rules of procedure: sc

BELAMUN SECURITY COUNCIL Rules of Procedure

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SECURITY COUNCIL Rules of Procedure

Edited by: Angellica Belanovskaya

Evgeniya Andrejuk, Lizaveta Sitkevich

Tatiana Pratskevich

These rules are based on the original rules of the Security Council, as stated in the Charter of

the United Nations and the Statute of the International Court of Justice, but adaptations have been made to facilitate and ease debate during the Model UN conference. In general, the procedure in the Security Council shall conform to the Rules of Procedure. However, below are a number of special rules applicable only in the Security Council. In case of any conflict between rules in this chapter and the other chapter of the Rules of Procedure, the rules in this chapter shall take precedence.

I. COUNCIL RULES

Rule 1 Composition of the Security Council The Security Council shall consist of fifteen

Members of the United Nations. China, France, Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States of America are permanent members of the Security Council.

Each member of the Security Council shall

have one representative. Rule 2 Quorum A quorum shall be made up of two-thirds, or 10

Members, of the Security Council. The Council may neither begin with the conduct of business nor vote on any substantive matter without a quorum present. However, the Chair reserves the right to adjust the quorum as it deems necessary.

Rule 3 Diplomatic Courtesy Delegates must accord diplomatic courtesy to

all other Delegates and Secretariat members at all times.

Rule 4 Security Council Officers The Board of Directors shall appoint the Chair

and the other Chair of the Security Council, and shall select any other positions necessary to help conduct the sessions of the Council.

Rule 5 Roll Call The Chair shall call the roll for the purpose of

establishing the quorum at the beginning of each session. Members who desire to be considered present shall reply «present» when the name of their delegation is called.

Rule 6 General Authority of the Security Council Chair The Chair shall preside over the meetings of the

Security Council and, under the authority of the Security Council, shall represent it in its capacity as an organ of the United Nations.

The Chair and the other Chair are independent officials representing the interests of the world community. They have no voting rights.

The Security Council Chair shall be the chairperson at all Council sessions.

The Chair shall have the authority to declare the opening and closing of each session, the adjournment of the meeting, direct discussions and mediates between the sides of the discussion during unmoderated caucus , ensure observance of these rules, accord the right to speak, advise the Council on methods of procedure that will enable the Council to accomplish its goals, rule on points and motions, assist formulating of resolutions, which are generated in the Council chamber, formulates the final text of the discussed clause or amendment and reads it to the house before voting, accumulates and write down the complete text of the discussed resolution and gives it to the house.


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The Chair may decide during the session the limitation of Debate, Closure of Debate, the limitation of the time to be allowed to speakers, the limitation of the number of times each delegate may speak.

The Chair has the power to propose the suspension of the meeting or the adjournment of the debate on the item under discussion.

Rule 7 Absence of Council Chair If the Council Chair should find it necessary to

be absent during any part of a Council session, the other Chair will conduct the Council session and assume authority. The other Chair acting as Chairman shall have the same powers and duties as the Chair.

Rule 8 Provisional Agenda The Provisional Agenda is communicated to the

Members of the Security Council at least thirty days before the opening of the session.

This agenda provides the Council with topics that are the basis for its deliberations, but in no way limits the Council’s topics.

Rule 9 Adoption of the provisional agenda The first item of the provisional agenda for each

session of the Security Council is the adoption of the agenda.

Rule 10 Daily Order of Agenda Topics The Council will establish the daily order of

agenda topics at the start of each daily session. Once established, this will become the working agenda for the duration of that day.

Agenda topics will be discussed in the order in which they appear on the working agenda.

Rule 11

Amendments to the Agenda The Agenda may be added or amended at any

session of the Security Council with at least 9 votes of the Security Council members. Delegates of member states may propose to add to the working agenda any relevant question or to change the order in which agenda topics are to be discussed by the Council.

Rule 12 Statements by the Secretariat The Secretary-General, or any member of the

Secretariat, may make verbal or written statements to the Security Council at any time.

Rule 13 Participation by Non-Council Member Nations Any Member of the United Nations which is not

a member of the Security Council may be invited, by the decision of the Security Council, to participate in the discussion of the question, when the Security Council considers that the interests of that Member are specially affected, or when a Member brings a matter to the attention of the Security Council.

A non-Council UN member nation or observer may submit proposals, draft resolutions and amendments, but may not move these to the floor or vote at any time.

These proposals and draft resolutions may be put to a vote only at the request of a representative on the Security Council.

Rule 14 Participation by Representative of a non-UN

member nation, an international organization, or any other persons

If the Security Council, when discussing any issue, finds it necessary to have presented a Representative of a non-UN member nation, an international organization, or any other persons it considers competent for this purpose the Council have a right to invite them to the meeting.

These Representatives will be subject to questions and answers.

Rule 15 Open meeting If it is determined that many nations outside of

the Security Council have an interest in a specific issue, the Council may declare an “open meeting” on any issue being discussed,

In order to allow all delegations time to prepare their comments, an open meeting in the Council should be announced at least two hours in advance of the open debate session.

Any UN member nation or observer may participate in an open meeting.

Rule 16 Forms of debates There are three forms of debates in the Security

Council: formal debates, moderated caucus and unmoderated caucus. It is a decision of the Chair or of the members of the Council in which form to work.

The Council may choose to enter informal debates if the members determine that this process will better facilitate the discussion of a particular issue.

Rule 17 Speeches No Delegate may address the Council without

previously obtaining the permission of the Chair.


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The Chair shall call upon speakers in an order determined by the Chair.

The Chair may call a speaker to order if his remarks are not relevant to the subject under discussion.

The Chair may limit the time to be allowed to each speaker and the number of times each representative may speak on any question.

Delegates, at the conclusion of a substantive speech, will be allowed to answer questions concerning their speech.

A speaker who desires to make a motion may do so after their speech and questioning, but prior to yielding the floor.

Rule 18 Recognition of Speakers Delegations wishing to speak on an item before

the Council will signify by raising their placards. The exception to this rule occurs on any Point

of Order, Point of Parliamentary Inquiry, Point of Information or Point of Personal Privilege, at which time a Representative should raise their placard and call out “Point of _______”.

Rule 19 Right of Reply A delegate whose national integrity has been

impugned by another delegate may request a Right of Reply. The Chairperson shall determine an appropriate time limit for the reply. The Chairperson’s decision whether to grant the Right of Reply is not open to appeal. A Right of Reply to a Right of Reply is out of order.

Rule 20 The flow of debates The Security Council shall start debate with a

blank draft resolution, unless decided otherwise by the Chair.

The Council shall debate only one clause at a time.

Proposed clauses shall be introduced by delegates taking the floor during formal debate. The Chair can set debate time on the proposed clause.

Rule 21 Amendments All amendments must be submitted on an

official amendment form to the Chair. Typographical errors will be corrected by the

Chair and announced to the house. Once the amendment passes, it shall be

incorporated into the proposed clause, debate on which shall then be resumed.

Rule 22 Amendments to the Amendment An amendment to the amendment will be in

order. No amendments of the 2nd

degree will be in order.

An amendment to an amendment may be introduced in written or orally.

In order to introduce an amendment to an amendment, a delegate shall request the floor when the Chair asks for speakers either against or in favor of the original amendment.

Rule 23 Voting on Amendments to an Amendment Voting on an amendment to an amendment

shall take place once debate time on the amendment to the amendment has elapsed. If the house passes the amendment to the amendment, the original amendment also passes as a whole. If the amendment to the amendment fails the house goes back into debate on the original amendment.

Rule 24 Note Passing Note Passing is in order during the entire

session, except during voting on a resolution, for the purpose of communication with other delegations and the Chairperson. The Chairperson may suspend note passing for any period of time if he feels that decorum in the committee is not maintained. All notes passed between the delegates shall be screened by the administration staff responsible for note passing. Should a member of the staff find a note not in compliance with section of the Rules of Procedure, the note shall be passed to the Chairperson, who will take appropriate disciplinary action against the sender of the note.

Note Passing shall be suspended during voting procedures.

Rule 25 Order of consideration of clauses and

amendments The Security Council session considers first

the clause, draft project or amendment submitted or seconded by more Security Council member states than the others or selected by the unanimous decision of the Chair based upon priority and contents of the proposed draft.

Rule 26

The end of debate At the end of debate, all passed proposed

clauses shall be considered as a draft resolution. The Chair shall reserve at least 30 minutes for a debate on the entire draft resolution, at the conclusion of which shall stand a vote on the draft resolution.


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Rule 27

Yields A delegate granted the right to speak on a

substantive issue may yield in one of three ways: Yield to another delegate. His or her remaining

time will be given to that delegate. Yield to questions. Questioners will be selected

by the Chairperson and limited to one question each.

The Chairperson will have the right to call to order any delegate whose question is, in the opinion of the Chairperson, rhetorical and leading and/or not designed to elicit information. Only the speaker’s answers to questions will be deducted from the speaker’s remaining time.

Yield to the chair. Such a yield should be made if the delegate does not wish to yield to questions or another delegate. The Chairperson will then move to the next speaker.

Delegates must declare any yield by the conclusion of his or her speech. If time runs out, the

Chairperson will simply move on to the next

speaker.

Rule 28 Method of voting

The Сouncil shall normally vote by show of

placards, but any representative may request a roll-

call using the Motion to Divide the House. The roll-

call shall be taken in the English alphabetical order

of the names of the members, beginning with the

member whose name is drawn by lot by the

Chairman. The name of each member shall be

called in any roll-call, and its representative shall

reply "in favour", "against" or "abstaining".

Rule 29 Voting Rights Each Security Council member delegation has

one vote. No delegate may cast a vote on behalf of

another country. Decisions of the Security Council on procedural

matters shall be made by an affirmative vote of nine members.

Decisions of the Security Council on all other matters shall be made by an affirmative vote of nine members including the concurring votes of the permanent members.

Rule 30 Consent of the Five Permanent Members As established in the Charter of the United

Nations, each of the five Permanent Members - China, France, Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States - shall have the right to veto any substantive matter which comes to a vote before the Security Council.

A vote “against” by any Permanent Member, along with ten affirmative votes by other Council

members, shall constitute a veto and cause the motion to fail.

Rule 31 Conduct During Voting After the Chair has announced the beginning of

voting, no representative shall interrupt the voting except on a point of order in connection with the actual conduct of the voting or point of personal privilege.

Rule 32 Rights of Explanation Rights of explanation are permitted on all

substantive votes after voting. The Chair may permit members to explain their votes, either before or after the voting. The Chair may limit the time to be allowed for such explanations.

Rule 33 Rule Changes The Security Council and the Chair have a right

to change the rules of procedure in case it makes their work more efficient and fruitful.

II. POINTS Rule 34 None of the points shall interrupt a speech

except for a Point of Personal Privilege referring to audibility. Any point made by a delegate should be raised at the conclusion of the speech, or can be addressed by the Chairperson, at his or her discretion, during the speech.

The Chair is entitled to rule a point out of order at any time.

Rule 35 Point of Personal Privilege Whenever a delegate experiences personal

discomfort, which impairs his or her ability to participate in the proceedings, he or she may rise to a Point of Personal Privilege to request that the discomfort be corrected.

Only a Point of Personal Privilege may interrupt a speaker, but if referring to audibility only.

Rule 36 Point of Order During the discussion of any matter, a delegate

may rise to a Point of Order to indicate an instance of improper parliamentary procedure or the General Assembly or its Committee is proceeding in a manner contrary to these rules.

The Point of Order will be immediately ruled on by the Chairperson in accordance with these rules of procedure.


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Rule 37 Points of Parliamentary Inquiry A Point of Parliamentary Inquiry is a question to

the Chairperson regarding the rules of procedure. It is in order when the delegate raising the point

did not understand a part of the proceedings and wishes that the Chair clarifies this.

Rule 38 Point of Information A Point of information is a question to the

speaker, who has the floor if he/she has indicated that is willing to yield to points of information.

A Point of Information must be formulated as a question.

III. PROCEDURAL MOTIONS Rule 39 A motion may only be made when the floor is

not taken and when there is no voting procedure. Each motion should be seconded by the House

in order to be considered. And if objection is present, it should be clarified.

Each motion shall be put to a vote even if there is no objection to them.

The Chair is entitled to overrule any motion in interest of the debate (except Motion to Appeal the Decision of the Chair).

Rule 40 Motions in Order during the Debate: The following motions are in order during the

entire debate: Motion to Extend Debating Time: The Motion to Extend Debating Time is needed

when the delegate wishes to continue debate on an amendment or a draft resolution although debate time, as set by the Chair, is about to elapse. The delegate putting the motion forward must specify the time by which he wishes to extend debate time.

The motion shall be put to a vote, requiring a simple majority to pass.

Once the motion carries, the Chair shall add the specified time to the remaining debate time.

Motion to Move the Previous Question:

The Motion to Move the Previous Question means that the delegate putting the motion forward wishes to end the debate on the current

amendment or draft resolution and move directly into voting procedure.

The motion requires a 2/3 majority to pass (absolute majority for amendments).

Motion to Appeal the Decision of the Chair:

The Motion to Appeal the Decision of the Chair

is in order when the delegate is sure that the

decision of the Chair is wrong and out of order. An

appeal must be made immediately following the

ruling in question.

The motion needs a 2/3 majority to pass. Once the motion passes, the Chair shall

withdraw the decision in question and continue with the debate/voting procedure.

Motion to Follow Up: The Motion to Follow Up is a right of the further

point of information from the same questioner, if there are no other points on the floor, or when a questioner supposes that the point is misunderstood.

Rule 41 Motions in Order after Voting on a draft

resolution These motions are in order, after the vote was

cast. Motion to Divide the House: The Motion to Divide the House is in order

when the delegate putting the motion forward wishes that every delegation declares its vote aloud.

The Chair shall rule this motion out of order if the number of abstentions cannot change the outcome of the vote or when there is a minor difference between the number of votes “in favour” and “against”.

The motion requires a simple majority to pass. Motion to Retake Votes: The Motion to Retake Votes is used when the

delegate supposes that there is a need to vote once again.

The motion requires an absolute majority to carry.

Motion to Split the House: The motion to Split the House is used if the

delegate wishes that the members of the House explain their votes.

The delegates will be called upon in a roll-call and asked to answer accordingly to their vote.

The motion requires a simple majority to pass.

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