Rules of Procedure

Rules of Procedure

Resolutions

Resolutions to be debated in the General Assembly will be selected by the committee or committee chairs from those resolutions which have passed in their respective committees in the Friday and Saturday committee sessions. in the interest of fairness and participation, the Head Chairs of each committee and the Secretary General will try to select resolutions for debate in the General Assembly that have been written by delegates from different schools and different delegations.

Chairing Debate 

The committee Chairs must remain in control of the debate at all times without appearing controlling. The Chair in control of the floor must ensure that delegates respect the chair and their fellow delegates at all times, stand when speaking, yield the floor when requested to by the chair, be courteous at all times, use appropriate language and are dressed appropriately at all times when addressing other delegates (male delegates must wear a formal jacket and tie)

The Committee Chairs will preside over debate as follows

Initiating the debate

• "Will the house please come to order" Wait for the house to come to order.

• "The chair now calls upon the main submitter of this resolution to come forward".

• Allow the submitter to read out the operative clauses

• "The chair proposes a debate time of x minutes, with x minutes for and x minutes against the resolution, Do I have a second?" Wait for a second from the floor.

• We will now move into time for the resolution, delegate you have x minutes to speak for your resolution

Recognising Speakers and Points of information 

The Chairs must encourage maximum participation from all delegates. When recognising speakers, preference must be given to who have spoken less,

• We are now in time for/against this resolution, are there any delegates wishing to take the floor in time for against this resolution. Please raise all placards

• "(Country), you have the floor. (Country), you have X minutes" After delivering a speech, delegates are given the option of accepting points of information "Thank you delegate. Do you open yourself up to points of information?"

• If yes. "The delegate has opened himself/herself to points of information. Are there any on the floor? Please raise all placards" "(Country) you have been recognised. Please rise and state your point" After points of information, the speaker is asked to yield the floor: "Delegate, can you please yield the floor to the chair (or to another delegation)"

Closing the Debate 

• "Time has now elapsed on this resolution as a whole We will now move into voting procedure. Each delegate may vote for, against or abstain"

• "Will all those wishing to vote for/vote against/abstain please raise all placards"

• "With a vote of x for, x against and x abstentions, this resolution has passed/failed"

Points of Order:

A point of order must refer to the legality, within the rules of formal debate, of an action or speech i.e. any action or speech by a delegate which is deemed inappropriate, offensive or libelous is considered out of order. A point of order may not be used to highlight any factual inaccuracies stated by another delegate.

Points of Information

A point of information must be formed as a single question and directed to either the Chair or delegate on the floor. If wanting to direct a point of information to another delegate one must wait until the chair asks if there is anyone wishing to make a POI. In that case raising your placard bearing your countries name will indicate to the chair that you wish to make such a point. 

Points of personal privilege

A point of personal privilege must refer to the audibility of a speaker or to some aspect of the conditions within the committees room. This is, alongside a Point of Order, the only point that may interrupt the speaker.

Right to reply

A right to reply (to another delegates answer to your POI) is entertained solely at the discretion of the Chair, who decides what is in the best interest of the debate.

Points of parliamentary procedure 

A point of parliamentary procedure is a question regarding the rules of procedure and should be answered by the Chair.

Amendments  

Amendments may only be proposed in time against a resolution or in open debate when a delegate has taken the floor, having submitted an amendment. Amendments must be submitted to the Chair on delegation notepaper or on amendment sheets. Each amendment must clearly state the clauses affected by the amendment, the types of amendment e.g., strike, add, insert, and the text of the amendment.

The Chairs may exercise their discretion as to which amendments they will allow to be proposed and how much debate time should be given over to them. When voting on amendments there are no abstentions. Each must vote either for or against the proposal. In the event of a tie on an amendment, the amendment fails. Friendly amendments are solely for the correction of grammatical mistakes and may be verbal.

In cases where an amendment is proposed to an amendment, debate on the original amendment stops and the debate time for the other amendment begins. At the end of this debate time, a vote must be taken on this amendment to the amendment. In most cases passing the amendment to the amendment means there is no need to return to the original amendment and therefore no vote is taken on it. In some cases however there might still be a need to return to the original amendment, with the previous amendment intact, to further debate and vote on. This decision is left to the Chair's discretion. Amendments to the amendment must be submitted on delegation notepaper or on an amendment sheet. No verbal amendments will be entertained.

Voting 

In cases where a resolution has failed by less than the number of abstentions the Chair may call for or entertain a motion to divide the house. A division of the house is only applicable if the resolution has failed. In the circumstances of a division of the house, a re-vote is called where all delegates are required to either vote for or against the resolution; abstentions are not allowed.

If a vote with no abstentions or a division of the house results in a tie, the Chair will call a roll-call vote to ensure no mistakes are made. In these circumstances the Chair calls the roll and every nation is required to announce which way they have voted. If this still results in a tie, the Chair will have the casting vote.

In both committee & General Assembly debate there will be a maximum of one consecutive yield, after which the floor must be yielded to the Chair. No two delegates from the same school may yield to each other.