Agenda is a set of questions which is preliminary prepared and adopted and can be amended on the Opening Ceremony by simple majority. Before you choose a country for representation, you should think over a question in a certain commission you want to work in. After that try to select a country, concerned in this issue, and having a specific position on this point (e.g. Reform of Security Council - USA, Russia, China, Japan)
Delegates need firstly to know all about the country they will represent and
secondly to have specific knowledge of the questions they will be dealing with.
The following aspects in researching a country are particularly important:
Political Structure (origin of political structures, constitution and government,
policy of present government)
Cultural Factors (ethnic groups, religions, cultural history)
Geography (bordering countries, topography, geo-political considerations)
Economy (monetary system, dependency and debt, membership of economic and trade
organizations)
Natural Resources (basic commodities produced, degree of self-sufficiency)
Defense (military structure, dependency on other nations, membership in alliances)
Views on World Problems (role and influence in the world, membership of blocs)
History (general, last 50 years, recent history)
Researching the questions of Agenda:
- Keep abreast of the developments in the international news.
- Read about the historical and geo-political background to the questions.
- Study UN resolutions, reports and documents relating to the issues.
Here you can find some useful web sites:
United Nations http://www.un.org
THIMUN http://www.thimun.org
Embassy Page http://www.embpage.org
Each delegation has the opportunity to address the General Assembly during
its opening session. This should be treated as a serious occasion and, although
the delegation's opening speech can be of either a general or a specific nature,
it must be representative of the nations primary concerns about the state of
the world. Speakers should not attempt their delegation's position on as many
agenda issues as possible in the limited speaking time and, under no circumstances,
may they abuse the privilege by insulting other members of the UN or by presenting
there own delegation in an unworthy fashion.
A delegation might come to a conclusion about what it considers to be the single
most important theme in the current atmosphere of relations within the world
community. This might be in the field of war and peace, human rights, ecology,
development, and disarmament. Another delegation might be able to emphasize
the interrelatedness of the areas of concerned, such as the effects of "development"
on the "environment". Yet another delegation might prefer to concentrate
on a single item of contention affecting many of the UN member (See
supplement).
Every speech should be preceded by formal greeting, e.g. "Respected Chairs,
Honorable Delegates, Dear Guests…" and should finish with phrase such
as "Thank you for your attention [Mr. President]; "I yield the floor
to the Chair". Delegates should avoid making such introductions and conclusions
to long. However, since they only have 1 minute to speak and the Assembly will
soon become bored with long, flowery introduction.
It should be obvious from the speeches above that the design of the speech should
be content-based as well as dramatic in tone. The participant at the conference
will respond to a speech that is both informative and emphatic. A primary purpose
of the opening speech is to allow a delegation to communicate what it perceives
to be an important message for the world community.
Following the delivery of a number of opening speech, rights of reply are entertained
by the President. A reply is a short statement, concerning an item, presented
in a previous opening speech, not a question addressed to a speaker.
* If the Chair asks a speaker to conclude his /her speech e.g. " Would
the speaker please conclude his speech.", it means that the speaker is
about to be over the limit of speaking. In this case the speaker should try
to yield the floor to the Chair in a 10 seconds.
A resolution is a long sentence divided into clauses and sub-clauses. Resolutions must be separated into perambulatory and operative sections. In drafting a resolution it is more sensible to begin with the formulation of the operative clauses. Once you have decided what action you think the UN should take or what attitude it should adopt, you can then turn to the preamble, which should contain the background to the problem, the argumentation and the reasoning behind the calls for action contained in the operative clauses. It is important to ensure that the operative clauses consist only of expressions of will or calls for action and that all background information, argumentation and reasoning is contained in the preamble. Please find a sample on http://spmun.narod.ru/res.