The Role of the Officers
The officers have only one reason for existing: to serve the assembly. The student officer is the servant, not the "dictator" of the assembly.
Student officers must ensure that every delegate has the opportunity to speak (within the time constraints), is listened to by the assembly, and treats others and is treated respectfully. The student officers must maintain order in the assembly and ensure that proper procedures are followed. The officer does this by being knowledgeable and fair and working to build consensus.
Maintaining Order
With this responsibility comes the authority to maintain order in the assembly for the benefit of the assembly as a whole
A good chair maintains the assembly in polite and respectful order by being polite and respectful him/herself. Overusing the gavel and issuing a lot of warnings show a chair who has lost control of the assembly and, probably, him/herself. The gavel should be used only to signal the end of debate, on rare occasion, and to quiet an enthusiastic assembly. Warnings should be issued sparingly and only for the most completely unacceptable, rude, or "out-of-line" behavior. On the 3rd warning (count continues from one day to the next), the delegate is ejected from the assembly and may not return.
Lobbying, Co-Submissions, and Approval Panel
During the lobbying time, delegations wishing to present a resolution must secure a minimum of 5 and a maximum of 10 co-submitters. Once the co-submitters are identified and have signed the Co-Submission Form (Resolution Cover Sheet), the resolution may be given to the Approval Panel.
Delegations may co-submit a maximum of 5 resolutions. The resolutions co-submitted by a delegation may be divided among the five issues in any way.
Delegations are responsible for ensuring that the resolutions they co-submit do not contradict each other in ways which would violate their country policy.
Opening Speeches and Rights to Reply
Each country will make a speech of one minute, usually germane to policy on an issue about which the country feels strongly. After every ten (10) speeches, there will be a maximum of three (3) Rights to Reply will be entertained, providing that they are significant to the topic. The speakers for the Rights of Reply will be chosen by placard after each set of speeches. The country making the Right to Reply will have thirty seconds in which to comment on the opening statement of a country from the former set.
Countries making opening speeches speak from the podium. They will line up by sets of 10.
Countries making Rights of Reply will speak from the microphone on the floor.
(At no point during the conference may more than one delegate approach the podium at the same time.)
Agenda
The Secretary General and the Deputy Secretary General will determine the order of the agenda, and the selection of the resolutions, using the following criteria (not necessarily listed in order of importance):
(1) number of countries affected by the content of the resolution,
(2) number of countries co-submitted,
(3) quality of the resolution,
(4) large variety of co-submitting schools (to ensure that all schools have the opportunity to present a resolution and participate in the conference).
Progress of a Resolution
Setting Debate Time
Our aim is to complete a resolution within one hour.
As a general standard:
Main Motion (Resolutions): 1 hour open debate
Amendments: 3 minutes for and 3 minutes against
Extension of debate time: maximum of 30 minutes
There will be no extension of debate time on amendments
Yielding
To "yield" the floor means to give the floor up to another speaker or the Chair
When a delegate who is at the podium is finished with his/her speech, he/she yields the floor.
For purposes of debate, a yielding chain may not consist of more than two countries. For example, Country A is recognized to take the floor. It may yield to Country B. Country B must then yield the floor back to the chair.
Voting
There are two types of motions that can be voted on: substantive motions and procedural motions.
Substantive motions are motions that concern the resolution itself; for example, voting on an amendment is a substantive motion. Delegates may vote "for," "against," or "abstain" on substantive motions. Only UN member states may vote on substantive matters.
Procedural motions refer to parliamentary procedure or the general procedure of the assembly. An example of a procedural motion would be a motion to extend debate time or a motion for a recess of five minutes. No abstentions are allowed on procedural matters. Ono's, NGO's, and IGO's may vote on procedural matters.
Once the Chair announces that the assembly is "in voting procedure," note passing must stop and all delegates must be completely SILENT.
There are two types of voting procedures: by placard or by roll call (also called "Division of the House"). The Chair will determine which method to use depending on the situation. A placard vote consists of the Chair first asking the delegations to first raise their placards if they are for the motion and then asking all delegations against to raise their placards, and finally, all those who abstain.
During roll call vote (Division of the House), the Chair will ask each country to call out its vote. A country is restricted to answering "for," "against," or "abstain." Any other comments made will be called out of order and a warning will be automatically issued. A delegation which answers inappropriately or which disrupts voting procedures may be ejected from the assembly and have its vote discounted.
Right to Explain Vote
If time remains in the one hour allotted to each resolution after the vote has been counted, the Chair may entertain three "rights to explain vote," one from someone who voted "for" the resolution, another from a delegate "against" the resolution and one from a delegation that abstained. Each speaker has 30 seconds and will speak from the podium.
Voting Results
Most votes (whether substantive or procedural) require only a simple majority of the delegates voting either "for" or "against." For example, if the vote is 50 for, 40 against, and 22 abstentions, the motion passes.
Some procedural votes require a two-thirds majority, such as to table or take from the table a resolution.
The substantive issues that require a 2/3 majority to be passed are (See Article 18 of the Charter)
"recommendations with respect to the maintenance of international peace and security."
" the election of non-permanent members of the Security Council"
" the election of the members of the Economic and Social Council"
" the election of members to the Trusteeship Council"
" the admission of new members to the United Nations"
" the suspension of the rights and privileges of membership"
" the expulsion of Members"
" questions relating to the operation of the Trusteeship system"
" budgetary questions"
Any delegate may request to make a resolution "an important question." This will require a vote of the assembly. Making an issue "an important question" requires only a majority of the assembly to pass. Once a resolution has been made an important question, it requires a 2/3 majority of votes to pass. A resolution once made an important question may not then be changed back.
Amendments
Any amendment can be proposed at any point during debate time.
A delegation that wishes to propose an amendment must ask the Admin Staff for a transparency on which to write the amendment. It must be written in the following format:
EXAMPLE
Issue Number: 4 Clause number: 3 (a) Delegation Name: Spain
Purpose of the Amendment: Insert a new clause
Amendment: Strongly Urges the Security Council to impose sanctions upon any Member States which do not respect the conditions outlined in clause 2.
The delegation must then send the Chair a copy of the amendment and then get the floor. Note that if the amendment is not written legibly, the amendment will not be entertained. After the amendment has been read by the speaker, the Chair will ask the co-submitters if they are in favor of the amendment. If there are no objections from any of the co-submitters, the amendment automatically passes. If objections are raised by co-submitters, separate debate time will be set by the Chair to discuss the amendment.
If an amendment fails, the speaker who presented the amendment still has the floor and may speak against it, for s/he will now still be against the resolution because the amendment failed.
If an amendment passes, the speaker who presented the amendment does NOT retake the floor (because he/she should now be in favor of the resolution). The floor is then open for anyone wishing to speak against the resolution.
Amendments to the amendment are not allowed.
