distress, discomfort or difficulty for a delegate. An example could be that the delegate is too cold and makes a point to ask if they can close the windows in the room. A Point of Personal Privilege is regarding difficulty hearing the delegate speaking is the only point or motion that can interrupt a speaker.
Point of Order:
A Point of Order is used when there is an issue regarding something in a resolution or amendment being illegal or in breach of the procedure or if something a delegate said is offensive or inappropriate. The chairs will then make a decision if it is illegal or in breach of the procedure and will decide what to do with the information.
Point of Parliamentary Procedure:
This is used when a delegate believes that the chairs have made an error when following the rules of procedure. The chairs will decide whether or not to honor it.
Point of Parliamentary Inquiry:
This is used when a delegate has a question about something laid out in the procedure or about the content of the current debate.
Point of Information to the Floor:
A Point of Information to the Floor is used when a delegate has stated something that is factually incorrect (e.g. A delegate said that Mozambique has the highest GDP per Capita in the world).
Motion to Move to Voting Procedure:
A Motion to Move to Voting Procedure can be used when a delegate wishes to skip the remaining debate, regardless of it being closed or open debate, and move directly into voting procedure on both the resolution and on amendments. It requires at least one other delegate to ‘second’ the motion. If you wish, you may also ‘object’ to this motion, and the chair may ask you to state your reason for objecting. If your reason is valid or there are multiple objections, then the chair will declare the motion to ‘not be in order' and debate will resume. If there are no objections, then the voting procedure will commence.
Motion to Move to the Previous Question:
This is the same as the ‘Motion to Move to Voting Procedure’, but it only applies to amendments and does not apply to the resolution.
Funding:
Funding in MUN is unlimited, but it does not apply to a resolution without it being explicitly stated. You must state in your resolution that it will be funded by either The World Bank, The International Monetary Fund (IMF) or the UN. If you do not, then it is assumed that there will be no funding for your resolution.
Intergovernmental Organisations:
At ROCKMUN it will be in order to work in collaboration with Intergovernmental Organisations (e.g. INTERPOL). Any point, motion or statement stating that it is illegal to work with IGO’s is not valid at ROCKMUN.
Chairs Discretion:
The chairs may disregard a point or motion if they believe that it will hinder the quality of debate. Once a chair has done this there are no points a delegate can make to overturn the chairs decision.
Additional Security Council Procedure:
Structure of Debate:
The Presidents will select the resolution on the conferences stated topics prior to debate. Although co-submitters are welcomed, pre-debate lobbying will not influence the decision of the chairs with regards to resolution selection.
Unlike all other committees, in the Security Council the resolution is debated clause by clause, before being debated as a whole at the end. This means that each clause is main-submitted, debated, and amended by the committee in isolation, before it is voted on and the committee moves to the next clause.
Due to the nature of each clause being examined by itself, delegates may not reference clauses hitherto not before the committee, although they may refer to clauses previously debated and passed by the committee.
At the beginning of each clause a different delegate must main submit, which is to say introduce the clause and give the opening speech on it. The delegate to whom the resolution belongs may main-submit the first clause of the resolution, and co-submitters the second.
When all the constituent clauses of a resolution have been discussed and voted on, the resolution in its entirety is brought before the Council and debated en masse, during which time amendments will not be entertained. At this point, the resolution is voted on as whole. Only resolutions that pass will be considered for General Assembly.
Voting Procedure:
When the Presidents decide the question before the Council has received sufficient debate, voting procedure will be entered.
Clauses and resolutions must be passed by an affirmative majority in line with standard procedure. Delegates may vote in favour, against, or abstain on the vote, although any vote against by a delegate of the permanent five members of the Security Council is taken as a veto. As such, for any clause or resolution to pass it must receive no votes against from such nations.
For regular members of the Security Council, abstentions are not in order for amendments. To avoid permissive veto use, only members of the P5 are permitted to abstain on such votes.
Caucus:
Permanent members of the Security Council (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States of America) all hold a “veto,” a power that permits them to block clauses or amendments before the committee, typically if they are in conflict with national policy of any of these nations.
Delegates may raise their veto concerns during debate, although we encourage delegates to do so at the start or end of the debate, to avoid the restriction of open debate and constructive discussion. Further to this we ask delegates to avoid the over-use of veto power, and request that they use it in good faith.
When a veto concern is called and accepted by the Presidents, delegates representing the P5 will move to Caucus in an adjoining room with the President of the Security Council, where they will discuss, and attempt to address, concerns linked to policy matters. The power exercised in Caucus is final, and delegates may block certain wordings should it be in total contradiction of the national policy of the country that they represent, although we ask all delegates to place constructive debate at the forefront of their decisions.
N.B. In cases of force majeure, judgements at the discretion of the Presidents will take precedence over written procedure with regards to parliamentary procedure.
Google Sites
Report abuse