Preparation

Gearing Up for Conference

BACKGROUND GUIDES AND UPDATE PAPERS

Background guides and update papers are available on your committee page. We strongly recommend reading these documents before conference in order to get a sense of what your committee’s topics are all about.

RULES OF PROCEDURE

The Rules of Procedure are the protocols that each committee will follow, to structure debate and keep the discussion productive and orderly. Download a copy of CanterburyMUN Rules of Procedure for your reference.

POSITION PAPERS

A position paper summarizes the problem at hand from the perspective of your assigned country or delegation and proposes solutions that your country would support. Each delegation should write one paper per topic. Position papers are due February 20, 2018. More help on writing a position paper can be found below.

Accommodation

Canterbury has a wide variety of offers on the table ranging from luxury hotels, budget business hotels to youth hostels. We are offering a limited number of accommodation pack for Chairs and Delegates. Please refer to this page in a few weeks for more information on Accommodation.

Position Papers

Position Papers are the published work of a delegation outlining country-specific information related to the topic area at hand and an official position and plan toward resolving the problem, reflecting the priorities and perspective of your country or delegation. In terms of content, delegates have considerable freedom in deciding what to include, although papers are typically organized in a fashion similar to that outlined below:

First section: Background on the topic (what is your country’s outlook on or history with the problem?)
Second section: Official position (what has your country done or said about this topic, both domestically and internationally?)
Third section: Amenable solutions (what does your country propose doing to resolve this issue?)

Because you are representing an entire country or other delegation and not yourself, take care to refer to what your country believes and hopes to achieve, and not you personally. For instance, “Her Majesty’s Government desires…” or “The Kingdom of Spain believes…” would be appropriate instead of “I want…”

You’ll be expected to use the same third-person tone throughout conference !

Guidelines

A position paper does not need to be lengthy to be well-written; one single-spaced page in a standard font and size is usually enough. Include the committee name and topic area, as well as your institution, country, and name, at the top of the page.

Sample Position Paper

Committee: Security Council
Topic Area A: Former Yugoslavia
Country: Ghana
Delegate: Mr. Kofi Annan

Ghana strongly believes that U.N. policy regarding the situation in the Balkans has been flawed from the start. First, Ghana would like to remind the Security Council of Article 51 in the United Nations Charter.

Nothing in the present Charter shall impair the inherent right of individuals or collective self-defense if an armed attack occurs against a Member of the United Nations, until the Security Council has taken measures necessary to maintain international peace and security.

This article of our Charter clearly establishes the right of any sovereign nation to defend itself from an external attack. However, the U.N.-imposed arms embargo over the regions of the former Yugoslavia clearly takes this right away from Bosnia-Herzegovina. The amply supplied Serbs have taken advantage of this and used the armaments left behind by the Yugoslavian Federal Government to beat the poorly armed Bosnians into submission. As such, Ghana believes that the U.N. is doing a tremendous injustice to the nation of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Thus, unless this body acts immediately to halt Serbian aggression in Bosnia, we are obliged to lift our blanket arms embargo to allow the Bosnians to defend themselves.

However, Ghana would like to stress that it strives for a peaceful solution to the conflicts in Bosnia and Croatia, and to the tensions in Macedonia and Kosovo, and thus would not simply endorse an escalation of warfare. As the greatest number of human lives are being lost in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Ghana believes that the Security Council should deal with this nation first. Although Ghana does not like the fact that the Bosnian-Croat federation would hold only 51% of the land of Bosnia-Herzegovina, we believe that if the Bosnian-Muslim and Croat leaders can agree to this type of reduction in land, then it should be acceptable to the world community.

Ghana believes that the U.N. should force the Federal Serbs to allow U.N. monitors between the internationally recognized borders of Serbia and Bosnia. If Serbia does not allow this, Ghana urges the Security Council to tighten the embargo against Serbia, not even allowing humanitarian aid through. This may seem unnecessarily harsh, but we believe that more direct pressure on the Serbian people and leaders will force them to quickly change their stance, saving more lives in the long-term.

Rules of Procedure : All Committees (except Security Council)

Rules of Procedure : Security Council