How MUNA Operates

As described in the United Nations Model UN Guide, the annual ‘session’ of the UN General Assembly (GA) opens every year in September and runs for one year. At the beginning of each new session, the GA Plenary and its six Main Committees are allocated ‘agenda items’ to ‘consider’. To access the agenda items for the current session of the UN General Assembly visit http://www.un.org/en/ga/documents/index.shtml.

‘Considering’ an agenda item involves drafting a resolution on the item, discussing the item, reviewing and negotiating the text of the resolution and then taking action to adopt the resolution either by consensus or by conducting a vote. Importantly, resolutions adopted by the GA are not legally binding on the Member States (the countries), but rather, they are considered to be recommendations. The only resolutions that have the potential to be legally binding are those that are adopted by the Security Council.

Experience has shown that the best way for recommendations expressed in a resolution to be implemented by the most Member States is for all to agree on the same text, that is, achieving a consensus on the text through a negotiation process that seeks input from every Member State. The consequence of adopting a resolution by vote is that only a simple majority needs to agree on the text of a resolution. The majority doesn’t need to understand the perspectives of the minority who disagree, nor even care about these perspectives. Such a process can be divisive and does not encourage negotiation to find common ground.

When adopting resolutions by consensus, one needs to be concerned about the viewpoint of every country and engage in negotiations that often result in compromises so that different points of view are taken into consideration. This process is both inclusive and collaborative.

“When the UN was created in 1945, there were only 51 Member States and resolutions were adopted [mostly] by a vote. Today, in contrast, there are 193 Member States and roughly 80% of the General Assembly resolutions are adopted by consensus, that is, without taking a vote.”

The United Nations Model UN Guide describes that at the beginning of each regular session, the GA holds a General Debate when many Heads of State come to express their views on the most pressing international issues. Following the General Debate, most agenda items are discussed in one of the GA’s six Main Committees. Every UN Member State is represented on each Committee. The six Main Committees include (see http://www.un.org/): 

• First Committee – Disarmament and International Security;
• Second Committee – Economic and Financial;
• Third Committee – Social, Humanitarian and Cultural;
• Fourth Committee – Special Political and Decolonization;
• Fifth Committee – Administrative and Budgetary; and the
• Sixth Committee – Legal.

Some items that are not discussed in any of the Main Committees are discussed directly in meetings of the GA Plenary.

Most draft resolutions are initially written by a Member State or group of Member States (e.g., Group of 77 and China). If there is more than one sponsor of a draft resolution, the resolution is tabled by the “main sponsor” (or by a group’s Chair) by formally submitting it to the UN Secretariat for consideration by a Committee or the Plenary on behalf of the other co-sponsors or group. 

For more information on how decisions are made at the UN visit the United Nations Model UN Guide. 

DAY 1 MUNA OPENING CEREMONIES 

During the Winnipeg MUNA opening ceremonies, welcome remarks are delivered by federal, provincial, local and Indigenous governments. As well as by the Rotary Club of Winnipeg.

DAY 1  OPENING PLENARY SESSION OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY

The President of the General Assembly (PGA) formally opens the proceedings and introduces the Assembly’s Vice-president, Secretary-General and Deputy Secretary-General. After making a statement to the Plenary, the PGA will give the floor to the Secretary-General to make some remarks. This plenary session is conducted under the GA’s formal rules and procedures as simulated by MUNA. See: https://www.un.org/en/model-united-nations/rules-procedure

Each delegation will submit a written formal statement addressing the overall theme of MUNA. A limited number of delegations will be randomly selected to present their statement in this Opening Session of the General Assembly  (1.5 minutes each).   

DAY 1  COMMITTEE MEETINGS

 The First Committee (Preservation and Conservation of Natural Resources for our Current and Future Generation) will consider one resolution. In a separate room, the Second Committee (A Framework for the responsible development of Artificial Intelligence) will consider the second resolution. 

Each resolution has two main parts: (i) the preambular section, which includes contextual statements on past actions and summarizes the concerns of Member States; and (ii) the operative section, which includes recommendations on actions that need to be taken.

Each Committee has a ‘Bureau’ to support its deliberations. The Bureau is made up of the Chair, Vice-chair, Secretary and Rapporteur who act on behalf of all delegates to ensure that the Committee completes its work in a timely manner. These roles are all performed by students at MUNA. The Secretary assists the Chair in various ways such as by conducting votes, keeping track of speakers, and tracking amendments on-screen in the draft resolution for the delegates to debate. For more information on the UN’s Main Committees visit: http://www.un.org/en/ga/maincommittees/index.shtml

The Informal Consultations are divided into two parts: Part 1 A and B – Breakout groups to draft operative paragraphs; and Part II – Review of operative paragraphs and debate of amendments.

In Part I, delegates will work in one of five smaller groups (up to 15 persons each). These smaller groups represent regional or political groups that are actively involved in the resolution topics (for examples of groups see https://www.un.org/dgacm/en/content/regional-groups .Given the time limitations of MUNA, each group is assigned a specific sub-topic for which to draft up to two operative statements (and revise the preamble if they desire). Two country delegates are designated as co-facilitators for each small breakout group.

Once the paragraphs have been drafted, they are sent by email (or via Google docs) to the Secretary who will compile and format the different paragraphs into one document for review. The compiled draft resolution is then made available to the delegates on screen so that they can read the entire text in order to decide if they want to sponsor the resolution (i.e., support it). Once the list of sponsors has been decided, the resolution is tabled by the main sponsor for consideration by the Committee.

In Part II of the Informal Consultations, the Informal Consultations Facilitator will conduct the line-by-line review of each operative paragraph to give the non-sponsors an opportunity to propose amendments to the text. When the line-by-line review has been completed the sponsors and non-sponsors will debate the amendments with the aim of reaching a consensus on how the text of the operative paragraphs should be written. If an agreement is reached during this process on all the operative paragraphs, then consensus has been achieved and there is no need to take a vote.

The purpose of the consensus-building process is to give the delegates an opportunity to work together to find common ground to ensure that most, if not all, of the Member States will implement the recommendations put forth in a resolution. If consensus cannot be reached, one of the non-sponsors can request that the resolution be put to a vote in the final formal Committee meeting.

DAY 2  COMMITTEE MEETINGS

The Formal Committees reconvene in the morning of Day 2 under the leadership of the Committee Chairs and under the rules of procedures to take action on the Resolutions developed during the Informal Consultations. The main sponsor of Resolution will introduce it, and then the Committee Chair will give the floor to non-sponsors who wish to explain their position (if the resolution will be adopted by consensus). Before formally adopting the resolution without a vote) the Chair will ask if any delegations wish to be added to the list of sponsors (i.e., for the record, not to speak).

If consensus is not reached, non-sponsors can propose amendments that were rejected by the sponsors during informal consultations or new amendments, if they so wish, and put them to a vote. After all the amendments have been voted on, the Committee Chair will give the floor to non-sponsors who wish to explain their vote. Before the resolution is adopted, the Chair will ask if any delegations wish to be added to the list of sponsors (for the record, not to speak). Then the resolution will be adopted by a vote. If a simple majority votes in favour of the resolution, it is adopted and sent on to the closing plenary of the GA to be formally adopted by all of the delegates participating in the simulation.

DAY 2  CLOSING PLENARY SESSION OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY

The closing plenary session of the General Assembly on Day 2 is simulated in three main parts.

Taking Action on the Resolutions

The Rapporteurs of the Committees will deliver their reports on each of the two resolutions. Following each report, non-sponsors and sponsors of the resolutions can make statements to the President of the General Assembly to explain their position (if a resolution is adopted without a vote) or explain their vote (if adopted by a vote) on the resolution adopted during the formal Committee meetings.

If a resolution was voted on in Committee, the President of the General Assembly will take action by conducting a vote in the Closing Plenary of the GA. If a resolution was adopted by consensus, the President will adopt the resolution in the GA without a vote.

Introducing New ‘Serious’ Resolutions

The Winnipeg MUNA sets aside time during the Closing Plenary Session of the General Assembly for country delegates to sponsor/introduce a new resolution on a serious topic.

Note that it is not the practice of the real UN General Assembly to table new resolutions in the Closing Plenary. The tabling of new resolutions in the Closing Plenary at the Winnipeg MUNA is to provide students with an additional opportunity to cover issues of interest and to engage in informal consultation with delegates throughout MUNA.

At the Winnipeg MUNA, the President of the General Assembly will select which new ‘serious’ resolutions to consider within time limits.

Introducing New ‘Fun’ Resolutions

After consideration of new ‘serious’ resolutions, the President of the General Assembly will table new ‘fun’ resolutions submitted by delegates. Fun resolutions have become a tradition at the Winnipeg MUNA and have proven a nice way to conclude the deliberations before the closing ceremonies.

At the Winnipeg MUNA, the President of the General Assembly will select which new ‘fun’ resolutions to consider within the time limits. 

DAY 2  MUNA CLOSING CEREMONIES

During the Winnipeg MUNA closing ceremonies, the organizers present a series of awards to the student delegates for outstanding performance.