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RESOLUTIONS GUIDELINES With contributions by Raja Atik

What Is A Resolution? A resolution is a formal proposal to the United Nations (UN), which can be presented to the UN

council, a committee, or a commission. A resolution is one long sentence that is divided up by

clauses and sub clauses. This resolution should not express your personal opinion, but the position

of all the nations who contributed to writing this resolution.

How To Write A Resolution? A resolution consists of a heading and two different bodies, the perambulatory clauses and the operative clauses. The language of a UN resolution is very formal, diplomatic and somewhat legalistic.

What is the preamble? The preamble is the introduction of the resolution. It contains the background and the argumentation to the issue you have chosen. Main points to remember for preambulatory clauses:

Describe the problem, and explain the purpose of the issue.

State facts that enlighten the reader about the issues that are significant when dealing with the issue at hand such as previous attempts to solve the issue and if they succeeded or failed.

Mention any organizations that are relevant to the topic.

Preambulatory clauses always in with a comma. (,)

You will need to begin the preambulatory clauses with a present or a past participle or an adjective. See the following list:

Pre Ambulatory Phrases Acknowledging Expecting Noting with appreciation

Affirming Expressing its appreciation Noting with approval

Alarmed by Expressing its satisfaction Noting with deep concern Approving Fulfilling Noting with regret

Aware of Fully alarmed Noting with satisfaction

Believing Fully aware Observing Bearing in mind Fully believing Reaffirming

Confident Further deploring Realizing

Congratulating Further recalling Recalling Contemplating Guided by Recognizing

Convinced Having adopted Referring

Declaring Having considered Reminding Deeply concerned Having considered further Seeking

Deeply conscious Having devoted attention Taking into account

Deeply convinced Having examined Taking into consideration

Deeply disturbed Having heard Taking note Deeply regretting Having received Viewing with appreciation

Deploring Having studied Welcoming

Desiring Keeping in mind Emphasizing Noting further

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RESOLUTIONS GUIDELINES continued…

What are the operative clauses?

The operative clauses contain the policy statements of the body making the resolution.

The clauses should be clear and unambiguous. They present by order of importance what the

UN should do or what attitude it should adopt.

Main points to remember for operative clauses:

State a wide range of specific measures to implement that effectively deal with the issue.

Clauses must be numbered and end with a semi colon. (;)

You have to begin the operative clauses with verbs in the third person singular of the present

tense. See the following list

Operative Phrases

Accepts Endorses Recommends Affirms Expresses its appreciation Regrets

Approves Expresses its hope Requests

Asks Further invites Resolves Calls for Further proclaims Seeks

Calls upon Further requests Strongly affirms

Congratulates Further resolves Strongly urges Confirms Hopes Suggests

Declares accordingly Invites Supports

Designates Proclaims Trusts Encourages Proposes Transmits

Urges

Additional Operative Phrases Reserved for the Security Council

Authorizes Demands Imposes Condemns Deplores Strongly condemn(s)

Decides Deploys

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RESOLUTIONS GUIDELINES continued…

Resolution Checklist

Does the resolution relate to the topic?

Is the solution presented relevant and realistic?

Are there enough signatories on for the resolution?

Is the basic format of the resolution met?

Is the resolution longer that one page?

Are the preambs accurate?

Are the ops specific and non-biased?

Maintain National Sovereignty

Feasible

Not Redundant

Preambulatory clauses are clauses used to clarify the topic through statistics

and the history of the issue.

Describe the problem being addressed in the resolution.

Explain the main purpose of the resolution and why the issue is important.

State various facts that explain the topic.

Explains certain accomplishments and failures of previous actions that have

been implemented to deal with the issue.

Inform the readers about what has been done to tackle the issue.

Refer to organizations that are mentioned in the Operative clauses and the

actions they have taken.

Preambulatory clauses always end with a comma.

Operative clauses are clauses that recommend actions to be taken in order to

deal with the issue.

State the actions that shall be implemented if the resolution passes.

Suggest a handful of ways on how to effectively tackle and solve the issue.

Should be specific, convincing, and NOT vague.

Clauses begin with present tense, action verbs which are generally stronger than

words used in the preambles.

Clauses are to be numbered.

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RESOLUTIONS GUIDELINES continued… How To Present A Resolution

FORUM: Disarmament Commission

MAIN SUBMITTER: Angola

QUESTION OF: Confidence Building Measures in Space Related Activities

Fully aware that the acceleration of space exploration is dependent on international

cooperation and flawless safety conduct,

Bearing in mind that space agencies today typically rely on military patronage,

Expressing its satisfaction that space exploration has been conducted by many different

nations of the Earth for more than 50 years without incidences of conflict,

1. Expresses its hope that states with space programs continue to stand against the

proliferation of weapons in space by supporting treaties such as the Outer Space

Treaty and the Moon Treaty;

2. Urges the space agencies of the world to invest in confidence building measures between themselves such as:

a) the sharing of information relevant to the safety of space travel, including:

i. the mission launch schedules both immediate and long term,

ii. the locations of space debris that may impact a space mission,

b) the sharing of space technology and knowledge with a nature of goodwill

with new and startup space programs interested in peaceful space

exploration;

3. Seeks to eliminate the threat posed to the International Space Station and its workers

from artificial space debris through:

a) encouraging entities operating satellites to maintain a minimum safety

distance as approved by the UN Office of Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA)

from other satellites operating in the same orbit,

b) decommissioning the nonoperational satellites through either the:

i. utilization of a retrieval vessel, or

ii. reprogramming of the satellite into a steep reentry vector for safe burn up over a large body of unpopulated water, such as the Pacific

Ocean,

c) requests that the orbit pathway used by the International Space Station be

exclusively reserved for it and related space vehicles;

4. Declares accordingly that future space discoveries and technological innovations will

require continued revisiting to this issue;

5. Hopes all nations will support the continued confidence building measures of the

UNOOSA.

Heading

Preamb

Clauses

Operative

Clauses

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MUNResolutionRubric FORMAT:(10Points)________

Spacingcorrect(betweenlinesandclauses)NumberingcorrectIndentations/UnderliningcorrectPunctuationcorrect

PREAMBULATORYCLAUSES:(30Points)________Research/Data:(20Points)________

ProvideshistoricalbackgroundonthetopicSufficientspecificfacts/datatosupporttheresolutionReferencestopastresolutions(iftheyexist)Referencestootherdocuments,NGO’s,UNAgencies,non‐UNregionalorganizations(i.e.governmentministries/departments)

Clarity/Cohesiveness:(10Points)________One(andonlyone)ideaineachclauseClearandpersuasivedictionandsyntaxDiscernableordertotheclauses(i.e.generaltospecific,leasttomostimportant,chronological,etc.)Cohesive/alltiestogetherNoirrelevantinformation

OPERATIVECLAUSES:(50Points)________AchievesDomestic,Caucus,and/orGlobalGoals:(15Points)________

Resolutionreflectscountry’spositionShowsanunderstandingofthedynamicsoftheconflict(isitoverlyinsensitivetoothernations?)Solutionismulti‐lateral(doesitinvolvethecooperationofvariousnations?)Takesintoaccountothernations’viewpointsShowsanattemptatcompromise

EffectiveSolutiontotheProblem:(25Points)________OperativeclausesrefertoappropriateUNorganizationsinordertosolvetheproblemPlanisfeasiblePlaniscreativePlanislogicalPlanisdetailed

Clarity/Cohesiveness:(10Points)________One(andonlyone)ideaineachclauseClearandpersuasivedictionandsyntaxDiscernableordertotheclauses(i.e.generaltospecific,leasttomostimportant,chronological,etc.)Cohesive/alltiestogetherNoirrelevantinformation

GRAMMAR:(10Points)________PreambulatoryphrasesappropriateOperativephrasesappropriateWordchoiceappropriateGrammaticallycorrect