Commission on the Status of Women

Harvard National Model United Nations 2019

The Sixty-Fifth Session
Harvard National Model United Nations 2019

From the Secretary-General

Dear Delegates,

It is my privilege to welcome you to Harvard National Model United Nations 2019! My name is Antonio Soriano, and it is
my honor to serve as your Secretary-General for the 65th session of HNMUN. I grew up in Los Angeles, California, and am
currently a senior at Harvard concentrating in Molecular and Cellular Biology with a secondary field in the History of Science,
Technology, and Medicine. I have participated in Model United Nations since my freshman year at Harvard. I served as the
Under-Secretary-General for Administration at HMUN China 2018 and moderated the Human Rights Council at HNMUN
2018.

This document will provide you with Welcome Letters from your Under-Secretary-General and your Director, the Study Guide
for your committee, and the Rules of Parliamentary Procedure for HNMUN 2019. The entire Secretariat and Senior Staff have
committed countless hours to ensure that the substance and presentation of this document are of the highest quality and that
you are provided with the most useful tools to succeed at conference. Each Director has worked tirelessly since March 2018 to
prepare these documents, and we look forward to working with you to continue HNMUN’s tradition of substantive excellence.

Apart from this document, you will also be able to access a number of additional documents that will aid in your preparations
for conference. Our Guide to Delegate Preparation reviews the substantive side of HNMUN, highlights differences between
our session and other MUN conferences, and explains our policies on substantive matters, such as the award selection process
and position papers. It also includes our updated Rules of Parliamentary Procedure, which are also found at the end of this
document. Available online is our Guide to First Time Delegations, which provides information regarding substantive and
logistical issues for those new to HNMUN and includes a timeline for delegate preparation. The Guide to Starting a Model
UN Team outlines the steps necessary to establish and expand a university’s MUN organization. Both documents can be
found under the “Resources” tab of our website. Finally, Update Papers to committee Study Guides will be posted in early
2019 to expand upon or address recent news developments concerning the topic areas.

If you have any questions about this document, the other Guides, or your committee in general, please do not hesitate to contact
your Director or your Under-Secretary-General. They are truly excited to meet you all and are eager to address any concerns
you may have before, during, or after the conference. I hope you enjoy reading the following Study Guide, and I cannot wait to
meet you and to hear about your ideas this coming February!

Sincerely,

Antonio J. Soriano
Secretary-General
Harvard National Model United Nations 2019

Harvard National Model United Nations 2019

2
 Economic and Social Council & Regional Bodies

From your Under-Secretary-General

Dear Delegates,

It is both my honor and pleasure to welcome you to the Economic and Social Council & Regional Bodies at Harvard National
Model United Nations 2019. My name is Noah Cominsky, and I am your Under-Secretary-General for this year’s conference.
The entire purpose of my role is to ensure that you have the best possible experience within this substantive organ. For the
past year, the ECOSOC staff has worked tirelessly to create and execute their vision for their committees. With debate topics
diverse in subject area, geography, and people affected, the ECOSOC is truly an organ of impact.

I’m currently a junior at Harvard College studying a joint-concentration of Government and Studies of Women, Gender,
and Sexuality. Born and raised a true Midwesterner, I grew up in the Cleveland, Ohio area. It wasn’t until my first year at
Harvard where I discovered my passion for Model UN. While I truly enjoy the speaking and leadership skills I have learned,
I am perhaps most grateful for the connections and friendships I have made by participating in this activity. Regarding my
involvement in HNMUN, my entire experience with this conference has been in the ECOSOC, serving as an Assistant
Director for the Commission on the Status of Women my freshman year and most recently serving as the Director of the
Human Rights Council for HNMUN 2018.

The ECOSOC is often lauded for its diversity, and I would encourage you to use this to your advantage in committee. No
solution to an issue will be simple, and that’s due to the complexity of the issues that will be debated. While named the
Economic and Social Council, the issues you will debate are not independent of one another, rather, they are linked. Through
the usage of crisis updates and the Non-Governmental Organizations Programme, new perspectives will always be added to
the debate, pushing you all to add specificity and depth to your solutions.

While I have spoken a lot about the organ, this background guide was hand-written by your Director over the span of several
months and will serve as the best source of preparation for conference. I strongly encourage you to read the entire guide, since
preparation is essential to any debate. Please also be sure to review the Delegate Preparation Guide for information on the
committee structure and setup.

You can always feel free to reach out to myself or your Director with any questions or concerns. I look forward to seeing you
in February!

Sincerely,

Noah D. Cominsky
Noah D. Cominsky
Under-Secretary-General for the
Economic and Social Council & Regional Bodies
Harvard National Model United Nations 2019

Harvard National Model United Nations 2019

3
Commission on the Status of Women

Commission on the
Status of Women

Topic Area A: Trafficking of Women and Girls

Topic Area B: Healthcare Inequality
Dear Delegates,

Welcome to the Commission on the Status of Women! My name is Grace Sullivan, and I am thrilled to be serving as your
Director for HNMUN 2019.

I am a sophomore at Harvard College concentrating in Social Studies. I grew up in Baltimore, Maryland. In high school, I
was very invested in government simulations and debate. I competed in public forum debate, student congress, and mock trial
in addition to running a statewide program called Youth and Government where high school students held a mock legislative
session at the state capital. I only participated in a little Model United Nations when I was a high schooler, but the experience
clearly left an impression on me, as Model United Nations has become my favorite activity at Harvard. My freshman year, I
assistant directed the Historical Security Council at our high school conference HMUN and assistant directed the Historical
General Assembly at HNMUN. I also serve as a deputy director for Harvard’s competive intercollegiate travel team and plan
on directing the Commission on the Status of Women at HMUN China in March. I love the incredible delegates, teammates,
and friends Model United Nations has brought into my life, and I hope I get to share some of my passion with you at conference.
In addition to Model United Nations, I teach civics class to fifth graders in Boston public schools and spend my free time doing
political work.

I am particularly excited to be working with you on this Commission on the Status of Women. My hope is that you gain an
increased passion for the cause of women’s rights and a newfound appreciation for the contentious process of finding solutions
to these problems. One thing Model United Nations has taught me is that even a room full of people sharing a well-intentioned
goal can be painfully divided over the best policy pathways towards achieving that goal. I hope to see you embrace your
country positions with respect and empathy as you tackle this challenge.

I cannot wait to meet you all and hear both your personal thoughts on these topics and the thoughts of the nations you
represent. In the meantime, please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Grace Sullivan
Grace Sullivan
Director, Commission on the Status of Women
csw@hnmun.org

Harvard National Model United Nations 2019

4

INTRODUCTION
“To this end, we call on the
Governments of the world to encourage
women everywhere to take a more active
part in national and international affairs,
and on women who are conscious of
their opportunities to come forward
and share in the work of peace and
reconstruction as they did in war and
resistance.”
---Eleanor Roosevelt, United
Nations General Assembly, London
19461
Perhaps no group has been so long,
and so universally, mistreated as women.
In every corner of the globe from the
greatest civilizations to the least, women
have been second-class citizens for the
majority of history despite constituting
half the human population. It is unclear
precisely why. The prominent historian
Howard Zinn argues that societies
based on private property find it
expedient to create a unique status for
women within the family as “something
akin to a house slave” requiring “a
special patronization.”2 But even
societies without notions of private
property seem to make ownership of
women a core social tenant based solely
on reproductive physical differences.
In addition to private property giving
cause for a female underclass occupying
the space between slave and master,
religions over the world serve to justify
female inferiority. Passages like “For
the man is not of the woman; but the
woman of the man. Neither was the
man created for the woman; but the
woman for the man”3 in the Bible and
“The male shall have the equal portion
of two females”4 in the Quran are just
the beginning.
The presence of a select few
societies who deviate from this
oppression indicates that female
inferiority need not be considered
inevitable. In the American Southwest,
the Zuni tribe based their society around
extended families in which women were
given equal status. In fact, husbands
Commission on the Status of Women
would come to live with the woman’s
family, and women owned the houses
and shared equal rights to the harvest.5
Moreover, no scientific evidence has
been found to indicate that either gender
is biologically superior. In fact, studies
indicate that, though men and women
score equally in terms of IQ overall, the
only significant distinction is that men
overestimate their intelligence while
women underestimate theirs.6 Thus, it is
a great tragedy that so little has changed
for women even as the world has seen
revolutions in the importance of human
rights starting with thinkers like John
Locke and the creation of governments
wherein “All men are created equal.”7
Of the 160 signatories of the
United Nations charter, four were
women. However, these four women
and their male allies took a great step in
1945 by inscribing the charter with hope
for “the equal rights of men and women
and of Nations large and small.”8 The
Commission on the Status of Women
was founded soon after on 21 June
1946. Since 1946, much has changed
regarding the status of women in some
areas of the globe. In other regions, the
status of women has remained stagnant.
Today, the issues facing women
include political representation, sexual
violence, and income disparities. In
spite of overwhelming attention drawn
to women’s rights by the #MeToo
movement begun in the United States,
academics and journalists have shown
an overall unwillingness to focus their
work on the global plight of women,
preferring instead to focus on “serious”
issues like nuclear proliferation or
economic downturns.
Amartya Sen, Nobel Prize-winning
economist, sparked a new conversation
in 1990 when he told the world “More
than 100 million women are missing.”9
Why do girls disappear, particularly in
poor nations? Some are never born at
all because of sex-selective abortion.
Others are neglected when they fall
ill so that families can prioritize male
sons. Others are honor killed, sexually
assaulted, or trafficked across borders.
Harvard National Model United Nations 2019
The prevalence of both the trafficking
of women and girls and healthcare
inequality for female bodies has led
New York Times journalists Nicholas
Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn to make a
bold statement in their acclaimed book
Half the Sky. They write:
“It appears that more girls have
been killed in the last fifty years,
precisely because they were girls, than
men were killed in all the battles of the
twentieth century. More girls are killed
in this routine “gendercide” in any one
decade than people were slaughtered
in all the genocides of the twentieth
century. In the nineteenth century, the
central moral outrage was slavery. In
the twentieth century, it was the battle
against totalitarianism. We believe that
in this century the paramount moral
challenge will be the struggle for gender
equality around the world.”10
HISTORY OF THE
COMMITTEE
A few days after the first meeting of
the UN General Assembly in February
1946, the Commission on Human
Rights established a Sub-commission on
the Status of Women. However, many
female members were not satisfied,
and thus a dedicated Commission on
the Status of Women was born on 21
June 1946.11 The first session of the
Commission was held at Lake Success,
New York with 15 members. All 15
representatives were women, and
since Lake Success, female majority
representation has continued to uniquely
characterize the Commission. The first
session also prominently featured non-
governmental organizations and has
continued to do so ever since with
increasing numbers. It is also worth
noting that at its first session, the
Commission described its goal as “to
raise the status of women, irrespective of
nationality, race, language or religion.”12
Thus, the Commission recognized early
on the importance of intersectionality
in advancing the feminist cause for all
5
Commission on the Status of Women
women. Furthermore, the first delegates
included not only a mission to fight
legal discrimination as derived from
state action but also discrimination
stemming from “interpretation of
customary law.”13
The Commission also played
a critical role in the drafting of the
Universal Declaration of Human
Rights by ensuring that language would
be gender inclusive. Unlike previous
documents, the Declaration would not
use “men” to mean “humanity.” The
Commission also began in the period
immediately after its founding to focus
on building data and analysis, with
assistance from NGOs, to identify the
problems facing women country-by-
country.14
One of the first causes the
Commission took up in the 1950’s was
the issue of political rights. Of the
51 original United Nations Member
States in 1945, only 25 allowed women
the same voting rights as men.15 The
Secretary-General further noted that
even in countries where the right to
vote and the right to run for office
were legally provided to women, these
rights were rarely utilized.16 Thus, on
20 December 1952, the Commission
drafted the Convention on the Political
Rights of Women and saw it adopted by
the General Assembly. This Convention
provided international legal standards
promoting women’s right to vote, run
for, and hold political office.
On 29 January 1957, the Convention
of the Nationality of Married Women
was adopted17 followed soon after by
the Convention on Consent to Marriage,
Minimum Age for Marriage and
Registration of Marriages18 and then
the Recommendation on Consent to
Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage
and Registration of Marriages.19 These
efforts recognized that one of the
leading causes of discrimination
towards women is their treatment
in family law. Furthermore, the
Commission on the Status of Women
also collaborated with the International
Labor Organization to create equal
6 Economic and Social Council & Regional Bodies
pay for equal work standards in the
1951 Convention Concerning Equal
Remuneration for Men and Women
Workers for Work of Equal Value.
In the 1960’s, the Commission
shifted its focus to the needs of
women in developing parts of the
world as it became clear that poverty
disproportionately affects women.
As such, they encouraged the use of
technical assistance to further women’s
economic wellbeing. The 1960’s also
saw the first of many attempts to
consolidate standards on women’s
rights through the Declaration on
the Elimination of Discrimination
against Women. This effort later led
to the legally binding Convention
on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women and the
right of petition for women victims of
discrimination in later decades.
In order to mark its 25th anniversary,
the Commission declared 1975 the
International Women’s Year to draw
attention to women’s rights and the
role of women in peace and economic
growth. In this year, the First World
Conference on Women was held in
Mexico. The UN also dedicated the UN
Development Fund for Women and
the International Research and Training
Institute for the Advancement of
Women.20 Following the Third World
Conference on Women in Nairobi, the
Commission sought to bring women’s
issues into the mainstream of issues
facing the global community rather
than treating them independently. They
also brought attention to violence
against women in the Declaration on
the Elimination of Violence Against
Women in 1993. Following this,
the Commission on Human Rights
appointed a UN Special Rapporteur
to investigate and report on violence
against women globally.21
In 1995, the Fourth World
Conference on Women adopted the
Beijing Declaration and Platform for
Action. The Platform was unanimously
adopted by 189 countries after difficult
debate to find consensus. The meeting
in Beijing was the single largest
gathering of representatives from
government, NGOs, and media in the
history of the United Nations. Thus,
this event is hailed as the moment it
became clear that women’s rights were
a critical international movement.22
This platform further called for the
promotion of The Office of the
Special Adviser on Gender Issues
and Advancement of Women, which
later merged with several other bodies
to become the Secretariat of the
Commission on the Status of Women
in 2011.23
COMMITTEE DYNAMICS
AND POWERS
In this committee, delegates will
engage in contentious yet respectful
debate. The member states in this
committee represent the diversity of
the world and ought to, therefore,
represent a diversity of opinions.
While issues like gendercide and
trafficking are understandably difficult
for many delegates, it is expected
that each member of the committee
will represent their assigned country
faithfully. This may mean advocating
policies the delegate him or herself
may wholeheartedly disagree with.
Even where countries may agree on
desired outcomes, they may very well
disagree on solutions. The lively debate
that this fosters only strengthens the
Commission on the Status of Women.
Better debate drives stronger solutions.
As in the real Commission, this
committee has several functions and
powers. At its annual session, the
Commission discusses progress made
towards the implementation of the
1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform
for Action as well as more recent
issues relating to women’s rights. The
Members also, and more importantly,
agree on further action towards
women’s empowerment and make
recommendations to the Economic
and Social Council for follow-up and

implementation. Additionally, at each
session, a priority theme is selected.
At this meeting of the committee, the
selection of this theme as either the
trafficking of women and girls or health
care inequalities will be the first debate
and vote undertaken by the committee.
In order to provide sufficient time
for debate and communication between
delegates, working papers will not be
accepted until Committee Session III.
Because diplomatic solutions are the
goal of the Commission, these papers
are to reflect the joint efforts of member
states who will come together during
the first two sessions. Draft Resolutions
may be accepted as early as Committee
Session IV, and amendments and voting
will take place in Committee Sessions
V and VI. As policies come together,
it is important to consider the Beijing
Declaration and Platform for Action
as well as other previous efforts by the
body.
Respect is key if debate is to succeed.
The Commission on the Status of
Women is premised on the importance
of concerted effort across borders to
promote justice for women. It is the
belief of the Commission that simply
acting individually and domestically
will diminish the impact of women’s
equality. As such, countries are to be
respectful in their disagreements. Civil
discourse in the Commission should
be an example for the entire world, the
member states and beyond, to see.
Topic A: Trafficking
of Women and Girls
HISTORY AND
DISCUSSION OF
THE PROBLEM
Definitions
Article 3, paragraph (a) of
the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and
Punish Trafficking in Persons  defines
Trafficking in Persons as, “the
recruitment, transportation, transfer,
harbouring or receipt of persons, by
means of the threat or use of force or
other forms of coercion, of abduction,
of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of
power or of a position of vulnerability
or of the giving or receiving of
payments or benefits to achieve the
consent of a person having control
over another person, for the purpose of
exploitation. Exploitation shall include,
at a minimum, the exploitation of the
prostitution of others or other forms
of sexual exploitation, forced labour
or services, slavery or practices similar
to slavery, servitude or the removal of
organs.”24
This committee will focus on
trafficking in persons as it applies to
women and girls. This specification is
not meant to be a constraint but rather
a guide. While women and girls around
the world face many unique challenges,
there is room for intersection with
the issues that impact men, boys, and
nonbinary people.
Slavery Onward
Records of humans enslaving
other humans can be found as early
as the Code of Hammurabi and the
Bible. “Trading Posts” appear in the
Sahara Desert as early as 700 BC, giving
evidence to an early, internal African
slave trade. As empires developed,
slavery became a key element of warfare
in Egypt, Greece, and Rome. Groups
like the Helots in Greece evolved not
only to be the spoils of war but to
represent a new and distinct underclass
in many societies.25 Sexual slavery has
often been in practice, if not in law, a
companion to labor slavery.
Trans-Atlantic Slavery began with
Portugal claiming Guinea in West
Africa in 1446. In Africa, both male and
female slaves were kidnapped, coerced,
and put in bondage alongside people
from tribes who did not share their
own language, rendering escape nearly
impossible. Most came from West
Harvard National Model United Nations 2019
Commission on the Status of Women
Staged image of child victim of trafficking,
images of real victims cannot be circulated
on the internet for child’s safety.
Source: Humanium.org
Africa, where they would be
captured in raids or during wars and
then traded by African middlemen to
Europeans.26 This marked the beginning
of Chattel Slavery, where the slave and
his or her children would become the
property of the master in perpetuity. In
the New World, African slaves joined
and soon replaced indigenous slaves in
South, Central, and North America as
well as the Caribbean, often doing hard
labor on the vast estates of European
colonizers.27
The practice persisted long after
the colonizers left in the United States,
where slavery was not abolished until
the Civil War and the Thirteenth
Amendment. Although both male and
female slaves suffered under this system,
women were forced to bear a unique
form of hardship. When the slave
trade was ended in 1808, the continued
desire for labor meant reproduction
would replace importation. Female
slaves often faced unwelcomed sexual
advances from their masters and rape
in the antebellum South. In essence, sex
slavery became a necessary component
of labor slavery during this time period.
While male slaves outnumbered
female slaves in the Americas, elsewhere
in the world women represented the
primary victims of the institution. The
Arab Slave Trade existed up until the
20th century, drawing slaves from Sub-
Saharan Africa, the Caucasus, Central
Asia, and Central and Eastern Europe.
While the male-female ratio in the
Atlantic slave trade was, by different
estimates, either 2:1 or 3:1, the Arab slave
trade saw the reverse statistic. Women
7
Commission on the Status of Women
and girls were valued by traffickers
for sexual reasons and reproductive
reasons but also for labor trafficking as
household workers.28 In Asia, women
were trafficked both by colonizers and
by the colonized. During the 16th and
17th centuries, the Portuguese often
enslaved Japanese women and girls
and brought them to Macau and other
Portuguese colonies.29 In a reversal
of this paradigm, upon the defeat of
the Dutch East India Company at the
Seige of Fort Zeelandia, the Chinese
took Dutch women and girls as their
concubines.30
Long after the enslavement of
African Americans was abolished in
America, women of all races were
traded in what became known as “white
slavery.” In 1910, panic regarding the
abduction and trafficking of young girls
in Chicago brothels led to the passage
of the Mann Act. The Act made it a
felony to transport any woman or girl
in interstate or foreign commerce
for “prostitution, debauchery, or
any other immoral purpose.”31 Since
1910, the Mann Act has rarely been
used for legitimate purposes, but it is
nevertheless indicative of the larger
concern about forced prostitution
causing panic in Europe and the United
States at the time.
In Mauritania in West Africa,
chattel slavery actually persisted all the
way until 1981 when there were still
anywhere from 350,000 to 680,000
slaves at the time of abolition.32 Modern
day slavery has evolved so that illegal
control and forced labor are enforced
in new ways rather than the traditional
master-slave relationship. According to
Kevin Bales, there has been a global
resurgence in slavery since 1945 owing
to an increase in the global population,
economic globalization, and income
inequality. Furthermore, corruption
among law enforcement has led to
a permissive environment.33 Places
with the highest levels of poverty and
conflict are particularly vulnerable.
8 Economic and Social Council & Regional Bodies
World War II
During and prior to World War II,
military officers advised the Japanese
government that for soldiers to achieve
peek performance, they would need
to be provided women for sexual
pleasure. This lead to the establishment
of government sponsored military
brothels, known euphemistically as
“Comfort Stations.” The so-called
“comfort women” came from Japan,
Korea, China, and the Philippines
and were often abducted, tricked, and
coerced into becoming sex slaves for
the Japanese military.34
These women were kept in heavily
guarded stalls three feet by five feet
wide which they were not permitted
to leave despite the horrific conditions
they were kept in. Lines of men visited
them day and night, some beating
and torturing the comfort women.
Many died of disease or as a result of
brutalization from the soldiers. After
the war, some of the former comfort
women were executed while others
perished in underground shelters that
fell victim to bombings. Still others
were abandoned as the Japanese
soldiers fled and thus were left to starve
in the jungles or attempt to reach their
former homes.35 Since 1945, reports
and witness statements testifying to the
horrors the comfort women endured
have mounted. However, the Japanese
government has refused to recognize
the issue or provide compensation to
its victims until quite recently.36
Following World War II, the
Japanese government established the
Recreation and Amusement Association
to provide prostitutes to occupying
Allied troops. At its peak, the Recreation
and Amusement Association employed
55,000 women. Although the Recreation
and Amusement Association did not
enslave women in the same way as the
comfort stations, the system led to the
proliferation of STIs and to a more
than 800% increase in rapes by GIs.37
Japan was not the only Axis Power
to pursue sex trafficking of women
and girls as an official state policy.
The Nazis established brothels in
concentration camps beginning with
Mauthausen in 1942 and in 10 locations
including Auschwitz. Robert Sommer,
author of a recent book revealing this
rarely discussed phenomenon, says
the camps had the ostensible purpose
of encouraging forced laborers to
work harder. Neither Jews nor Soviet
prisoners of war were permitted to use
the brothels, which were staffed by non-
Jewish female prisoners selected by the
officers. Although the prostitutes were
not paid, they were promised better
treatment than their fellow prisoners.
Only Kapos, camp supervisors, were
ever permitted to use the camp brothel
systems.38
The Nazis also set up soldier
brothels in occupied European territory
called Wehrmacht brothels. Tens of
thousands of women from occupied
territories were forced to work as sex
slaves during this period. Interestingly,
these brothels were run with precision
and the women were frequently
checked for STIs. Although the Axis
Powers brought state ownership
to the system, state permissiveness
around sex trafficking had long been
established in Europe and Asia. In
France, prostitution was legal and
regulated through maisons de tolerance,
where police and medical authorities
inspected women for diseases. When
the Americans invaded France, they
destroyed Nazi brothels. However, they
also overwhelmed the existing French
prostitution system, creating chaos
and ending the regime of regulation.
This ushered in an era of clandestine
prostitution that exposed women to
violence, disease, and increased risk in
the sex industry.39
Korea
Drawing on the example set by
the Japanese during World War II,
the South Koreans created an almost
identical comfort unit for their military
during the Korean War. In doing so,

North Korean women were kidnapped
and forced into sex slavery in the South.
In spite of the anger inspired in Korea
by Japan’s use of Korean women for
the same purpose, the issue of South
Korean comfort stations has gone
largely undiscussed for decades.40
1970s-Present
While many humanitarian issues
have seen improvement over the past
few decades, the trafficking of women
and girls has only worsened. After
the tumult in Vietnam in the 1970s,
Southeast Asia became a booming
location for a new “recreation” industry.
Similarly, the fall of the Soviet Union
in 1991 generated a new industry
of “mail order brides” particularly in
Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, and Moldova.
Although mail order bride agencies
do not necessarily fit the definition of
trafficking, many women in the industry
were subject to abuse while many
others were recruited through more
traditional sex trafficking. Prostitution
in the former Soviet region, known
as the “Natasha trade,” also blurs a
line between consent and trafficking.41
Labor trafficking has also grown in
regions that have been disadvantaged
by globalization efforts like NAFTA.
There is a capitalist trade in raw
materials and technology. But there is
also a capitalist trade in the bodies of
women and girls.
Contemporary Forms
of Trafficking of
Women and Girls
Child Prostitution of Girls
Generally, child prostitution
includes all youth under the age of 18
exchanging sex for financial gain. Like
adult prostitution, child prostitution can
be divided into consensual and forced
child prostitution, but most analysts
believe this distinction is a distraction
from the issue at hand as individuals
below a certain age cannot truly be said
to give willful consent. The question,
Commission on the Status of Women
therefore, becomes what precise age
delineates the difference between a
consenting adult sex worker and a child
prostitute being trafficked. Under the
United Nations Convention on the
Rights of the Child, any individual
under 18 is a child and therefore
qualifies in the latter category. However,
there are nations around the world that
legislatively define the age of consent
lower, often either 15 or 16.42 Because One-child policy and preference for sons
led to a decrease in female population
of divergent attitudes about childhood, and therefore an increase in demand for
sexuality, and prostitution itself, no prostitution.
Source: Malaysia Today
international standard exists to define
the age at which a person engaged in
conditions they are sending their
the commercialization of their body
child to endure. Most parents are said to
for sex is a victim of trafficking under
be deceived into believing their child is
the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and
going to work in a hotel or a restaurant.
Punish Trafficking in Persons.
However, some parents are fully aware
Despite this debate, it is clear that
that they are offering up their child to
child prostitution poses serious mental
traffickers.46
and physical risk to the child. Physically,
Some children work part-time
a child is simply too small to have
in brothels while continuing to live
intercourse with an adult man. Because
with their parents. In the developing
children are at a significant power
world, such children are often working
disadvantage, it is difficult for them to
for foreign clients and thus make
negotiate condom usage. As such, the
significantly more than those who
risk for STIs is high.43 While mental
only work locally. Yet another group
health research specifically relating to
of children practice what is known
child prostitution is limited, it is clear
as survival sex. These children live
that trauma of any kind early in life
on the street and exchange sex for
leaves children with lasting effects.44
necessities like food and shelter. In
There are different types of child
the West, it has been well documented
prostitution. First, there is the variety
that such children have often run
involving those trafficked in a traditional
away from home and are victims of
chance. These children are kidnapped
abuse. A further troubling variety of
and taken forcibly into brothels often
child prostitution is that sanctioned by
far from their homes. In Thailand, child
religious practice, such as the devadasi
prostitutes from Burma and China are
cults of India. In these cults, girls are
trafficked. In India, there is evidence of
expected to engage in intercourse with
Nepalese girls being sold in this fashion.
higher-caste community members and
The same occur with Vietnamese girls
are ritually married to a deity.47
in Cambodia and Eastern European
International law condemns
girls in Western Europe.45
child prostitution. Article 34 of the
A second form of child prostitution
United Nations Convention on the
occurs when parents sell their children
Rights of the Child asserts, “The State
or use their children to cover debts. In
shall protect children from sexual
this case, the parents offer their children
exploitation and abuse, including
to middlemen who provide payment in
prostitution and involvement in
advance. The children then must work
pornography.”48 However, in the
in the brothels until they have paid back
document, a child is anyone under 18
the debt. It is difficult to discern to
“unless under the law applicable to the
what extent parents are aware of the
Harvard National Model United Nations 2019
9
Commission on the Status of Women
child, maturity is attained earlier.”49 This
leaves significant room for countries to
make their own determinations.
Estimates of how many girls,
and boys, around the world are being
trafficked for sexual purposes are
unreliable as they are often derived
from interest groups who report the
most sensational numbers available.
For Thailand, estimates range from
20,000 to 1 million child prostitutes
and for the Philippines, from 3,000 to
100,000.50 One such group, End Child
Prostitution in Asian Tourism, has been
very successful in leading to legislative
change on a state by state basis. In
Australia, citizens can be imprisoned for
up to 17 years if found guilty of sexual
offenses with children, and similar laws
exist in New Zealand and a collection
of countries in Western Europe.
However, only a handful of men have
been prosecuted. Little is known about
the clients of child prostitutes, who
include both habitual pedophiles and
individuals who select child prostitutes
incidentally for a variety of situational
reasons. One often cited belief is
that sex with a child will cure AIDS,
although little is known to substantiate
the impact of this belief on increasing
rates of child prostitution.51
Sexual Slavery of Women
With adult women, it is much more
difficult to say who is consenting and
who is being trafficked. As Nicholas
Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn put it,
“Some commentators look at prostitutes
and see only sex slaves; others see only
entrepreneurs. But in reality there
are some in each category and many
other women who inhabit a gray zone
between freedom and slavery.”52 This
makes it difficult to make sweeping
statements on the conditions adult
female sex slaves are exposed to or
the illegal channels that bring them to
experience such a fate.
Perhaps unexpectedly, the most
sexually conservative countries in the
world have disproportionately large
populations of women forced into
10 Economic and Social Council & Regional Bodies
sexual slavery. In countries like Pakistan,
Iran, and India, men do not typically
sleep with their girlfriends. Thus,
society tolerates young men taking out
their sexual frustrations on prostitutes.
While wealthy girls maintain their
virginity for their future husbands, poor
girls will satisfy male needs in brothels.53
India likely has more women
forced into sexual slavery than any
other country, with approximately 2
to 3 million women in prostitution.
While many of these women do sell
sex willingly, it is well known that
a substantial portion enter the sex
trade by coercion or force. One study
of Indian brothels indicates that
among Nepali women who entered
prostitution as teenagers, half reported
being compelled against their will. Once
a woman begins working in the sex
industry, social stigma makes it unlikely
she will pursue a different path.54
Sex Tourism
Sex tourism is a crossroads between
the sex industry and the tourism industry.
By definition, sex tourism occurs when
an individual travels to a foreign country
for the explicit purpose of pursuing
intercourse, typically with prostitutes
or with minors. This can often be
motivated by a desire to avoid more
stringent legal provisions against child
prostitution or prostitution in general
in the perpetrators home country. As
such, the typical sex tourism narrative
concerns men from the West traveling
to Asia, Central America, and South
America where extradition laws do not
exist, prostitution is legal, and the age
of consent is low. By furthering the
demand for sex with children abroad,
Westerners play a significant role in
the proliferation of the trafficking of
women and girls.55
Bride Kidnapping
Bride kidnapping is a form of forced
marriage that classifies as trafficking
because it involves the abduction of
a woman by force for the purpose
of sexual exploitation. Although the
exploitation is expected to occur
within the bounds of matrimony, it is
nevertheless unwilling and conducted
in a manner that altogether suggests
the woman is to become property of
her male spouse. In a bride kidnapping,
a gang of men will set upon a woman,
force her into a vehicle, and prevent her
escape long enough to deliver her to
either the bridegroom’s house to await
marriage or to a marriage ceremony
itself. Rape is also oftentimes a feature
as it renders the woman a tainted object.
Bride kidnappings occur today primarily
in Kyrgyzstan, where the practice is
known as Ala Kachuu, but they also have
happened in Eastern Europe including
Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Bosnia-
Herzegovina, Azerbaijan, Georgia,
and more frequently in Kazakhstan,
Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Bride
kidnappings have been documented
in parts of China, Rwanda, Ethiopia,
Kenya, and even Chile.56 In Kyrgyzstan,
Ala Kachuu account for half of all
marriages, despite the fact it is a majority
Muslim country where the practice is
technically illegal and57 immoral.
Labor Trafficking
Labor trafficking is yet another
form of modern day slavery that exists
for both men and women all over the
world. Traffickers use violence, lies, debt
bondage and other forms of coercion
to compel people against their will
into a variety of industries, including
domestic service and farm labor. Often,
a trafficker will make a false promise
of a good job or education to lure an
individual into egregious conditions.
The most vulnerable are those living
in poverty and those with uncertain
immigration status. The International
Labor Organization estimates that
globally there are 14.2 million people in
forced labor. It is difficult to estimate
what fraction of this number women
and girls constitute.58 Women and
girls are particularly vulnerable to
being trafficked as domestic servants.
Domestic servitude occurs when an
employer prevents a domestic worker

from leaving the house, refuses to pay
wages, steals their identity documents,
and uses violence. Women and girls in
these conditions may work 24 hours a
day cooking, cleaning, and taking care
of children. Domestic servitude occurs
throughout the world from he United
States to Lebanon to Tanzania.59
CURRENT
SITUATION
Conservative estimates suggest
that 3 million women and girls are
currently being trafficked. This number
does not even account for those
who are manipulated or coerced into
prostitution.60 As such, the journal
Foreign Affairs has concluded that, “The
modern global slave trade is larger in
absolute terms than the Atlantic slave
trade in the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries was.”61
Case Studies
The United States Department of
State Trafficking in Persons Report
(TIP Report) is regarded as one of the
foremost sources of information on
human trafficking in the world. The
report is unique among reports of its
kind because it classifies each country
on a tier spectrum, with Tier 1 applying
to countries who fully comply with
minimum standards for preventing
trafficking and protecting its victims
and Tier 3 applying to countries who
fail to comply or make significant
efforts to do so.62 While the Trafficking
in Persons Reported is typically
well regarded, it has received some
international criticism for failing to
properly take into account local cultural
values. However, no international body
currently produces a report of similar
quality and thoroughness. The 2018
information will accompany each case
study below.
Thailand
Tier 2 as of 2018 (Tier 3 in previous
reports); Prostitution illegal63
This map shows in red the countries with
the worst environment for human traffick-
ing in red.
Source: TIP Report
Lax legal protections and a lack
of legal recognition for domestic
work have led to a troubling climate in
Thailand for domestic servitude. While
native Thai domestic workers typically
have positive working conditions,
migrants face restraint of movement,
under or lack of payment, violence, and
other forms of abuse. There have been
allegations that many migrant domestic
workers in Thailand were trafficked
into their jobs.64
Many victims of trafficking in
Thailand migrated willingly from
Burma, Cambodia, Laos, China,
Vietnam, Uzbekistan and India in
search of better economic opportunity.
However, labor brokers, who serve as
intermediaries between job seekers and
potential employers, collaborate with
corrupt law enforcement officials and
traffickers. Some migrants incur debt
and either before entering or while in
Thailand and thus are subject to debt
bondage. Brokers and traffickers are
known to confiscate victims’ legal
identification. For men, trafficking in
Thailand often leads to forced labor
on fishing boats. For women and girls,
sex trafficking is the main industry.
Furthermore, Thailand is known to
serve as a transit location for victims
Harvard National Model United Nations 2019
Commission on the Status of Women
from China, Vietnam, Bangladesh,
and Burma who are then trafficked to
Malaysia, Indonesia, Russia, the United
States, and Europe.65
Thai labor brokers are also involved
in trafficking Thai nationals for sex
trafficking abroad. Local officials
report that social media is a growing
tool in recruitment for sex trafficking
of women and girls in Thailand.
Corruption runs rampant in law
enforcement, including some officials
who accept payment from smugglers
and others who protect brothels
from inspection. As a whole, the Thai
government does not comply with the
minimum standards for eliminating
trafficking and has made little effort
to do so. It came as a surprise in 2017
when more than 60 individuals were
tried and found guilty of trafficking.
Among those convicted was a former
army general, Manas Kongpan, who
received a 27 year sentence and several
former local politicians. The conviction
of such senior officials is incredibly rare
in Thailand, leading to a permissive
environment for corruption. The case
in question involved trafficking of poor
Bangladeshis and Rohingya Muslims
who had been denied sufficient food
and water until their untimely deaths.
The case opened when shallow graves
near the Thai-Malaysian border were
discovered containing the ditched
remains of the starved migrants.66
11
Commission on the Status of Women
India
Tier 2; Prostitution legal and not
regulated, but organized pimping/
brothels are illegal67
India has been identified as a major
hub of the sex trade by the United States
State Department, the United Nations,
and India’s Human Rights Commission.
One cause of the market for sex in India
is a growing gender imbalance caused
by sex-selective abortion. Because
women are a declining in the overall
adult population, men have little hope
of finding female partners and thus the
demand for prostitution has increased.
Because India is home to increasing
levels of affluence, European women
have been lured into the sex trade as
well. However, continuing poverty
in many areas and the caste system
compound the problem. Those in
the lowest castes make up the largest
percentage of trafficking victims.68
In Bihar, a northern Indian state
near the border with Nepal, sex is a
dominating industry. In this region,
the Nutt, a low-caste tribe, run the sex
industry. They operate brothels with
mud walls and thatched rooves. Here,
mothers who are trafficked are expected
to raise their daughters to continue in
the industry. Meena Hasina, a victim of
trafficking in Bihar, explains that she
was eight or nine years od when she was
kidnapped and trafficked. She was then
kept alongside other prepubescent girls
until she was mature enough—at age
twelve—to begin serving customers.
Meena was never paid or permitted
to leave the brothel where she served
ten or more customers every day. The
owners, a Nutt family, would beat
the girls whenever they complained
or showed signs of disobedience.
Eventually, Meena became pregnant
with two children but was forced to
abandon them when she escaped, only
to be reunited years later when they
too had been forced to work at the
brothel.69 Meena’s story is indicative of
the struggles girls trafficked in India,
both from surrounding countries and
domestic, rural and urban.
12 Economic and Social Council & Regional Bodies
United States
Tier 1; Prostitution Illegal70
The United States State Department
estimates that somewhere between
14,500 and 17,500 individuals are
trafficked annually in the United States.
Of the 1,264 foreign nationals certified
by the United States Department of
Health and Human Services as victims
of trafficking by 2007, 69% of adults
were women and 82% of children were
girls. Of course, this number is only
representative of the small fraction
of victims who have been found and
cooperated with law enforcement. As
in other countries, trafficked women in
the United States are typically migrants
who have been tricked or coerced into
servitude, but citizens can also fall prey
to traffickers. While there have been
cases of corrupt police officers turning
a blind eye to traffickers in the United
States, corruption plays a much smaller
role in the United States than it does in
other countries.71
In the United States, trafficking
looks somewhat different from its
image in Bihar, India; however, the
trauma experienced by its victims is the
same. The 2018 Trafficking in Persons
report details the story of Taylor, a 16
year old girl who encountered a group
of older men one day at her local mall.
She then began going on dates with one
of the men who showed her kindness
and bought meals and clothes for her.
Soon after their relationship began, the
man coerced the 16 year old girl into
entering sex trafficking. While she did
technically receive money from her
clients, she was forced to give nearly
all of her money to her traffickers. In
order to keep her under their control,
the traffickers threatened Taylor’s
family. Eventually, Taylor went on to
be promoted to a recruiting position
where she was tasked with bringing
more young girls like herself into the
industry.
Russia
Tier 3; Prostitution Illegal
After criminalizing the purchase of sex and
decriminalizing the selling of sex, Sweden
has watched prostitution rates plummet.
Source: LA Progressive
In Russia, inbound sexual traffic
exceeds exports because of a steady
domestic demand for prostitution.
However, the country simultaneously
functions as a destination, origin, and
transit country for sexual slavery of
women and girls. Overall, Russia ranks
as the sixth-biggest slave population
in the world. Of the 1 million people
estimated to be enslaved in Russia,
the majority are women and girls
engaged in sex trafficking. Although
women and girls of all social classes
can fall prey to traffickers, the poor
are most vulnerable. In fact, one third
of all women who grew up in Russian
orphanages fall into trafficking. The
main sources from which traffickers
acquire women to bring to Russia are
Moldova, Ukraine, and the Baltic states.
Monthly revenues for a small brothel
in Moscow could average up to US
$2.5 million. In Russia, fear of damage
to the nation’s reputation motivates
government officials to deny and ignore
the problem. Criminologists estimate
that only one in nine sex trafficking
crimes is ever discovered in Russia.
Even when freed, trafficking victims
in Russia cannot expect rehabilitation
or protection from the government.
NGOs are forced to fill the void.72
Iran
Tier 3; Prostitution Illegal
Organized groups subject Iranian
women and girls to sex trafficking both
in Iran and in Afghanistan, Kurdistan,
Pakistan, United Arab Emirates, and

Europe. Reports indicate that this
exploitation has increased since 2009.
In Kurdistan in particular, it is known
that government officials are among
the most common customers for
Iranian run brothels. Young girls in
particular, between 13 and 17 years old,
are targeted abroad where they typically
they are enslaved as domestic servants
until deemed mature enough for sexual
exploitation. Children have also been
kidnapped by organized crime networks
and used as beggars in big cities like
Tehran. One particularly nefarious tool
used to control these children is drug
addiction, and some children have
reportedly been purchased for as little
as US $150. In Iran, refugees from
Afghanistan, including children, are also
targeted heavily by traffickers. Pakistani
women migrants are also targeted for
use in domestic servitude. The Iranian
government has not shared information
on any anti-trafficking efforts it may
conduct. In fact, there have been
allegations that Iranian officials have
themselves been involved in attempted
trafficking of Afghan migrants for use
in Syrian combat.73
Brazil
Tier 2; Prostitution legal and not
regulated, but organized pimping/
brothels are illegal
Although the Brazilian government
does not meet minimum standards for
the elimination of trafficking, it has
made attempts to do so in recent years.
Brazil recently passed a comprehensive
anti-trafficking law and has begun
prosecuting suspected traffickers under
the new law. They have also begun the
development stage of a centralized
judicial database for trafficking
cases. While these improvements are
encouraging enough to give Brazil Tier
2 status, the Brazilian government still
does not provide adequate shelters for
trafficking victims. Because care is not
being provided, victims are vulnerable
to re-trafficking.74 Trafficked women
and girls in Brazil come from all over
the world. The 2018 Trafficking in
Commission on the Status of Women
Persons Report tells the story of Maria,
a woman from the Philippines who had
PAST
taken domestic service jobs in foreign INTERNATIONAL
countries many times before meeting ACTIONS
a Brazilian recruiter. Once she began
working in Brazil, Maria found that The United Nations has been at
the job she had been promised by the the forefront of countering trafficking.
recruiter was not really a job at all. She However, it has not always received full
was exploited, worked 15 hours a day, commitment from its member states.
was forced to remain in the house, and The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish
was denied food. Even after escaping, Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and
Maria remained in debt to the recruiters Children is a protocol to the Convention
who it transpired were really traffickers.75 against Transnational Organized Crime that
was adopted by the General Assembly in
Democratic Republic of the Congo
2000 and put into effect in 2003. States
Tier 3; Prostitution legal and not
who ratify the protocol are committed
regulated, but organized pimping/
to preventing human trafficking,
brothels are illegal
providing resources for victims of
While men in Congo often face
trafficking, and working with other
debt bondage and enslavement in
states to meet those goals. The protocol
mines, women and girls face sex
defines trafficking of persons broadly,
slavery and forced marriage. In fact,
so it is not limited to cross-border
there have been cases recorded by
trafficking or to any specific purposes
the U.S State Department of women
for trafficking, encourages states to
and girls forced into sex slavery by
enact measures for the safe return
their own family members. Reports
of victims, and ensures that victims
indicate that women and girls from
are not to be prosecuted for offenses
Congo are being trafficked internally
related to their conditions of trafficking.
as well as to South Africa, Rwanda,
Further, it provides for heightened
Uganda, Europe, and the Middle East.
punishments for those involved in
In the eastern part of Democratic
trafficking including complicity by state
Republic of the Congo, members of
officials and by parents who knowingly
Batwa, also known as pygmy, groups
force their children into conditions
are especially vulnerable to trafficking.
of slavery.77 United Nations reports
Both foreign and domestic militias,
suggest that although the number of
including the Democratic Forces for
ratifying countries has doubled from
the Liberation of Rwanda and the
54 to 125 and growing in recent years,
Lord’s Resistance army, use force to
many states still fail to meet its legal
recruit not only men but also women
requirements.78
and girls to work as laborers and sexual
In 2005, the Commission on the
servants. The Congolese government
Status of Women itself took action
has not made significant attempts to
on the trafficking of women and girls
counter the problem and is challenged
by enacting a United States sponsored
by corruption. However, they have
resolution. The resolution, Eliminating
in recent years shown a willingness to
Demand for Trafficked Women and Girls
cooperate internationally to reduce
for All Forms of Exploitation, was the
child soldiering. The government has
first to focus on the demand side of
also minimally provided protection to
trafficking. It notes that “multiple
victims.76
forms of discrimination and conditions
of disadvantage contribute to the
vulnerability to trafficking of women
and girls, and that indigenous, refugee,
internally displaced, and migrant
Harvard National Model United Nations 2019
13
Commission on the Status of Women
women and girls may be particularly
at risk.”79 The resolution encourages
states to recognize that the elimination
of trafficking will require an effort to
combat its root causes such as poverty
and gender inequality. In doing so, the
resolution calls all forms of sexual
exploitation of women and girls a
motivation for trafficking. Although the
resolution provides a good theoretical
framework for analyzing trafficking,
the only concrete recommendations it
provides are focused on education and
public awareness. The Commission on
the Status of Women has also made the
elimination of trafficking a priority at
the Beijing Fourth World Conference.
The United Nations Global Plan
of Action to Combat Trafficking in
Persons was adopted on 30 July 2010.
The document urges the international
community to work in partnership to
eradicate trafficking. It aims to make
the fight against trafficking part of the
broader United Nations missions of
improving security and living standards
globally. In particular, it establishes a
voluntary fund for victims of trafficking
to access, especially women and girls. It
also seeks to ensure prosecution both
of trafficking networks and of corrupt
state officials who allow trafficking
to happen. Furthermore, the Plan
of Action to Combat Trafficking in
Persons created the United Nations
Office on Drugs and Crime report on
human trafficking. The publication
gathers data from more than 150
countries and provides an overview of
trafficking patterns, steps governments
are taking, and case studies.80 The
report is released roughly every three
years, but it has not gained the same
traction the United States Trafficking in
Persons Report has possibly because its
review is not as frequent or thorough.
Then Secretary-General Ban Ki-
moon noted why it is so critical that
international efforts be coordinated
to combat trafficking, explaining that
“No country is immune. Almost all play
a part, either as a source of trafficked
people, transit point or destination.”81
14 Economic and Social Council & Regional Bodies
The Plan of Action to Combat
Trafficking in Persons recognizes the
importance of education in raising
awareness about trafficking but
does not establish a mechanism of
implementation for such education.82
Similarly, the document notes that the
provision of identity documents would
decrease risk of trafficking, but it does
not establish any program to meet this
need.83 It also urges states to instate
legislation that will permit trafficking
victims to remain in the country and
to ensure that nationals who have been
victimized by traffickers are permitted
to return and are provided safe passage
when they do so.84 More innovative
measures to ensure that states actually
implement these measures may be
needed.
Beyond the Plan of Action to
Combat Trafficking in Persons, many
other United Nations documents have
named the elimination of trafficking as
an objective. This includes the United
Nations Millennium Declaration
adopted on 8 September 2000, the
2005 World Summit Outcome
adopted on 16 September 2005, the
Convention on the Elimination
of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women, International Labor
Organization conventions 29 and 182,
and many more. The United Nations
has also produced a serious of more
low profile resolutions, including
resolution 61/144 on the Trafficking
in Women and Girls , that deal with
the topic. Resolution 61/144, adopted
in December of 2006, reiterates most
of the existing messages regarding
trafficking including the importance of
coordinated efforts, the importance of
public awareness, and the importance
of assistance for victims. It goes further
than other resolutions in urging states
to collaborate with non-governmental
organizations, provide special
considerations for the treatment of
female victims of trafficking, encourage
media providers to self-regulate for
exploitative content, cooperate with
business sector entities including
tourism and telecommunications, and
provide training for law enforcement
on dealing with victims.85
Although trafficking of women and
girls is a seemingly perennial topic of
discussion with the United Nations, the
problem has been increasing in severity
in recent years. Many existing protocol
are steps in the right direction but have
not been fully endorsed by member
states. Future solutions will require
further motivation for all states to
participate and more specific language
to provide for concrete solutions.
More innovative solutions may also
be pursued that are more in the mold
of independent actions certain states
and nonstate actors have taken. For
example, the Exchange Initiative and
researchers at Washington University
created an app called TraffickCam.86
The app allows users to upload pictures
of their hotel rooms which can be
used in a database to identify the
location of traffickers who often post
pictures of victims inside hotel rooms
as advertisements. Other efforts aimed
at raising awareness have also been
innovative, including the 24 Hour Race
in Asia and the Blue Campaign.
TIMELINE OF
SIGNIFICANT
EVENTS
700 BC - Early evidence of human
trafficking in Africa points to 700 BC
as the earliest verifiable time when men,
women, and children were bought and
sold. However, it is more likely that
human beings were trafficked long
before this as a part of war and a part
of commerce.
1446 - International trafficking
of human beings across boarders was
made possible by Portugal’s conquest
of territory in Africa in 1446. This
action set into motion the scourge of
the Atlantic Slave Trade.
1808 - In 1808, the United States
ended its importation of slaves from
Africa. As a result, the proliferation

of slavery from 1808 onwards would
depend on reproduction. Female slaves
became increasingly vulnerable to rape
and sexual assault.
1865 - Slavery was abolished by the
Thirteenth Amendment in the United
States.
1910 - The Mann Act makes it
a felony to transport women across
state lines for immoral purposes in the
United States. The law was indicative of
panic over the spread of sex trafficking
and prostitution across Europe and the
United States.
1942 - Nazis establish brothels in
concentration camps as early as 1942.
Many of the women held in these
brothels were not consenting.
1945 - The United Nations Charter
was signed in 1945. A tiny fraction of
the signers were women.
1945 - Throughout World War Two,
the Japanese instated comfort stations
where women, primarily from Korea,
were forced to serve soldiers day and
night. The women were kept in stalls
and were not permitted to leave.
1946 - The Commission on the
Status of Women was created in 1946.
1950 - During the Korean War,
the South Koreans created comfort
stations similar to those in Japan during
World War Two.
1952 - The Commission on
the Status of Women drafted the
Convention on the Political Rights
of Women and saw it adopted by the
General Assembly in 1952.
1970s - Following the Vietnam
War, conflict and desolation bread
opportunities for traffickers in
Southeast Asia.
1975 - This year was declared
International Women’s Year by the
Commission on the Status of Women.
1991 - The fall of the Soviet Union
led to uncertainty and a rise in both
prostitution and sex trafficking in the
former Soviet bloc region.
1993 - The Commission saw the
Declaration on the Elimination of
Violence Against Women adopted in
1993.
1995 - The Fourth World
Conference on Women adopted the
Beijing Declaration and Platform for
Action. The Platform for Action named
countering the trafficking of women
and girls as an objective.
2000 - The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress,
and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially
Women and Children, a protocol to the
Convention Against Transnational Organized
Crime, was adopted by the General
Assembly in 2000 and put into effect in
2003.
2005 - In 2005, the Commission
on the Status of Women passed the
resolution Eliminating Demand for
Trafficked Women and Girls for All Forms of
Exploitation. The resolution was notable
as the first to focus on the demand side
of trafficking.
2005 - In 2005, the World Summit
Outcome named human trafficking as a
key global concern.
2006 - United Nations Resolution
61/144 was passed in 2006 to combat
trafficking in women and girls. The
resolution encourages public and
private sector collaboration. It also
recognizes the unique needs of female
victims of trafficking.
2010 - The United Nations Global
Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking
in Persons was adopted on 30 July 2010.
PROPOSED
SOLUTIONS
Education
Perhaps the simplest, and therefore
most frequently proposed, solution
to trafficking is education. Although
public awareness campaigns may seem
like pale attempts compared to the
specter of trafficking, they are worth
consideration for a few reasons. First,
they are feasible at the international
level under the United Nations. Second,
they are capable of penetrating and
serving areas where state actors are not
cooperative unlike efforts that require
independent legislative action. Third,
Harvard National Model United Nations 2019
Commission on the Status of Women
they can mobilize the public in addition
to non-government organizations
and political bodies. By learning the
warning signs that indicate a labor
recruiter’s offer may be a promise of
trafficking instead, women can better
avoid dangerous situations. Additionally,
when the public is educated on how
to recognize abuse and trafficking
occurring around them, individuals
may be able to make life saving reports.
Education is also useful in motivating
compassion and the allocation of
resources towards helping trafficking
victims.
In 2013, the United States
Department of Homeland Security
launched an initiative called the Blue
Campaign. The campaign launched
thousands of tip sheets, posters, and
public service announcements to raise
awareness about the signs of trafficking
and the devastation it may cause.87
Non-governmental organizations have
also taken up the mantle of raising
awareness including Stop the Traffik,88
a campaign that has produced literature
on the topic, and the 24 Hour Race,89 an
organization that puts young people at
the forefront of ending trafficking.
However, empirical evidence
suggests that education campaigns are
deeply flawed. Marketing scientists
believe that after a person views a
public service announcement, they are
likely to feel subconscious satisfaction
as if they have already contributed to
the cause. Thus, awareness may make
people feel good without requiring
any further action. Additionally, many
such campaigns have been superficial
and stereotyping in their content.90
However, these complaints center on
general public awareness campaigns
rather than targeted campaigns geared
toward teaching law enforcement
identification strategies and sensitivity,
teaching consumers to avoid purchasing
forced labor compromised products,
or teaching at risk communities best
practices. For example, parents were
targeted by a campaign in Northern
Virginia called SCAN which released
15
Commission on the Status of Women
resources to educate parents on
keeping their children out of the hands
of traffickers.91
Reduce Gender
Inequality
It is no accident that 80% of those
trafficked across international borders
annually are women and girls.92 Just as
racial dehumanization of Africans was
required to justify the Atlantic Slave
Trade, the objectification of women
makes them the primary victims of
modern slavery. In most of the world,
women today have less social, economic,
and physical power than their traffickers.
As such, reducing gender inequality has
been a strategy for reducing trafficking
targeted by the United Nations. In
Resolution 61/144, the General
Assembly Acknowledges “that women
and girl victims of trafficking, on
account of their gender, are further
disadvantaged and marginalized by
a general lack of information or
awareness and recognition of their
human rights.” As such, the Resolution
calls upon governments, “to take
appropriate measures to address the
factors that increase vulnerability to
being trafficked, including poverty and
gender inequality . . . by strengthening
existing legislation with a view to
providing better protection of the
rights of women and girls.”93 Although
existing United Nations doctrine is
correct in recognizing that trafficking
rests on a foundation of gender
inequality, more specifics are required
to practically combat gender inequality.
Furthermore, such efforts must be
conducted with a focus on avoiding
patronization of women and further
legislation diminishing their social
status.
Reduce Poverty and
All Forms of Stigma
In a similar spirit to reducing gender
inequality, poverty eradication may well
be a necessary component of the fight
against the trafficking of women and
16 Economic and Social Council & Regional Bodies
girls. Although anyone can fall victim to
trafficking, the most vulnerable groups
are poor women, migrants, and those
of lower caste. Stigma against each of
these groups often allows those who live
in close proximity to brothels to turn a
blind eye.94 The United Nations has also
recognized that, “victims of trafficking
are particularly exposed to racism,
racial discrimination, xenophobia
and related intolerance . . . including
on the grounds of their gender, age,
ethnicity, culture and religion, as well
as their origins, and that these forms
of discrimination themselves may fuel
trafficking in persons.”95 However, just
as with reducing gender inequality, the
United Nations message on this front
is yet to be backed by concrete action.
Encourage States
to Tighten Border
Security
Although the United Nations, and
indeed the Commission on the Status
of Women, cannot compel a nation to
adopt a specific policy, they have long
encouraged some options over others.
One controversial method of reducing
human trafficking across borders
is to increase border security. The
migrant border crisis in the European
Union has led to new and alarming
avenues into trafficking. Every day,
young people between the ages of 18
and 24 from economically depressed
countries like Kosovo pay smugglers
thousands of euros to be brought into
European Union countries like Italy.
Once smuggled, these young people
are vulnerable to being trafficked by
their smugglers, on whom they have
often become financially dependent.96
To some, the solution to this problem
is reduced migration. Such a solution
would bring up other human rights
concerns and xenophobic implications.
However, heightened screening of
those crossing the border, increased
surveillance, and perhaps even barriers
across unpoliced areas of borders could
potentially stop some traffickers.
Encourage Stricter
and More Innovative
Prosecution of
Traffickers
Many trafficking related resolutions
in the past have contained subsections
centered on the role of prosecution.
In the Plan of Action to Combat
Trafficking in Persons, the General
Assembly targets the prosecution
of both organized criminal groups
engaged in trafficking and corrupt
public officials who are complicit
in trafficking.97 There are several
controversies surrounding how to
prosecute trafficking related offenses.
The most prominent is the controversy
over legalization of prostitution. Those
in favor of legal prostitution argue
that it will occur inevitably regardless
of legality; the difference is whether it
can be regulated to prevent the spread
of AIDSs, pregnancy, violence, and
underage trafficking.
Alternatively, those on the other
side of the debate, hold that especially
in poor countries where governments
lack the strength to regulate, legalize-
and-regulate is ineffective. Additionally,
legal brothels tend to develop in
tandem with illegal venues for forced
prostitution and child prostitution. As
such, those who maintain prostitution
should be illegal and should be subject
to police crackdowns hope to see police
held in check and well-kept data on how
many brothels are raided and pimps
are arrested. If nothing else, stricter
prosecution of prostitution compels
corrupt police officers to demand
higher bribes and therefore reduces
the profitability of the industry.98
Somewhere in between these solutions
is the Swedish Model. In 1999, Sweden
criminalize the purchase of sex rather
than its sale. Sex-trade workers were
encouraged to go to the police when
visited by abusive clients. Years later,
reports indicate that street prostitution
has been cut in half.99
BLOC POSITIONS

It is important to remember that
these distinctions do not tell the full
story on a country’s approach to
combatting trafficking. They may,
however, provide an indication of
allies a country may seek within the
Commission on the Status of Women.
Identifying a countries tier ranking in
the Trafficking in Persons report is a
good starting point for understanding
its approach to trafficking.
Economically
Developed
Democracies
This category primarily includes
North American and Western European
Democracies. Nearly without exception,
these countries are ranked as Tier 1
countries in the Trafficking in Person’s
Report. Thus, these countries fully meet
the minimum standards for working
to prevent trafficking. However, this
does not mean these countries lack
trafficking within their borders. Rather,
they acknowledge and address these
issues.100 Different strategies have been
pursued by these countries domestically
to combat trafficking. Certainly, current
sentiment both in the United States
and in the European Union regarding
border security would motivate interest
in looking at trafficking through its
connection to migration.
Economically
Developing Countries
with Emergent
Democratic Potential
This category applies to South
American democracies, South Asian
countries like India, and Eastern
European countries particularly former
Yugoslav states that have transitioned
to democracy. The majority of these
countries are designated under Tier 2
by the Trafficking in Persons Report.
Although their governments have not
currently done enough to prevent
trafficking, they are working towards the
goal and are generally compliant with
international initiatives. Some, however,
remain among the most affected by
trafficking and are therefore motivated
to cooperate with efforts to end
trafficking.101 Cooperation is typically
undertaken with the stipulation that
their governments be given ultimate
authority over the issue. Southeast
Asian Countries, some Central African
Countries, and parts of the middle east
exist on the line between Tier 2 and
Tier 3. These countries have seen a rise
in trafficking in recent years without
an increase in their commitment to
fighting the issue. Thus, they may side
on some issues with the authoritarian
states and on other issues with the
emergent democracies.
Authoritarian States
This category applies primarily to
the People’s Republic of China, the
Russian Federation, North Africa, Saudi
Arabia, and Iran. In these primarily
Tier 3 countries, governments have
done little to combat trafficking and
are making no effort to change that
fact.102 They are generally uncompliant
with international action. In most cases,
these countries nevertheless maintain
concern for the issue, but show disdain
for interference in their internal affairs.
Some of these countries also exhibit
corruption in which state officials
accept bribes from traffickers.
RELEVANT
PARTNERS
One of the most influential
anti-trafficking groups is Polaris
Project. This organization, operating
in the United States, focuses both
on advocacy and policy looking
to strengthen national laws. They
also provide services to victims of
trafficking.103 Also in the United
States, the Coalition to Abolish Slavery
and Trafficking is notable for having
developed the first anti-trafficking task
force in the United States to connect
a variety of community based groups
in the Los Angeles area. In Cambodia,
Harvard National Model United Nations 2019
Commission on the Status of Women
an organization called Rapha House
focuses its efforts on child trafficking.104
In India, an organization called Prajwala,
meaning eternal flame, rescues women
from brothels and provides a range of
services including education and job
training.105
Additionally, larger, internationally
active organizations like Human Rights
Watch and Amnesty International
have focused some of their efforts
on the trafficking of women and girls.
However, Amnesty International is an
active advocate for decriminalizing sex
work.106
QUESTIONS A
RESOLUTION MUST
ANSWER
How can underlying causes of
trafficking, such as gender
inequality, poverty, and social
stigmas, be a part of the
Commission on the Status of
Women’s efforts?
Is there a practical way to approach
these broad issues?
How can the United Nations Office
on Drugs and Crime improve
its report on the state of human
trafficking?
What types of education campaigns
can be effective in trafficking
prevention? Can the global
community collaborate? What
messages should be targeted?
Can the Commission on the Status of
Women make a recommendation
regarding prosecution of
traffickers? What can be done
about corrupt officials who accept
bribes or participate in trafficking
directly?
17
Commission on the Status of Women
Where have other United Nations
resolutions failed in the past? What
can be done in a new resolution to
encourage implementation even in
states that have previously failed
to comply?
SUGGESTIONS
FOR FURTHER
RESEARCH
Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristof
and Sheryl WuDunn is an incredible
resource for this topic and for nearly
anything related to the modern struggle
for women’s equality. The authors use a
powerful combination of both data and
storytelling to convey their message.
While they certainly are communicating
their narrative about women’s liberation,
they do an excellent job of presenting
fair representations of conflicting
viewpoints. For this topic in particular,
you would be well served by reading the
first and second chapters. Another great
resource, though a much dryer read, is
the United States State Department
Trafficking in Persons Report. By
reading your assigned country’s
narrative, you should get a fairly clear
picture of your position. You may also
find other similar reports, like the one
produced by the United Nations Office
on Drugs and Crime, to be useful as
well.
Topic B:
Healthcare Inequality
HISTORY AND
DISCUSSION OF
THE PROBLEM
For the purposes of this committee,
healthcare inequalities include
disparities in the treatment of female
bodies as compared to male bodies.
The focus, therefore, is not on social
or political equality but rather on how
women around the world are medically
18 Economic and Social Council & Regional Bodies
neglected both by their families and
by healthcare professionals. Of course,
medical neglect is often rooted in social
and political inequality and can be seen
as the ultimate result of any action that
dehumanizes female life. Overall, the
accumulation of these inequalities large
and small has led to the phenomenon
of gendercide.
As Amartya Sen noted in his famed
article, women typically live longer than
men. Therefore, women outnumber
men in most of the world—from
Europe to Latin America107. However,
in places where women have an
unequal status, the numbers show a
very different story. In China, there
are 107 men for every 100 women. In
India, there are 108 men for every 100
women, and in Pakistan, there are 111
men for every 100 women. It is clear,
however, that no legitimate biological
or medical reason can explain this
disparity. In fact, in the Indian state
of Kerala where women’s rights have
been prioritized, women exceed men by
the same proportion as in the United
States. Therefore, it is clear that the
independent variable affecting female
life in China, India, Pakistan and other
countries is the status of women and
the lethal neglect they experience.108
Specifically, mothers in many Indian
states are less likely to vaccinate their
daughters than they are their sons. By
some calculations, this accounts for at
least one fifth of the “missing” females
India. Other studies indicate that, on
average, girls are taken to the hospital
only for more dire conditions than
boys are. In all, Indian girls between
the ages of one and five are 50%
more likely to die than boys. Why not
provide vaccines and medical attention
to daughters? Kristof and WuDunn
argue that it is an issue of priorities. To
substantiate this, they give the example
of an Afghani man who told them that
both his wife and son were ill. The man
explained that with limited resources
he had to make a choice to purchase
medicine for his son alone. To the man,
a son is indispensable while a wife can
be replaced.109
Medical inequality can also go
beyond neglect. To some parents
around the world, the invention of
the ultrasound means one thing: the
waste of daughters can be predicted,
aborted, and avoided. The result has
been sex-selective abortions. To avoid
abortions of female fetuses, China and
India have attempted to ban doctors
from telling their patients the gender of
their fetuses. However, this solution is
not so simple nor is the outright ban
of abortion itself. In fact, when fewer
abortions occur, rates of infanticide
and deaths of neglect increase. Nancy
Qian, a development economist at
Brown, has concluded that the deaths
of fifteen infant girls can be avoided by
allowing one hundred female fetuses to
be selectively aborted.110
Thus, this topic can include a broad
range of case studies and therefore
a broad range of highly debatable
solutions. Healthcare inequality appears
around the world in various incarnations.
Paradoxically, the issue includes both
the scourge of sex-selective abortion in
Asia and cuts to reproductive healthcare
and restricted access to abortions in
the United States. Female infanticide,
refusal to vaccinate daughters, refusal
to care for daughters, lack of maternal
healthcare, and stigma based rejections
of rape victims in medical facilities
are also included in this topic. While
human trafficking is often aggravated
by state permissiveness and corrupt
officials accepting bribes, healthcare
inequalities can be the result of official
policies both directly and indirectly. For
example, the one child policy in China
placed an undue premium on male birth
and therefore indirectly motivated sex-
selective abortions. In contrast, in the
United States, crusading conservative
politicians vowing to defund Planned
Parenthood, a nonprofit that provides
women with a variety of feminine health
services including STI screenings and
safe abortions, have directly impacted
women’s health.111 Therefore, this topic

is contentious for nearly every country
in the world and has both political and
cultural causes.
This background guide does not
specifically cover women’s mental
health at length. Certainly, the daily
discrimination women face, child
marriages, rape survival, and countless
other struggles have an impact on
women’s mental health in a way men
are unlikely to experience. Mental
health inequalities can and should be
a part of debate and resolutions in
this committee. However, they do not
feature prominently in this guide, due
to a lack of clear cut case studies and
data.
History of Women’s
Health Care
Female life has only recently in
history been viewed as equal in worth to
male life in most of the world. As such,
medical neglect and gendercide have
long been fixtures of human history.
Until recently, medical professionals
knew less about the female anatomy
than about the male anatomy. Even
more recently, women were denied
access to information even where it
did exist. In 1969, 12 women bonded
by their frustration with this fact met
during a Boston women’s liberation
conference. In 1970, they published the
first rendition of the trailblazing book
Our Bodies, Ourselves with the dual goals
of providing the first ever resource
for health information by women and
for women and advocating for a new,
progressive sense of female worth.
The movement for women’s health
equality has, therefore, always rested
both on medical change but also the
political, social, and economic roots of
female neglect. In fact, the first essay in
the original book was titled “Women,
Medicine, and Capitalism.”112
But what has made Our Bodies,
Ourselves so necessary and revolutionary?
For one, the medical profession was
historically male dominated. Although
women occasionally served as healers as
This image shows the impact of son prefer-
ence and sex selective abortion on gender
ratios in China’s provinces.
Source: CMAJ
far back as Merit Ptah in 2700
BC Egypt, they have been exceptions
rather than standards.113 Upon the
establishment of medicine as a field of
university study, women were excluded
from advanced medical education with
midwifery being the only exception.
It was not until 1849 that Elizabeth
Blackwell became the first woman to
achieve a medical degree in the United
States. 114 The first medical school
for women in Russia was not opened
until 1897, and the first medical school
for women in Japan was not opened
until 1900. While midwifery as a field
has been female dominated, female
doctors did not reach parity with males
even as OB-GYNs in North America
until 2012.115 Other fields of medicine
maintain even greater imbalances,
especially in developing regions. In total,
there are nearly twice as many male
doctors as female doctors in the United
States. And in Japan, women constitute
a mere 18% of practicing physicians. 116
Harvard National Model United Nations 2019
Commission on the Status of Women
Owing to this persisting imbalance
and its long history, it is no surprise that
medical research has rarely focused on
the female body. The male domination
of the medical profession combined
with the stigmatization of female
sexuality has also caused many subjects
of basic feminine health to become
taboo. Although nearly every woman
in the world experiences a menstrual
cycle, most women fashioned their own
makeshift tampons and pads out of
cloth, wool, and paper until the 1920s.
In 1921, the Kotex company launched
their products for feminine care
which had originally been developed
as bandage material during the first
World War.117 However, feminine
care products remain a taboo subject
throughout the world and continue to
be marketed as “discreet.” Birth control
also arrived on the scene in the early
20th century with moral and religious
controversy in its wake. To many,
birth control is still seen as sinful. To
others, from Margaret Sanger onward,
birth control is the secret not only to
providing female controlled health
measures but also to alleviating the
poverty caused by a constant cycle of
unwanted pregnancies.
19
Commission on the Status of Women
In addition to taboos, complete,
and sometimes absurd, inaccuracies
have also plagued women’s health for
centuries. During the 18th century, it
was widely believed that by looking at
ugly things, a pregnant woman could
cause her child to be born ugly. Groups
opposed to suffrage movements across
the world have also claimed that the
smaller size of the female brain, which
in reality is only correlated with smaller
body size overall, caused them to be
too unintelligent to vote. One pervasive
belief during the Victorian era held that
women do not have sexual urges and that
those who do are plagued with “hysteria.”
Perhaps more damagingly, as recently
as 2012, Missouri Congressman Todd
Akin claimed that rape cannot result
in pregnancy because in “legitimate
rape, the female body has ways to try
to shut the whole thing down.” Other
American politicians, including Henry
Aldridge, Fay Boozman, and Stephen
Friend, have claimed essentially the
same thing. Yet another belief is that
by having sex with a virgin, a man can
be cured of diseases like AIDS. Child
traffickers in sub-Saharan Africa, India,
and Thailand have reportedly taken
advantage of this persistent myth by
allowing men afflicted with AIDs to
sleep with young girls.118
The progress of women moving
into the medical profession and
the power of books like Our Bodies,
Ourselves has had a profound impact on
improving the state of women’s health
in some regions of the world. However,
backlash has also occurred at the point
where objective issues of women’s
health intersect with more subjective
debates on women’s liberation,
particularly sexual liberation. These
debates are often characterized by the
powerful moral arguments made on
both sides, usually juxtaposing religious
tradition and feminism. In the United
States, the intense debate over abortion
is presented on one side as an issue
of women’s health equality and on the
other as an issue of life itself. Since Roe
v. Wade was decided in 1973 providing
20 Economic and Social Council & Regional Bodies
American women with a supposed
Constitutional right to accessing safe,
legal abortion as a form of health care,
intense levels of backlash have been
persistent.119 In Ireland, the issue was
recently put to a vote in which the
overwhelmingly Catholic nation voted
to repeal their restrictive abortion
bans.120
Technology and scientific
advancements including vaccinations
have also improved the state of women’s
health, just as they have improved the
health of nearly all groups. However,
there is a darker side. Sex-selective
abortions would not be possible
without ultrasound machines.121 Other
kinds of progress are simply hard to
measure. The immense history of
sexism is full of reasons why women
have been devalued, dehumanized, and
therefore discarded. This history, and
the history of corresponding social and
political progress, defies summarization.
However, to understand modern
healthcare inequalities suffered by
women even in parts of the world
where technology is available to save
lives, it is clear that this sexism plays a
key role.
Other Factors
Sexism is not the only factor
contributing to a global problem with
healthcare inequality. In some regions,
lack of education also plays a roll.
For one thing, education is associated
with lowering the desired family size.
More education also leads to higher
use of contraception, hospitals, and
other medical tools.122 Thus, girls
who are educated are less likely to
experience unplanned pregnancy—a
known risk. And when they do get
pregnant, a well-educated girl in an
educated family is more likely to be
brought to the hospital. Girls who
give birth in hospitals do not typically
suffer fistulas or other complications at
the same rates as girls who give birth
alone. Furthermore, educated families
are more likely to allocate savings to
healthcare for mothers, daughters, and
sisters. The World Bank estimates that
for every one thousand girls who get
one additional year of education, two
fewer women will die in child birth.123
In addition to lack of education,
lack of rural health systems also
contributes to the suffering of women
from preventable ailments. Healthcare
can be expensive everywhere. However,
in rural areas, hospitals can be incredibly
far from villages and difficult to access.
Transportation costs can be crippling.
Thus, families are forced to make
choices they may not otherwise have to
face, and women are often the losers in
these tradeoffs. Overburdened doctors
are also placed in difficult situations. It
is no secret that rural Africa’s shortage
of doctors is a crisis. Even doctors and
nurses who do establish themselves in
rural areas often burn out and move
to cities or emigrate to Europe or
America. A study in Africa, Asia, ad
Latin America found that in rural clinics,
on any one day 39% of the doctors
supposed to be on duty failed to show
up for work. As such, there are simply
not enough doctors to go around.
Those who do show up are unable to
treat everybody and again women are
often deprioritized.124 If rural health
systems were improved, treatment
could be provided more equally to men
and women.
CURRENT
SITUATION
Maternal Mortality and Birth-
Related Injury
From the beginning of reliable
medical records until approximately
1937, maternal mortality rates were high
and remained essentially on a plateau.
Since then, a sharp decline in mortality
rates has been so dramatic that current
rates in the developed world are between
one-fortieth and one-fiftieth of the
former prevailing statistics. Perhaps
surprisingly, unlike infant mortality rates,
maternal mortality is actually higher
in upper class rather than lower class
groups. Thus, poverty and malnutrition

and other associated factors are not the
best predicters of maternal mortality in
a country. Instead, the issue seems to
depend to a far greater extent on the
quality of care provided to mothers by
birth attendants of various kinds.125
Thus, although the news is largely
good about declining mortality rates,
there is still much to examine about this
particular health care inequality. To do
so, the factor to examine is care itself
rather than poverty in a given location.
Medical care is dependent on several
factors including technology availability
and culture. One cultural disposition
that leads to high mortality rates among
mothers is status of women.
The World Health Organization
estimated that in 2005, 536,000 women
perished during pregnancy or child
birth. This number has remained
essentially stagnant for thirty years
even as infant mortality has declined
and life expectancy has increased.126
Approximately 99% of maternity
related deaths occur in poor countries.
In Niger, women have a 1-in-7 chance
of dying in childbirth. In India, despite
incredible economic advances, women
still stand a 1-in-70 chance of dying
in childbirth. In contrast, in Ireland,
women have a 1-in-47,600 chance of
dying in childbirth. The gap between
Western nations and the developing
world is only growing.127 Maternal
mortality rates do not tell the full story,
however, as injury in childbirth occurs
at least ten times as frequently as death.
This is often due to fistulas or tearing
owing to improper or absent care
during delivery.128
In some cases, care is absent
because medical facilities are distant,
difficult to access, and underfunded.
Although sub-Sharan Africa suffers
24% of the world’s disease burden,
it is addressed with a fraction of a
single percentage of the world’s health
spending. In other cases, maternal care
is absent because of pure neglect both
by individuals and by the international
community. Maternal care is even more
underfunded than health care overall in
disadvantaged regions. In fact, in 2009,
former United States President George
W. Bush proposed a nearly 20% cut to
USAID spending on maternal care.129
Fistulas caused by child birth leave
a woman with no control over her
bladder or bowels. Often, the woman
struggles to walk or even stand as a
result of related nerve damage. In
some regions, this forces a woman to
endure an even worse struggle owing
to stigma. Family and community
members often believe that fistulas are
a curse from God and that helping a
woman afflicted with such a problem
would be sacrilege. Thus, they typically
are abandoned by their husbands and
forced to live in isolation at the edge
of villages due to the horrible odor
they cause. Starvation and infection
are the all-too-common fates that await
such women.130 Catherine Hamlin, a
gynecologist who serves poor women
in rural Ethiopia, believes that gender
is the cause of this suffering above all
else, saying, “the reason these women
are pariahs is because they are women…
they are an expendable commodity.”131
Sex-Selective Abortion
Sex selective abortion occurs
when a pregnancy is terminated based
upon the sex of the fetus, almost
always because the fetus is female. Sex-
selective abortion occurs primarily in
places where women are least valued
and thereby where male preference
is strongest. This applies primarily to
China, South Korea, India, Pakistan,
and select regions in the Caucasus and
Western Balkans. In these areas, sons
are preferred because they have greater
utility in agrarian economies, are more
likely to earn higher wages, continue
the family line, and are likely to care
for aging parents. This preference has
existed for centuries. Historically, the
result was infanticide of female children
and neglect of daughters. The advent
of the ultrasound, made available
beginning in the 1980s, made prenatal
sex determination possible. Observers
measure the impact of sex-selective
Harvard National Model United Nations 2019
Commission on the Status of Women
In this image, a young girl expresses fear
and pain because of female genital mutila-
tion practices
Source: World Pulse
abortion by reporting variations
in the human sex ratio—the relative
number of males to females in a region
or age group. It is no small matter that
the two most populous countries in the
world, China and India, also have the
highest human sex ratios.132
Previous evidence suggests that
as countries economically develop,
typically away from their agrarian
past, the status of women is elevated.
However, over the same time period
that the Asian Tigers became roaring
economic powers, their sex ratios
increased markedly. In fact, during the
1980s when South Korea’s economy
took off, South Korea had the highest
sex ratios in Asia.133 This may be
attributable to the rise in access both
to ultrasound machines and to safe
abortions. However, it also indicates
that prosperity does not necessarily
transform cultural values or the status
of women on its own. In fact, culture
seems to play the dominant role. The
only time in recent history when China
has presented normal sex ratios was
a period following 1950. During the
early Mao years, Communist ideology
promoted gender equality despite the
nation’s failing farming economy.134
This led to clear changes in sex ratios.
The People’s Republic of China
instituted its one-child policy beginning
in the late 1970s and early 1980s in
order to limit family size in the face
of a rapidly growing population.135 By
doing so, families were placed under
pressure—they had only one shot to
produce male offspring. Sex ratios
started increasing sharply roughly five
21
Commission on the Status of Women
years after the initial implementation.
The ratio rose from 106 in 1979 to 111
in 1990 to 121 in 2005. By 2009, there
were 119 men per 100 women in China.
In contrast, South Korea showed a sex
ratio of a 109. These numbers, however,
do not tell a complete story as regional
data varies wildly. In parts of both
India and China, the sex ratio can be
as high as 140 men per 100 women.
The one-child policy ended in 2016.136
It is unclear how this will impact sex-
selective abortions going forward.
Sex-selective abortion does not only
harm women. There are an estimated
32 million excess men under the age
of 20 in China with similar statistics
in India.137 As such, many males are
unable to find a partner and will remain
unmarried. As parents have become
aware of this problem, panic has led to
a new phenomenon wherein parents of
sons work to earn enough money to pay
for a bride for their sons.138 In India, the
gender imbalance has led to even more
concerning results as the low supply
of women has increased the demand
for buyable sex in the form of human
trafficking and forced marriage.139
Asia is not the only place where
sex-selective abortion has occurred.
However, data is much less pronounced
elsewhere. In the United States, for
instance, although parents do not
typically practice sex-selective abortion,
male preference is still strong. In a 2011
Gallup poll, 40% of parents responded
that if they could only have one child,
they would prefer a boy. Only 28% said
they would prefer a girl.140 Moreover, in
the United States, many fertility clinics
that offer embryo screening permit
parents an option, albeit an expensive
one, to select for sex. 141
Solutions are fraught with
challenges. In 2004, India passed
the Pre-Conception and Pre-natal
Diagnostic Techniques Act to prevent
prenatal sex screening and sex-selective
abortion. However, the Public Health
Foundation of India reported in 2010
that the act had largely been flouted.
The report asserts that Indians remain
22 Economic and Social Council & Regional Bodies
largely unaware of the prohibition
against prenatal sex determination,
medical practitioners disregard the
law, and the authorities rarely enforce
the new rules.142 China and South
Korea have recently enacted other,
more successful measures. Since 2005,
parents of girls in rural parts of China
have been entitled to receive a 600
RMB pension per month. China has
also enacted a campaign entitled “Care
for Girls.” The campaign promoted
gender equality and the advantages of
having daughters through posters and
other media.143 Indeed, tackling the
ideological source of son preference is
a simpler path than tackling abortion
itself. As Nancy Qian concluded, there
is a trade off wherein the deaths of
fifteen infant girls can be prevented by
permitting one hundred abortions.144
Defunding Family Planning
40% of all pregnancies are
unwanted.145 If these pregnancies
were prevented, maternal deaths and
abortions could be easily prevented.
Thus, it is no surprise that women
around the world seek the assistance
of contraception. However, estimates
suggest 122 million women around
the world want contraception but
cannot get it.146 Lack of contraception
access creates a staggering healthcare
inequality for women around the
world. While women and men both
lack sufficient health resources to
address countless ailments around
the world, contraception is of special
interest because it is strategically rather
than merely incidentally denied. The
issue also goes far beyond domestic
movements to defund programs like
Planned Parenthood. Rather, the
countries and religious groups who play
the most significant role in providing
aid through NGOs and the United
Nations itself to solve most problems
are the same countries and religious
groups who become noticeably absent
when contraception is on the table.
For example, the UNFPA is the
United Nations Population Fund serving
to promote sexual and reproductive
health. Their stated goal is to “deliver a
world where every pregnancy is wanted,
every childbirth is safe and every
young person’s potential is fulfilled.”
UNFPA was created in 1969, the very
year the General Assembly declared a
universal right for parents to determine
“the number and spacing of their
children.”147 In 1969 when the agency
was created, the Nixon administration
became an immediate and fervent
supporter. However, by the 1980s.
conservative Christian antiabortion
activists began to see UNFPA as the
enemy. In the United States, Republican
leaders including both President
Bushes instituted a gag rule to prevent
funds going to any foreign aid group
that was in any way associated with
abortions. While UNFPA in fact does
not provide abortions or fund them,
critics have noted that it does advise
the Chinese government on family
planning matters. Some Americans,
justly horrified by sex-selective
abortion and other abuses, sought to
right them by defunding UNFPA.148
As an unintended consequence, the
program lost out on what could have
been its strongest source of funds and
therefore became less effective than it
may otherwise have been. Despite this
handicap the organization was actually
able to make great strides in China
by providing women with improved,
copper IUDs which, by preventing
unwanted pregnancy, have prevented
approximately 10 million abortions in
China.
In addition to preventing unwanted
pregnancy, family planning programs
are also critical to fighting AIDS. The
prevention of AIDS of aids is also a
matter of promoting health equality
for women as women are biologically
twice as likely to be infected with HIV
during heterosexual intercourse.149 In
the developing world, the situation is
even more unequal as women often
lack the power to refuse unprotected
sex.150 There is a divide, however, on
how best to prevent HIV transmission.

For some, abstinence promotion is
key, as abstinence is, factually, the only
completely failsafe way to prevent
sexual transmission of disease. For
others, condom distribution and other
forms of protection are preferred
because, they believe, people will have
sex either way and it is better that when
that inevitability occurs people be ready.
This divide occurs not only between
countries but also between parties and
religious groups within countries.
One of the plus sides of condoms
is that they are extraordinarily cost
effective, at approximately two cents
each in US dollars. However, the fear
among some is that the proliferation
of condoms would lead to increased
levels of sexual activity, particularly
among young people. As such, aid
programs have been sparing in the
provision of condoms. In Sudan, the
average man receives only one condom
every five years from aid programs.151
Why? Powerful groups in the world of
international aid, including the United
States and the Catholic Church, are
adamant supporters of abstinence
only. In fact, the Catholic Church in
El Salvador pushed through a law
mandating that all condom packages
carry the false warning that they do not
protect against AIDS.152 Regardless
of stance on condom usage and
contraception, the unintended result of
this debate over sexual morality is often
that women’s programs, even those not
directly related to controversies over
abortion or condoms, generally receive
less funding than other health initiatives.
Medical Discrimination by Parents
Sex-selective abortion is not the
only factor contributing to high sex
ratios. Girls also are more likely to die
before adulthood in some parts of the
world because they are discriminated
against in the provision of basic
medical treatment. It is difficult to
measure precisely how may girls are not
brought to the doctor because of fever,
cough, diarrhea and other common
ailments while their male counterparts
Commission on the Status of Women
are receiving treatment. However, it
is relatively easy to track differences
in vaccination records. In India, the
likelihood of receiving immunization
falls by more than a third for girls in
northern regions and by one fourth
in the north-central region.153 This is
a serious detriment considering the
enormous benefits of vaccination both
to society and to the individual. The
World Health Organization estimates
that vaccines prevent 6 million deaths
annually.154 However, too few of those
prevented deaths are female. In India,
it is estimated that a young girl dies
from medical discrimination every four
minutes.155
India is not alone either. Studies
in China find that thirty-nine thousand
baby girls die annually in their first
year of life because their parents fail
to provide the same medical care they
would for sons. Chinese family-planning
official, Li Honggui, explained, “If a
boy gets sick, the parents may send him
to the hospital at once. But if a girl gets
sick, the parents may say to themselves,
‘Well, let’s see how she is tomorrow.’” It
has been calculated that as many infant
girls die in China every week because of
health care inequality as protesters died
at Tiananmen square.156
Medical Discrimination by
Professionals and Bystanders
The American Heart Association
and the National Institutes of Health
have found that only 39% of women
who experience cardiac arrest in public
are given CPR compared to 45% of men
who receive the potentially lifesaving
intervention. One reason the authors
of the study propose for this disparity
is that would-be-rescuers fear touching
a woman’s breasts. Another is that most
practice mannequins in CPR trainings
present the male torso rather than the
female torso.157 Is this 6% disparity in
the provision of CPR likely to make a
huge impact on sex ratios around the
world? Probably not. However, coupled
with mounting studies of surprising
places where women are not receiving
Harvard National Model United Nations 2019
This image shows a pregnancy crisis center
in Uganda called Wakisa Ministries, helping
girls with unplanned pregnancies caused
by abuse and abandonment is a far too
uncommon thing in much of the world
Source: World Share
the same health treatment as men,
it is altogether likely that the collective
impact is vast.
One stereotype driving worldwide
disparities in the diagnosis and treatment
of women is the notion that women are
hypochondriacs. According to a 2001
study conducted by Diane Hoffman
and Anita Tarzian of the University
of Maryland, women are more likely
to receive inadequate treatment from
health care providers than men. For
example, women may be more likely to
be given sedatives for pain where men
would receive pain medication. The
study attributes this to “a long history
within our culture of regarding women’s
reasoning capacity as limited.”158 One
woman experiencing chronic pain tells
the story of being consistently turned
away by doctors, even being told she
was “making it up.” After years of
waiting, she was finally diagnosed with
Ehlers-Danlos syndrome.159 An Atlantic
article tells the story of another woman
who was brought to the emergency
room suffering from intense pain only
to be forced to wait nearly fourteen
hours to receive proper treatment. At
first, nurses were insistent she was only
suffering kidney stones and that she
had to wait her turn. However, they
did not perform any examination to be
certain of this fact until eventually they
discovered that she had a malignant
mass that needed to be urgently
23
Commission on the Status of Women
removed. If the doctors had been any
later, she almost certainly would have
died.160 The article’s author, Joe Fassler,
claims that the reason this nearly lethal
neglect took place is the inherent sexism
in emergency treatment: women’s pain
is taken less seriously.
In addition to a growing
abundance of anecdotal evidence to
suggest doctors take women’s pain
less seriously, it is actually possible to
measure the phenomenon directly by
observing gynecological conditions that
exclusively impact women. For example,
although endometriosis affects one in
ten women, it takes an average of seven
to eight years to be diagnosed. Often,
the disease is only caught when women
are preparing to conceive. Because
doctors can be affected by bias that
suggests the most critical function
of the female body is reproduction,
experts say this is often the time when
they become the most attentive. The
endometriosis issue has grown so
dire that in the United Kingdom, the
National Institute for Health and Care
Excellence released a guideline for the
National Health Service saying bluntly
that doctors should actually “listen to
women.”161 Another way to measure
the phenomenon is to compare the
treatment men and women suffering
from the same condition receive. In
the case of dementia, women make
fewer visits to the doctor, receive less
monitoring, and take more potentially
harmful medication.162
Female Genital Mutilation
Female genital mutilation includes
any procedure that intentionally alters
or harms female genitalia for a reason
unrelated to medical necessity. The
practice does not confer any health
benefit on its recipient and can instead
cause bleeding, problems urinating,
cysts, infections, and complications in
child birth. According to the World
Health Organization, more than 200
million girls and women alive today have
experienced female genital mutilation
in approximately thirty countries across
24 Economic and Social Council & Regional Bodies
In America, conservative opposition to
abortion extends to a range of policies
abroad including opposition to contracep-
tion initiatives.S
Source: Breitbart
Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.
The procedure typically takes place
when a girl is between infancy and fifteen
years of age. It is conducted by both
traditional community circumcisers
and by health care professionals,
which is why it appears in this guide.
There are four major procedures that
constitute female genital mutilation.
(1) Clitoridectomy refers to the partial
or total removal of the clitoris, (2)
excision refers to the partial or total
removal of the clitoris and labia, and (3)
infibulation refers to the narrowing of
the vaginal opening through a covering
seal. The fourth type of female genital
mutilation includes all other procedures
such as piercing or scraping the female
genitals for non-medical reasons.163
In areas where it is performed,
the practice can be seen as a medical
procedure as common as male
circumcision in the West. The goal is
often to prevent girls from pre-marital
sexual acts and to motivate fidelity.
Although the practice is often associated
with Islam, it is in no way prescribed in
religious texts. In fact, religious leaders
are divided on the topic, with some
leaders as ardent advocates and others
working towards the elimination of
the inhumane practice. Cultural values
about female sexuality, which in many
ways presuppose religion itself, may
be more to blame. By covering the
vaginal cavity, some believe women
will be prevented from experiencing
penetrative sex without it being
physically evident through painful tears.
And by removing the source of female
pleasure, women will be less likely to
derive unclean enjoyment from sexual
activity.164
Nuances to the Problem at the
National Level
While specific regions have been
mentioned previously, it is worth
taking a closer look at areas showing
unique trends and nuances that impact
women’s health and inequality.
India and Its Shocking
Contradiction
Although India has already been
discussed at length in previous sections,
it merits its own section as well. While
women have climbed the ranks in
Indian politics and business—including
as leader of the ruling party, India has
been ranked as the worst G20 country
in which to be a woman. Economists
Siwan Anderson and Debraj Ry
estimate that more than two million
women go missing in India each year.
Of those, 12% disappear at birth, 25%
die in childhood, 18% die in their
reproductive years, and 45% at older
ages. In addition to birth injuries, sex
selective abortion, and medical neglect,
Indian women are also vulnerable to
freak accidents. More than 100,000
women are killed by fire in India every
year, possibly over dowry disputes, and
survivors do not always receive proper
medical help. Women also suffer worse
rates of heart disease possibly induced
by a lifetime of medical neglect and
poor provision of nutrition.165
Saudi Arabia: Male Control
In Saudi Arabia, every woman
goes through life with a male guardian,
typically a father or husband but
possibly a brother or son. These
guardians are entrusted with total power
over a full range of critical decisions
in the woman’s life. This guardianship
includes a requirement from many
hospitals and clinics that adult women

receive permission to be admitted.
Saudi law also has no minimum age for
marriage, leading to a host of human
rights violations stemming from
child marriages. Child brides in Saudi
Arabia face the devastating healthcare
inequality of pregnancy while too
young, and, because of guardianship
rules, a girl cannot seek treatment for
injuries inflicted by domestic violence
or marital rape without the consent of
her husband. The issue also manifests
itself when husbands abandon their
wives without divorcing them. Even
if the woman no longer lives with or
has any contact with her husband, she
still may be required to acquire his
permission to seek health treatment.
Requiring guardians to provide approval
for medical treatment subjects women
to prolonged suffering and potentially
life-threatening situations. Women have
been denied caesarian sections where
both the life of the mother and of the
baby was at risk while awaiting guardian
consent. At a woman’s only university in
Riyadh, a student died of a heart attack
because the university delayed allowing
male paramedics into the campus.166
The Congo: War and Women’s
Bodies
In the Democratic Republic of the
Congo, years of war have taken their
toll on every part of society. For tens
of thousands of women, the toll has
been experienced by their bodies which
have become battlegrounds for rape
and the physical and emotional terror
it exerts. In fact, Amnesty International
researchers claim that Congolese
women have experienced rape on a scale
never seen before. Each armed group in
the region has its own method. The Mai
Mai rape with branches or bayonets and
mutilate their victims, the Rwandans
use groups of soldiers to assault a
single woman, and the Burundians rape
men in addition to women. Some also
shoot guns into the woman’s vagina. All
of this terror has led to the spread of
fistulas, AIDS, and other rape related
injuries that leave women oozing blood
and incontinent. Thus, rape victims
in the Congo are often too physically
damaged to bear children or be useful
in agriculture. They also face stigma as
loss of virginity is considered a great
shame even from rape. Thus, parents,
husbands, and communities shun them
and leave them without treatment. For
the lucky few who can find their own
way to access medical care, hospitals
can be crowded and overrun.167 Thus,
war in the Congo has created an entirely
man-made medical crisis for women.
Latin America: Malnutrition and
The Struggles of Indigenous Groups
According to the Panorama of
Food and Food Nutrition Security in
2016, obesity disproportionately affects
women in Latin America. The rate of
female obesity is 26.8% compared
to 18.5% for men. They attribute this
in large part to women’s higher rates
of poverty. In fact, while poverty has
declined overall in the region, women’s
poverty has increased. In Latin America
and the Caribbean, there are 121
indigent women for every 100 indigent
men.168 Thus, women face malnutrition
and a host of associated medical
challenges.
In the region, programs dealing
with maternal mortality and other
healthcare inequalities have been
somewhat successful. In fact, although
the region includes some of the poorest
countries in the world, maternal
mortality ratios have declined 33%.
However, there has been almost no
change in the status of indigenous
women because programs have failed
to reach indigenous populations. This
is likely because efforts have failed
to incorporate local practices and
traditional healing methods which are
critical for acceptance.169
PAST
INTERNATIONAL
ACTIONS
In 1979, Article 12 of the
Convention on the Elimination of
Harvard National Model United Nations 2019
Commission on the Status of Women
All Forms of Discrimination Against
Women asserted that “States Parties
shall take all appropriate measures to
eliminate discrimination against women
in the field of health car in order to
ensure, on the basis of equality of
men and women, access to health care
service including those related to family
planning.” 170
In 1994, the United Nations
coordinated an International
Conference on Population and
Development in Cairo, Egypt. The
conference resulted in a Programme
of Action that essentially began the
United Nations Population Fund, also
known as UNFPA. More than 20,000
delegates convened to discuss infant
mortality, birth control, family planning,
education of women, and the protection
of women from unsafe abortion among
other population related issues. In the
wake of the conference, controversy
stirred as the Holy See, several Islamic
nations, and conservatives in the
United States disputed the conference’s
handling of reproductive rights. The
conference set goals for reducing
maternal mortality by half the 1990
levels by 2000 and another half by 2015.
The conference also sought to promote
access to services like family planning
counseling, management of abortion,
treatment of STIs, and safe delivery.171
After a 2014 reassessment of
the International Conference on
Population and Development, UNFPA
continues to be a force in more than
150 countries and territories. The
organization educates individuals and
communities about their human rights,
targeting the most vulnerable women
and young people. It also provides
data and analysis as well as training to
governments.172 Another agency, UN
Women, has played a special role in
addressing HIV/AIDS with special
consideration for women.
The Fourth World Conference
on Women, held in Beijing in 1995 is,
perhaps most famous for the phrase,
“Human rights are women’s rights
and women’s rights are human rights,”
25
Commission on the Status of Women
first uttered by Hillary Clinton. But
former Secretary Clinton was not the
only speaker to make waves. Mother
Teresa of Calcutta, also present at
the conference, told the assembled
delegates not to “destroy this gift of
motherhood, especially by the evil
of abortion.” The Conference also
birthed the Beijing Declaration and
Platform for Action, one of the United
Nations’ greatest steps towards gender
equality generally but also an impressive
statement on healthcare. Section C of
the document deals exclusively with
women and health. It notes many issues
including “son preference, in access to
nutrition and health care services,” as
well as “HIV/AIDS,” and the right to
“family planning.” In paragraph 277c,
the document calls for an elimination
of “all forms of discrimination against
the girl child and the root causes of son
preference, which result in harmful and
unethical practices such as prenatal sex
selection and female infanticide.” The
document also calls for education on
women’s physical and mental wellbeing
and topics like sexual health, nutrition,
and HIV/AIDS prevention.173
In 2000, the United Nations set out
eight Millennium Development Goals.
The third goal was to promote gender
equality and the fifth was to specifically
improve maternal health. In 2011, the
United Nations Human Rights Council
addressed the issue of preventable
maternal mortality and morbidity. In A/
HRC/18/L.8, the Council enumerated
some of the causes of maternal
morbidity such as poverty, malnutrition,
lack of healthcare services, and gender
inequality. The Resolution calls for the
elimination of all forms of violence
against women and girls and requests
that the Office of High Commissioner
convene a workshop to create guidelines
for implementation of a human rights-
based approach to preventing maternal
mortality and morbidity.174
In 2012, the United Nations
General Assembly unanimously passed
a resolution banning Female Genital
Mutilation. The resolution urges
26 Economic and Social Council & Regional Bodies
member states to condemn all practices
that discriminate against women and
girls and to enforce legislation, raise
awareness, and allocate sufficient
resources to the issue. Perhaps more
uniquely, the resolution notes the
special risk refugee and migrant women
face in terms of genital mutilation.175
TIMELINE OF
SIGNIFICANT
EVENTS
2700 BC - In Ancient Egypt, the
first recorded female doctor, Merit Ptah,
appeared in healing text in 2700 BC.
1849 - Elizabeth Blackwell became
the first ever woman to earn a medical
degree in the United States.
1897 - The first medical school for
Russian women was opened in 1897.
1900 - The first medical school for
Japanese women was opened in 1900.
1921 - In 1921, the Kotex company
launched their line of feminine hygiene
products. Their pads were developed
originally as bandages during World
War One.
1937 - Around this time, maternal
mortality rates began to decline sharply.
1950 - During Mao’s rule in
Communist China, sex ratios became
normal. This can be attributed to the
elevated status of women promised by
the Communist Party during this time
period.
1969 - UNFPA was created in
the same year the General Assembly
declared a universal right to family
planning.
1970 - Our Bodies, Ourselves was
published providing the first ever guide
to women’s health by women and for
women.
1973 - Roe v. Wade provided
American women a legal right to
abortion in many cases. However,
the case also ignited backlash from
conservative Christians. This backlash
has led to calls to defund agencies
providing family planning services in
the United States and around the world.
1979 - Article 12 of the Convention
on the Elimination of All Forms
of Discrimination Against Women
asserted that health and family planning
were one of many areas where women’s
rights were being violated.
Late 1970s/Early 1980s - China
instituted its One Child Policy. The
policy made families desperate to
successfully produce a son and
therefore increased pressure for sex-
selective abortion.
1980s - The invention of the
ultrasound made it possible for women
to determine the sex of a fetus prior to
birth. This ability has allowed for sex
selective abortions in India, China, and
several other regions.
1994 - In 1994, the United
Nations coordinated an International
Conference on Population and
Development in Cairo, Egypt. The
conference resulted in a Programme of
Action that essentially began the United
Nations Population Fund, also known
as UNFPA.
1995 - The Fourth World
Conference on Women was held in
Beijing. The Conference led to the
Beijing Declaration and Platform
for Action which names healthcare
inequalities including sex-selective
abortion as top concerns.
2000 - The United Nations
Millennium Development Goals
included maternal health and gender
equality.
2004 - In 2004, India passed
the Pre-Conception and Pre-natal
Diagnostic Techniques Act to prevent
prenatal sex screening and sex-selective
abortion. However, the Public Health
Foundation of India reported in 2010
that the act had largely been flouted.
2009 - United States President
George W. Bush proposed a 20% cut to
USAID spending on maternal care.
2011 - The United Nations Human
Rights Council addressed the issue of
preventable maternal mortality and
morbidity. In A/HRC/18/L.8, the
Council enumerated some of the causes
of maternal morbidity such as poverty,

malnutrition, lack of healthcare services,
and gender inequality. The Resolution
calls for the elimination of all forms
of violence against women and girls
and requests that the Office of High
Commissioner convene a workshop to
create guidelines for implementation
of a human rights-based approach
to preventing maternal mortality and
morbidity.
2012- The United Nations General
Assembly banned Female Genital
Mutilation
2016- China ended its One Child
policy.
PROPOSED
SOLUTIONS
Education
Although the United Nations has
established a long tradition of rights
for women including a right to family
planning, many women around the
world do not know the full extent
of their human rights. For example,
women in countries where female
genital mutilation is the norm are
not always aware that the pain they
experience is a violation of their human
rights.176 As such, education initiatives
by United Nations agencies in the
affected region could be powerful tools
in helping women stand up for their
rights. Additionally, while Our Bodies,
Ourselves and publications like it have
transformed women’s knowledge about
their bodies in some areas of the globe,
there are women all over the world who
continue to exist in the dark.177 For
these women, education could be a first
step to becoming advocates for better
health care.
Additionally, medical professionals
would likely benefit from education.
By training doctors to recognize
their biases which may allow them
to misdiagnose women’s pain, they
would be able to actively check their
subconscious prejudices. Doctors
should also be educated on the harms
of procedures like sex selective
abortion and female genital mutilation
to discourage their complicity in these
discriminatory practices. Both men and
women may benefit from education on
the ways their perhaps subconscious
bias towards male children impacts the
lives of girls around the world. Some
also encourage education programs on
sexual health and wellbeing. However,
this is a highly debated subject. For
religious conservatives around the world,
education should promote abstinence
as the only method to prevent HIV/
AIDS and unwanted pregnancy. For
more progressive thinkers, education
should instead focus on more practical
matters like condom usage and the
availability of contraception.
The drawback of education based
solutions is that they are seemingly
constantly attempted and yet their
impact is difficult to measure. The
United Nations has already encouraged
this solution in the Beijing Declaration
and Platform for Action178 and in the
resolution banning Female Genital
Mutilation.179 Continuing to throw
money at education programs may risk
redundancy unless they are carried out
in such a way as to suggest they are
evidence based and targeted.
Contraception
The United Nations has been
involved with family planning
policy through the UNFPA and aid
efforts. One proposed solution to a
range of issues related to women’s
health inequality is contraception. In
fact, some commentators even see
contraception as the key to alleviating
poverty as well. A 2013 study
conducted by Guttmacher Institute
indicates that unplanned childbirth
often leads to depression in parents,
dissolves relationships, and causes
unprepared individuals to struggle to
develop a healthy relationship with
their child. Women bare the brunt of
these challenges as they are faced with
single parenthood and mental health
Harvard National Model United Nations 2019
Commission on the Status of Women
problems. According to the study,
contraception is key to preventing these
scenarios. Furthermore, in countries
including the United States, family
planning programs have been linked
with decreased rates of poverty. For
women with preexisting conditions
that contribute to high risk pregnancies,
contraception can be key to preserving
their health. The societal benefits of
contraception have also been widely
touted. In the United States, for every
one dollar spent on contraception,
estimates indicate that US $5.68 is saved
in Medicaid spending.180 On the other
side of the debate, some believe that
by encouraging contraception women
will be more likely to engage in sexual
activity. Religious and cultural values
vary widely on this topic.
Funding
Of all the things that make
women’s healthcare unequal, perhaps
the easiest factor to address is the
disproportionately low level of
international aid spending that goes
towards causes like maternal mortality.
The United Nations is also well
equipped to establish voluntary funds
as it has done for indigenous people,
trafficking victims, and many other
causes.181 There are many possible
areas where better funding for women’s
healthcare could be spent. As in existing
resolutions banning female genital
mutilation, refugees and migrants
require special protections.182 Similarly,
rural areas are particularly underserved
by health services. Another, more
innovative, area perhaps in need of
funding is training for medical personnel
to actually staff rural health centers.
In their book, Kristoff and WuDunn
propose that training focus on medical
professionals at the level just beneath
qualification to work as doctors abroad
in Europe and America. They argue that
this would be a powerful motivation
for such individuals to remain in rural
regions of Africa and Asia rather than
emigrate.183 Others propose prioritizing
27
Commission on the Status of Women
training for specialists like midwives.
Regardless of the chosen path, more
doctors in rural areas would mean
fewer women suffering fistulas from
giving birth alone, more rape victims
receiving treatment, and less pressure
to prioritize sons in the allocation of
scarce medical resources.
Legal
Recommendations
The Commission on the Status of
Women may also wish to urge member
states to take certain domestic actions.
In the past when the United Nations
has called upon member states to
take action like banning female genital
mutilation or condemning sex-selective
abortion, they have been met with
less than perfect results.184 However,
innovative methods could be pursued
to motivate countries to be enforcers.
On the topic of sex-selective abortion,
some call for better enforcement of
bans on pre-natal sex determination. If
parents cannot know the sex of their
child before birth, they cannot carry
out an abortion. However, the trade off
of encouraging such a policy is risking
increases in the rates of infanticide
and neglect. The Commission on the
Status of Women could also encourage
member states to work to elevate the
status of women politically and socially
in order to bring corresponding change
in healthcare. Voting rights, rights in
marriage, and rights of autonomy, in
contrast to the guardianship system of
Saudi Arabia, could have a powerful
role to play in providing healthcare
equality.
BLOC POSITIONS
One of the great challenges of
remedying healthcare inequality is that
it is difficult to find clear coalitions.
While countries in Europe are united
in hoping to reduce maternal mortality,
they split along religious and cultural
lines regarding contraception and
abortion. Similarly, while the United
28 Economic and Social Council & Regional Bodies
States may find it easy to condemn sex-
selective abortion and female genital
mutilation abroad, it may not be able
to face its own errors in eliminating
funding for women’s health projects.
Thus, in thinking about blocs for this
topic, it is important to consider several
crosscutting cleavages.
The first is religiosity. Religiosity,
or intensity of dogma, can be
distinguished from religion in this case
as the most fundamentalist adherents
to many of the world’s religion tend
to have converging ideologies about
women’s reproductive health. Just as
fundamentalist, conservative Christians
in the Americas, Europe, and parts
of Africa oppose abortion, Islam
regards abortion as wrong and haram
(forbidden). However, just as more
liberal minded Christians accept the use
of abortion in cases such as rape, incest,
and to protect the health of the mother,
Islam endorses similar exceptions.185
Hindu texts also oppose abortion, even
going so far as to compare abortion to
killing one’s parents. However, this does
not prevent sex-selective abortions
and son preference.186 Similarly,
contraception causes a divide between
intensely religious countries, like Iran
and the United States, and more liberal
secular societies. Conservative Islamic
leaders have campaigned against
birth control and condoms, leading
to high birth rates in the Muslim
world. This ideology stems from
Islam’s sexual ethics which forbid sex
outside marriage. However, eight of
the nine classic schools of Islamic law
permit contraception.187 Thus, more
theocratic countries, or countries with
conservative administrations who
move towards theocracy, will likely find
common ground around reproductive
issues.
Religion itself can also help guide
bloc formation. Of all the countries in
Africa and the Middle East that permit
or endorse female genital mutilation
and give men hegemony over women’s
healthcare, nearly all are predominantly
Muslim. These countries will likely be
united on wishing that the Commission
leave their cultural practices to sovereign
states to debate. However, it should
be noted for accuracy sake that most
Muslims do not approve female genital
mutilation, and there are certainly some
members of other religious groups
who would support the practice. In
the World Economic Forum rankings
of countries based on their treatment
of women, eight of the bottom ten
were majority Muslim.188 The tragedy
here is that when Muhammad began
his work in the seventh century, the
status of women in the Islamic world
improved greatly over the status of
women in the Christian world. Similarly,
Christian countries likely find common
ground to campaign against female
genital mutilation and practices like
guardianship. This can tend to split
African countries into Islamic and
Christian blocs while leaving the Hindu
and Buddhist countries of Asia to
coalesce around other divides.
When discussing female health,
much of the partisan debate occurs not
just over what to think of issues but
also what issues are worth discussing at
all. Thus, in addition to religious related
blocs, countries will split over what
concerns to prioritize. The traditional
Western bloc of NATO countries will
hope to focus debate on issues like
sex-selective abortion. These nations
tend to want to determine issues
regarding family planning internally. In
contrast, China and its bloc will likely
want to keep sex-selective abortion
out of discussion. While the Chinese
Communist Party is in fact interested
in limiting sex-selective abortion, they
tend to wish to avoid seeming like a
pariah state.
One other bloc of interest is the
Latin American nations. These countries,
though they may be drawn to work
with other intensely Christian nations
because of their deep Catholic roots,
are also brought together by shared
success in this field. In fact, most Latin
countries today have majority female
populations. Girls receive education

and a general commitment from society
towards keeping them alive seemingly
absent in other regions. Even in poor
areas of cities like Bogota and Quito,
maternity hospitals provide prenatal
care and delivery for free.189 These
countries share a common prioritization
of women’s lives that may lead them to
collaborate towards genuine solutions
to women’s healthcare inequality
around the world.
RELEVANT
PARTNERS
The CHANGE center for health
and gender equality has advocated for
increased funding for family planning
around the world. The organization,
founded in 1994, works to bring policy
makers primarily from the United States
face to face with the women in Africa,
Latin America, and Asia who their
choices impact. Their aim is to stop the
policy restrictions that have historically
prevented women’s programs,
particularly anything remotely related to
abortion, from being adequately funded.
They conduct research, reach out to
other NGOs and activists, and work
to hold government accountable.190
There are many organizations fighting
female genital mutilation including 28
Too Many,191 Daughters of Eve,192 and
END FGM European campaign.193
Sex-selective abortion is a rallying
point for conservative, Christian anti-
abortion advocates, often accused of
sexism, to flip the paradigm. Thus,
groups like Live Action are frequent
voices on the topic.194 Additionally,
larger organizations like Amnesty
International and Human Rights Watch
often focus on a range of healthcare
inequalities including female genital
mutilation and maternal mortality.
QUESTIONS A
RESOLUTION MUST
ANSWER
How can underlying causes of
healthcare inequality, including
son preference, scarcity of rural
medical centers, and cultural beliefs,
be addressed by the Commission
on the Status of Women? Is there
a way to ensure actual change
results in these areas?
What types of education could be
effective in changing attitudes
about women’s health? How can
the Commission on the Status
of women raise awareness?
Should they target these solutions
to healthcare professionals,
women, governments, or some
combination thereof ?
What can be done to increase the
amount of funding for women’s
health programs? How can the
Commission on the Status of
Women help women’s issues reach
funding parity?
Should contraception be encouraged
as a way to improve the status of
women? If so, what kinds? Should
abstinence be encouraged instead?
How can the Commission encourage
states to enforce existing laws
on topics like Female Genital
Mutilation and Sex-Selective
abortion? Should they support
countries in banning prenatal sex
determination? Should abortion
itself be discouraged?
SUGGESTIONS
FOR FURTHER
RESEARCH
Once again, Half the Sky is a highly
recommended read. Beyond preparing
you for committee, it will expose you
to some fascinating stories of the
struggles women face around the world.
Sometimes Model United Nations can
become an exercise in political strategy
and rhetoric rather than a debate about
real world issues. This book gives a
Harvard National Model United Nations 2019
Commission on the Status of Women
face to the women around the world
who suffer female genital mutilation,
maternal morbidity, and other traumas.
I also recommend looking at World
Health Organization, UN Women, and
UNFPA reports on these topics. These
can be very helpful in finding country
specific information.
CLOSING
REMARKS
Thank you for taking the time to
read this guide. I hope that you have
learned something new about the
topics and are excited to debate them in
February. Whether you win an award or
not, the new knowledge you gain from
research and from communicating with
other delegates is the best thing you can
take away from conference. If nothing
else, I hope this guide has engendered
in you new compassion for the female
victims of the topics we will debate.
Regardless of the country you represent,
this compassion should guide the
rhetoric you employ towards diplomacy.
I thoroughly enjoyed writing about the
trafficking of women and girls and
healthcare inequality, but I know my
knowledge is far from perfect. Thus,
I highly encourage you to continue
to research beyond this document.
Congratulations on making it through
the first challenge of HNMUN 2019
by reading your background guide
thoroughly. Best of luck in all of your
preparations!
29
Commission on the Status of Women

ENDNOTES
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2 Zinn, Howard. A People’s History of the United States. (New York: Harper Collins, 2003) 103.
3 I Corinthians 11:8-9.
4 Quran 4:11.
5 Zinn, Howard. A People’s History of the United States. (New York: Harper Collins, 2003) 104.
6 Raymond, Joan. “Men, Women and IQ,” Newsweek. (January 22, 2008. http://www.newsweek.com/men-women-and-iq-87117).
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13 “Short History of the Commission on the Status of Women,” 3.
14 “A Brief History of the CSW,” UN Women. (http://www.unwomen.org/en/csw/brief-history ).
15 “Short History of the Commission on the Status of Women,” 5.
16 E/CN.6/131, (15 March 1950).
17 General Assembly resolution 1040 (XI).
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21 A Brief History of the CSW.” 5.
22 “Short History of the Commission on the Status of Women,” 15.
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65 “Thailand,” 2015 Trafficking in Persons Report (2015, United States Department of State).

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94 Kristof, Nicholas and Sheryl WuDunn. 6.

Harvard National Model United Nations 2019 31

Harvard National Model United Nations 2019
Position Papers
Each delegation must turn in
a position paper before the start
of conference. The purpose of
the a position paper is to give each
delegation the chance to summarize its
understanding of the issue at hand, to
delineate a nation or character’s stance
on the issue, and to propose possible
solutions that could be debated in
committee. When writing your position
papers, there is a simple format that
you should stick to; it will make it
easier for you to write and for the
Director to read. The first paragraph
of your position paper should describe
what you feel are the most pressing
and pertinent aspects of the issue, as
well as some facts that you could use
in debate or to support a point. The
second paragraph should be used to
describe what your nation or character
will be arguing in committee, why the
aspects you described in the previous
paragraph are so important to your
country or position, and what unique
aspects of your nation or character
relate to the issue at hand. Finally, your
third and last paragraph should contain
your ideas for possible solutions as well
as courses of action that you believe
should be included in a resolution or
a directive. Each delegation should
complete one position paper per topic
area. When writing, make sure to use
the third person if representing a nation,
and make sure to use the first person
if representing a character in a cabinet.
All position papers should be written
in Times New Roman 12-point font,
single-spaced and be approximately one
page in length.
Powers of the
Committee Staff
The staff of Harvard National
Model United Nations have distinct
roles and responsibilities at conference.
Delegates may find that the substantive
staff at HNMUN takes on a more
32 Harvard National Model United Nations 2019
active role than what they have been to have strayed from the topic at hand.
accustomed to at other Model United Any questions about substantive issues
Nations conferences. The primary job should be raised with the Director.
of the staff is to work with the delegates
Moderators
in achieving the goals of the committee
The Moderator performs the
in particular and the conference as a
procedural role for which the traditional
whole. The staff of each committee
“chair” at other Model UN conferences
includes a Director, a Moderator, and
would be responsible. While the Director
Assistant Directors. At HNMUN, the
is the substantive expert, the Moderator
Director is the substantive expert,
is the procedural expert who runs the
and the Moderator is the procedural
committee when it is in formal session.
expert; together, they share the duties
The Moderator has a full understanding
of running the committee, rather
of the rules of procedure, and it is his
than being coordinated by only one
or her responsibility to facilitate the
committee “chair.”
committee’s work by ensuring that the
Directors sessions run smoothly. However, the
The committee Director is the Director retains the ultimate power
substantive expert of the committee. to rule any motions dilatory. In some
At HNMUN, the Directors choose smaller committees, the moderator
their committees’ topic areas, prepare may also field some of the substantive
the study guides, and do extensive issues that Directors typically handle.
amounts of other pre-conference Under certain extreme situations, the
substantive preparation. The Director Moderator is allowed to suspend certain
oversees submission of all documents rules of procedure to streamline debate.
to be discussed. All draft resolutions Any questions about procedural issues
and amendments in committee must should be raised with the Moderator.
be approved and signed by the Director
Assistant Directors
to be presented to the committee as a
Before the conference, the
whole. Please note that the Director may
Assistant Directors prepare the updates
not approve of all written submissions
to the committee study guide. During
and may suggest appropriate changes
the simulation, their job is to aid
before accepting any draft documents.
the Director by answering delegates’
Another important role of the
questions, monitoring blocs during
Director is to oversee debate. As the
caucus, and by providing ‘sounding
substantive leader of the committee,
boards for delegate ideas, solutions,
the Director also has the discretion
and concerns. If the committee is
to rule on all points and motions
producing a large amount of paperwork
brought before the committee. The
at some point in the course of debate,
Director may periodically comment
Directors will rely on the Assistant
on the direction of debate and
Directors to work directly with
suggest alternative courses of action.
delegates on preparing and suggesting
Committees sometimes overlook
revisions to draft resolutions. The
important issues within a topic area, and
Assistant Directors also help keep track
Directors are encouraged to bring these
of the Speakers’ List, votes, and other
to the attention of the delegates. As for
procedural matters. Delegates should
committees with crises, the direction
feel free to approach the Assistant
of crises is determined entirely by the
Directors at any time with questions
course of debate. Statements made by
about the substance or procedure of
Directors are not meant to steer debate
the committee.
along a predetermined crisis plan,
although Directors are encouraged to
guide delegates when debate appears
 Guide to Delegate Preparation and Parliamentary Rules of Procedure

Guide to Delegate Preparation

and Rules of Parliamentary Procedure

Dear Delegates and Faculty Advisors,

The HNMUN 2019 Secretariat is pleased to present you with the newly revised Guide to Delegate Preparation. In this guide,
you will find an overview of substantive activities at conference, a list of differences between HNMUN and other MUN
conferences in the world, an explanation of the characteristics of our various committees, a listing of the powers of the
committee staff, and the updated Rules of Procedure. The guide has been updated this year to include additional tips regarding
what to expect at HNMUN committees, and how to perform well in a committee setting. While this guide contains virtually
all information regarding the substantive side of HNMUN, I invite you to consult the following documents as well in your
preparation:

Guide to Starting a MUN Team: This guide features a step-by-step guide to starting a Model United Nations Team at any
college or university.

Guide to First Time Delegations: This guide is aimed at familiarizing delegates who are new to MUN, and particularly those
new to HNMUN, with the events at conference.

Committee Background Guides: Our committees are directed by Harvard undergraduates, who dedicated their summers
to researching and writing the most well-informed and comprehensive background guides on the issues of their committee
agenda. Background guides contain not only a history and discussion of the problem at hand, but also sections detailing
suggestions for further research, questions a resolution must answer, and ways to contribute to solutions in the real world
community. Updates to the background guides, covering the latest developments and exploring nuanced aspects of the topic
areas, will be available online in early 2019.

All of these documents and more are available at our website, www.hnmun.org.

Please do not hesitate to contact any of the HNMUN Secretariat and staff with your questions. Best of luck with your
preparation for HNMUN 2019, and we look forward to meeting you in February!

Sincerely,

Antonio J. Soriano
Secretary-General
Harvard National Model United Nations 2019

Harvard National Model United Nations 2019

33
Guide to Delegate Preparation and Parliamentary Rules of Procedure
INTRODUCTION
General Comments
Welcome to Harvard National
Model United Nations (HNMUN) 2019,
the world’s largest and most prestigious
conference of its kind. We are happy
to have you with us. Throughout
the conference weekend, you will be
working with other highly motivated
college students toward the common
goals of international awareness and
consensus-building. This document
strives to explain both the philosophy of
HNMUN and the substantive details of
the conference. Without understanding
both the overall goal of HNMUN and
how the conference operates, delegates
may feel overwhelmed and lost. It is
our hope that this document will guide
delegates throughout the weekend.
Philosophy: The
United Nations as an
International Forum
Our primary goal is to provide
students interested in exploring
the difficulties and complexities of
international relations with the best
possible simulation of diplomacy
and negotiation. Our committees are
designed to enable delegates to arrive at
a comprehensive and pragmatic solution
to each of the topics while realistically
simulating the dynamics of a true United
Nations (UN) session. For solutions to
be reached in committee, we assume
both that compromise is possible and
that diplomacy is a necessary condition
for successful negotiation. With these
assumptions, we hope that the process
of formulating the solutions embodied
in a document called a resolution will
reveal to delegates the difficulties and
complexities of international relations.
One could argue that the process of
constructing a solution to international
problems in itself does not offer much
beyond a simple classroom experience.
HNMUN allows delegates to examine
current global problems through a
Harvard National Model United Nations 2019
34
wholly different lens. The solutions
that any individual proposes to a world
problem may technically seem correct,
but these solutions are biased by the
individual’s own political inclinations.
Representing a nation’s interest in the
global community adds a new level of
complexity to discussion and forces
delegates to question their prior beliefs
and arrive at innovative conclusions
on problems in international relations
today. It is this process of simulation
that ultimately advances our goal of
teaching the power and complexity of
international relations.
It is important to clarify why we
have selected the United Nations as
the primary organ through which
HNMUN operates. The UN is not
a world government. The principle
of national sovereignty has been
consistently upheld, and nations do not
relinquish their sovereignty in joining
the UN. Through resolutions, the UN
can offer solutions to world problems,
but it has limited enforcement powers
beyond the international opinion. The
decisions must represent a single unified
voice of the international community
to be effective and must be constructed
through a series of compromises by
nations with competing ends. Without
solidarity, the decisions made by the
UN lack credibility and, therefore, any
power. For the UN, finding a consensus
is no easy task. No other body involves
195 countries and observers debating
international issues in unison. Each
state wants its own voice heard and its
own interests represented as solutions
are reached on any given issue.
Compromise is therefore necessary for
anything to be accomplished. Thus, the
need to find a consensus is certainly
a hurdle to be overcome for both the
real UN and for HNMUN, but it is
this challenge of using international
negotiation and compromise to solve
world problems (and sometimes its
failure) that makes us believe that the
UN is the best body through which to
advance the goals of the conference.
Structure
For both logistical and substantive
reasons, HNMUN simulates only
certain parts of the real UN. A
given college or university attending
the conference represents one or
more countries, and each country is
represented by one or two delegates in
each committee. In this way, HNMUN
emulates the practices of the UN.
Delegates must align themselves with
the policy of the represented country
to advance the country’s interests in the
world community.
However, HNMUN extends
beyond just the UN itself. The
conference incorporates simulations
of regional bodies outside of the UN
system, such as the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization or the Organisation
for Islamic Cooperation. Debate in
these non-UN bodies focuses on
issues of primary importance to the
region, as members try to advance the
interests of their own countries within
the larger context of the regional body.
It is important to understand that the
central goal of our conference is not
only to provide a simulation of the UN,
but rather to help delegates understand
the complexities of international
diplomacy. We do not believe that the
UN alone is the ultimate method for
learning the nuances of international
diplomacy. Rather, the UN in
conjunction with other bodies offers
delegates a comprehensive simulation
of international diplomacy and
negotiation.
HNMUN also gives delegates the
opportunity to further their education
in global diplomacy by representing
non-state actors in our Non-
Governmental Organizations program,
the Press Corps, and our continual
crisis committees. Whether they are
representing Amnesty International, or
the New York Times, these delegates
have the chance to experience the ways
in which negotiation and compromise
operate in settings that depart from the

standard state-centric model of the UN
and other international organizations.
About this Guide
The main purpose of this guide is
to prepare delegates for Model United
Nations (MUN) conferences in general
and for HNMUN 2019 in particular.
Delegates who have experience with
MUN should look at the “Differences
between HNMUN and other Model
United Nations conferences” section
below. For those who have not, here is
the general structure of the guide and
the purpose of each part:
Procedural Preparation
In order to perform in committee,
delegates must have an understanding
of the basic structural elements of
MUN. HNMUN emphasizes the useful
application of rules to promote the
smooth functioning of the committee
rather than as the focus of delegate
performance. This Guide to Delegate
Preparation contains most of this
functional information, including
details on the rules of debate at
HNMUN. It is important for delegates
to understand the rules, because they
enhance committee and the learning
experience of the delegate. To prevent
misunderstandings and delays, a
comprehensive understanding of the
rules and their use is vital. Additionally,
delegates can use an understanding of
the rules to advance their own policies
in committee. For example, in large
General Assembly committees, the
speakers’ list can become quite long,
and a delegate may have to wait for
an hour or more before it is their turn
to speak. However, by using the rules
governing yielded time, questions, and
comments from the floor, a delegate can
speak far more frequently. Knowledge
of the rules is an important tool to
allow you to air your views productively
and efficiently. At conference, you may
clarify issues of procedure and debate
with the committee staff through points
of parliamentary inquiry. Although it is
Guide to Delegate Preparation and Parliamentary Rules of Procedure
important to read and understand the
full Rules of Procedure, please note
that Directors have final discretion over
debate structure and procedure.
Substantive
Preparation
Once delegates understand the
rules of committee, they should learn
how to contribute substantively to the
debate. Substantive preparation, the
process by which delegates learn how
their ideas can make a difference in
the committee, is a three step process.
First, delegates should research their
committee and its place in the UN
system and the international framework.
By knowing the powers and duties of
their committee, delegates can get a
sense of what types of solution will
and will not be possible. Delegates
should then master the topics that their
committee will discuss. Although the
background guide provides a strong
foundation of information on the topics,
it is essential that delegates build on
this foundation with their own research
and critical thinking. Each background
guide contains a section detailing
suggestions for further research to
aid with this process. Lastly, delegates
should learn their country’s policy on
the topics being addressed, so that they
can represent their country strongly
and accurately. This Guide to Delegate
Preparation will walk you through the
research you should do to be prepared
in committee. Delegates with a solid
grasp of the topics, their country’s
positions, and the committee’s mandate
will be prepared to lead in the attempts
to find solutions to the problems being
addressed and to write resolutions that
carry out those solutions.
Skills-Based
Preparation
Beyond mastering Model UN
procedure and substance, a good
delegate also looks to refine their skills.
Strong public speaking, negotiating,
collaboration, writing, and research
Harvard National Model United Nations 2019
skills are all part of an excellent
delegate’s toolbox. Prior to coming to
HNMUN, delegates should look to
practice these skills. There are plentiful
online resources that may be helpful in
this pursuit. It is important to note that
participating in HNMUN itself will
also help delegates to expand and refine
their skill sets.
Committee Information
This section contains other details
about HNMUN that will enable
you to better understand how the
conference as a whole will run. It will
first help delegates understand the
different organs at HNMUN and how
debate functions in each. It will then
introduce the dais staff that will run
each committee and describe the roles
of each staff member. Lastly, it will
discuss our expectations of delegates
substantively.
Differences between
HNMUN and other
Model United Nations
Conferences
For the most part, this Guide to
Delegate Preparation is written for
the delegate who has not been part of
a Model United Nations conference
before. It provides an introduction to
MUN as well as information about
HNMUN. Therefore, experienced
delegates need not read it all the way
through. However, these delegates
should be aware that HNMUN is not
alike in every respect to other MUN
conferences in which you may have
participated. In particular, please note
the following:
• Committees at HNMUN, with the
exception of the continual crisis
committees, may pass only one
resolution on each topic area.
Because only one resolution can
be passed, there is a much greater
emphasis on compromise and
cooperation at HNMUN than at
other MUN conferences.
35
Guide to Delegate Preparation and Parliamentary Rules of Procedure
• Many procedural rules at
HNMUN may differ from those
to which you are accustomed.
You may want to skim the rules,
located at the back of the Guide
to Delegate Preparation, to look
for such variances so that you are
prepared for them in committee.
• No prewritten working papers
or draft resolutions will be
permitted at HNMUN. All
written material introduced in a
committee must be the product
of work done at the conference
itself.
• Resolutions at HNMUN do
not have sponsors. Instead,
draft resolutions require a
certain number of signatories to
be shown to the Director and
listed alphabetically at the top
of the document before they are
brought onto the floor for debate;
all documents are considered to
be intellectual property of the
entire committee. Following the
Director’s approval, any delegate
(whether or not that delegate is a
signatory of the draft resolution)
may move to introduce the draft
resolution. Being a signatory
to a draft resolution does not
mean that you wrote it or that
you support it; it means only
that you believe it should be
debated.
• Because there are no sponsors, all
amendments are considered
unfriendly, requiring the
majority vote of the committee
to be integrated into the draft
resolution on the floor. Only
non-substantive typographical
amendments may be made
without a vote, at the Director’s
discretion.
• Passing amendments at HNMUN
is a substantive vote. For
detailed amendment procedures,
please consult the Rules of
Parliamentary Procedure at the
end of this guide.
Harvard National Model United Nations 2019
36
• There are no Chairs at
HNMUN. Instead, a Moderator
and a Director jointly run each
committee; the Moderator
oversees debate and is the
enforcer of procedure, while the
Director prepares the background
guide and is the substantive
expert.
• Debate at HNMUN adheres
more closely to the background
guide than it does at some other
conferences. In particular, all
draft resolutions must address
the issues mentioned in the
“Questions a Resolution Must
Answer” section of each
background guide.
• Following a speech in General
Speakers’ List, if no yields
are made, two comments are
automatically in order. The
possible yields are to questions, to
another delegate, or to the Dais.
If a yield is made, no comments
are in order. Comments are never
in order during a moderated
caucus.
COMMITTEE
INFORMATION
This section explains the
differences between the various types
of committees offered at HNMUN and
describes the staff that will be present
in each committee.
Resolution Committees
at HNMUN 2019
The differences between
committees are not limited to differences
in mandates or responsibilities. A large
committee, like a General Assembly
committee, has different features than
a small committee like the Security
Council. Understanding the unique
qualities of the organ will enable
delegates to contribute more effectively
to the debate in their committee.
Resolution committees are those
that seek to pass a resolution at the
end of conference. These committees
usually simulate a international body,
often one that is under the United
Nations umbrella.
General Assembly (GA)
Four of the standard committees
of the General Assembly, together
with the World Health Organization,
the International Organization on
Migration, and the Historical General
Assembly, comprise the General
Assembly at HNMUN 2019. All
members of the United Nations will be
represented in these committees, with
the exception of the Historical General
Assembly, which will be adjusted for its
historical setting.
General Assembly committees
range in size between 200-400 delegates.
All General Assembly committees,
except the Historical General Assembly,
will consist of double delegations,
which means that two participants from
the same university will represent each
country.
The Historical General Assembly
differs from standard GA committees
more in goals than in procedure; the
background guide for this committee
explains in detail how it will be run, and
how it will differ from a regular GA
committee.
The Press Corps (PC)
The Press Corps is also a committee
within the General Assembly. In
this committee delegates represent
various international media sources
and report on the events and activities
of the conference while representing
their unique perspectives through the
crafting of articles and reports.
The Committee Director will be
responsible for assigning and reviewing
all articles. These will then be published
on the conference’s website. Delegates
are also empowered to publish photos
and media on Twitter and Instagram.
Economic and Social Council

(ECOSOC)
The committees of the Economic
and Social Council consist of a
wide range of committees. These
committees range in size from 24 to
over 50 member states, depending
on their membership. Economic and
Social Council committees specialize
in a wide range of international issues,
from humanitarian to economic in
nature. Economic and Social Council
committees will call on delegates to
occasionally respond to crises as they
emerge, in addition to resolving the
topics on their respective agendas. All
ECOSOC committees this year are
double-delegation, with the exceptions
of the IAEA and CSW, which are
single-delegation committees.
Non-Governmental Organizations
(NGO) Program
The NGO Program at HNMUN
is an innovative arrangement, under
the Economic and Social Council,
that provides its delegates with the
opportunity to debate multiple topic
areas in various committees, while
greatly enriching those committees’
discussions. Each delegate in the NGO
Program will represent an assigned
NGO at the conference, and will have
the freedom to travel and represent their
organization in one or more committees
whose debate directly relates to the
mission of their respective NGO. The
Amnesty International delegate in the
NGO Program, for example, may
present or debate issues in committees
as diverse as the UN Human Rights
Council in the ECOSOC and the
Special Political and Decolonization
Committee in the GA.
After other committees at the
conference have chosen their topic
areas, the NGO Director will assign
delegates to committees to insure an
event representation. They are then
introduced to their committee of choice,
at which time they become analogous
to any other delegate in committee.
They are subject to the same rules and
courtesies, except for rules governing
Guide to Delegate Preparation and Parliamentary Rules of Procedure
voting power. Though NGO delegates
cannot vote on draft resolutions, they
may caucus, negotiate, support draft
resolutions, and write their own working
papers in committees. In this sense,
the NGO program is extraordinarily
dynamic and flexible—both in the way
that delegates interact and in the topics
that delegates choose to undertake at
the conference. Delegates involved
in the NGO program will have the
unique opportunity to see a wide
range of committees at HNMUN, and
delegates in other committees should
take advantage of the resources and
insights offered by the NGO delegates
participating in their debates.
Regional Bodies
The Regional Bodies at HNMUN
2019 are the Arctic Council and
the Organization of American
States. These committees have 25-30
member states represented, and are
both double-delegation committees.
While most committees at HNMUN
include countries from every region
of the world, each Regional Body only
includes the countries of its region,
and thus focuses on issues important
to that particular region. The Regional
Bodies are often not part of the United
Nations system; nevertheless, they
are procedurally identical to other
HNMUN committees. They are similar
to the Economic and Social Council
committees in the style of debate and
the way in which they address the
topics. Like the Economic and Social
Council committees, all Regional
Bodies will have crises at some point
during committee sessions.
Specialized Agencies
(SA) at HNMUN 2019
Continual Crisis Committees
The continual crisis committees
span a wide array of forums, time
periods, and topics.
Instead of debating two distinct
topic areas laid out in advance in the
background guide, these committees
Harvard National Model United Nations 2019
will focus on a particular political,
social, or military crisis, reacting to
its twists and turns throughout the
conference and each committee session.
Each continual crisis committee has
a crisis staff in addition to its dais
staff, coordinating events to respond
to the decisions delegates make and
constantly throwing twists and turns at
the committee.
Delegates in continual crisis
committees represent characters instead
of countries, by taking on the personas
of historical figures, military heroes,
or cabinet members. Representing
an individual differs greatly from
representing a delegate to the United
Nations; for instance, if one’s character
is a real person, it is crucial to research
their perspective on the conflict as
one would research a state’s policy.
Our continual crisis staff will provide
delegates with a preliminary biography
outlining the character’s role in the
cabinet and their views and tendencies,
but participants will greatly benefit from
gathering as many personal details as
they can. This information will not only
guide delegates through their debate
but also add personality and flair to the
experience. If the assigned character
is fictional or only loosely based on a
real figure, delegates have the unique
and fun opportunity to develop their
own personality within the guidelines
provided by their biography.
Continual crisis committees do
not pass resolutions; depending on the
committee, they can issue directives,
communiqués, press releases, statements,
decisions, and military commands, to
name only a few. In a militarily-oriented
committee, for example, delegates will
discuss tactical and strategic as well as
political maneuvers. The possibilities
are virtually endless; continual crisis
leaves the delegates free reign to steer
the course of history.
Unlike traditional committees,
continual crises do not operate by
the Rules of Procedure. Instead of
a speakers’ list, most of debate will
be conducted through modified
37
Guide to Delegate Preparation and Parliamentary Rules of Procedure
caucuses, allowing for a free flow of
ideas and efficient progress. Voting
on decisions and other actions taken
by the committee is conducted by the
Director, but he or she will be granted
greater discretion than in a traditional
committee; although the Director
entrusts his or her cabinet with making
decisions in his or her name, he or
she holds ultimate veto power over all
actions of the committee. Specific rules
are stated in each background guide
and are at the discretion of the Director.
Perhaps the most important
divergence of continual crisis
committees from their traditional
counterparts is the role of the crisis staff.
In addition to voicing concerns verbally
in the committee room, individual
delegates can also conduct private
affairs through liaisons in the crisis
room, generating a new and exciting
dimension of the crisis. Each delegate
has a great deal of agency, and each is
responsible for exercising this power
through communication with the crisis
staff and with the other delegates. The
crisis staff will also introduce a series of
crisis breaks throughout the weekend
that simulate events or developments
that could happen in the real-world
version of crisis simulations.
Security Council
In addition to the Continual Crisis
simulations, the Specialized Agencies
include the Security Council. This
simulation will follow a modified
version of the rules of procedure that
gives the five permanent members
(China, France, the United Kingdom,
the United States, and the Russian
Federation) a veto in substantive voting.  primarily in the sense that working
The small size of the Security
Council means that debate will be
more informal; there will be a greater
emphasis on intimate negotiations
between delegates to hammer out
the details of resolutions, in both
moderated and unmoderated caucuses.
The specifics of how the committee will
write resolutions and allow delegates
to write more informal directives are
Harvard National Model United Nations 2019
38
covered in the study guide. Like other
Specialized Agencies committees, the
Security Council will also have crisis
breaks.
THE PATH TO A
RESOLUTION
Before we can discuss the specifics
of the debate structure, it is important to
note that the purpose of the debate, as
stated in our philosophy, is to produce a
comprehensive and pragmatic solution
to the topic embodied in a document
called a resolution. If we are to
understand the nuances of the debate,
we must first grasp the path towards the
resolution. The process for producing a
resolution in a committee at HNMUN
consists of two main written stages: the
working paper and the draft resolution.
Working Paper
Working papers are essentially
brief documents that introduce and
recommend ideas for addressing a few
aspects of the topic area being discussed.
Given the vast expanse of issues that
fall under a single topic area and the
fact that the conference operates under
a limited timeframe, working papers act
as a means of narrowing the scope of
the topic area in a more practical manner
such that the decision making process
for eventually drafting a resolution is
facilitated.
The working paper serves as
a precursor to the draft resolution,
papers allow delegates to introduce
ideas and outline areas on which they
would like to focus in the process of
fashioning an eventual solution to the
issues in question. However, working
papers differ from draft resolutions in
various ways. Delegates should note
that working papers need not be written
in a specific format; for example, a
working paper can be written in the
form of bullet points outlining ideas
to which delegates would like to draw
attention. Although delegates are
encouraged to ponder the “Questions
a Resolution Must Answer” section
of the background guide, it is not
mandatory that delegates address and
answer all of those questions in their
working papers. It is also not necessary
for an idea to appear in a working paper
before it can appear in a draft resolution.
Nonetheless, delegates are advised to
introduce ideas at the beginning of
debate through the working papers
if they hope to include those ideas in
a draft resolution at a later stage. This
will give delegates the opportunity to
receive constructive input from others
on their ideas; such input can thus
allow delegates to refine their ideas and
enable them to consider the manner in
which potential flaws can be improved
before including the ideas in a formal
draft resolution.
Due to HNMUN’s policy regarding
document sponsorship, working
papers are the intellectual property of
the entire committee once they are
introduced. It is not against the rules
for draft resolutions to borrow ideas
or languge from any working paper
that was introduced to the committee;
however, delegates should consider
requesting permission before they do
so.
It is imperative to be aware
that delegates are not permitted to
write working papers in advance
of the HNMUN conference. The
process of writing working papers
in collaboration with other delegates
during the conference encourages
delegates to consider other perspectives
as they approach the stage of writing
a draft resolution and is critical to the
educational objectives of HNMUN.
Draft Resolutions
The central mechanism by which
the UN operates, pivotal to its process
of problem-solving, is the resolution.
To truly reflect the nature of the

UN, the ultimate goal of delegates at
HNMUN is to collaborate and produce
a resolution, a formal document that
specifically details how the committee
envisions action must be taken in
order to solve a specific world issue.
Delegates are encouraged to utilize the
sample resolution included in this guide
as a source of reference.
Given the fluctuating nature of
debate in committee, delegates are
encouraged to take various aspects
of the topic area being discussed into
consideration as they construct the
foundation of the draft resolution.
Contrasting to the nature of the
working paper, the draft resolution has
a more formal and specific structure
consisting of guidelines delegates must
follow. In order for a draft resolution
to be introduced to the committee,
the following conditions must first be
fulfilled:
• It must adequately address the
points set out in the “Questions a
Resolution Must Answer” section
of the background guide, as well
as any other points that have been
raised in the course of debate.
• It must be well-written, concise,
correctly formatted, and free of
grammatical and typographical
errors.
• It must have the minimum number
of signatories as stipulated in the
Rules of Procedure. HNMUN
documents do not have sponsors;
instead, they have signatories.
• It must be typed and presented
to the dais in digital format for
distribution.
• It must receive the approval of
the Director. Directors have
the discretion of suggesting
changes to a working paper or
draft resolution, or redirecting
the submitters to cooperating
with delegates with similar papers,
prior to approving any documents.
Guide to Delegate Preparation and Parliamentary Rules of Procedure
• It must be completely original
work done at the conference; no
prewritten draft resolutions will
be allowed, and plagiarism will
not be tolerated.
Delegates should be aware that
the committee can only pass one
resolution on each topic at HNMUN.
That being said, delegates will need to
work effectively to consolidate ideas
and anticipate multiple revisions to
their writing so that they can satisfy the
expectations set out by the Director
for the final draft resolution. Delegates
should also take into account that
the Director will remain unbiased
throughout the process and adopt a
neutral stance as delegates propose
different ideas to resolve the issues at
hand. Although the Director will not
explicitly adopt a stance on or favor
a particular resolution to the topic
area being discussed, the Director is
expected to oversee the committee and
confirm that the committee has met the
Director’s expectations in writing draft
resolutions before a draft resolution can
be introduced to the committee. Given
that the Director has the right to exert
authority and the responsibility to be
thoughtfully selective when accepting
draft resolutions, delegates should not
be concerned if the dais staff requests
that the delegates make certain revision
to a draft resolution before it can be
accepted. In fact, the act of considering
and making revisions is essential to the
educational learning process that the
conference encourages delegates to
embrace. Although a draft resolution,
when initially introduced, is the
product of considerable and extensive
deliberation, it is often still subject
to improvement and not completely
finalized. Hence, delegates should not
expect a draft resolution to be ready
for an immediate vote when it is first
introduced to the committee. Debate,
compromise, and revision are vital to
the eventual development of a final
resolution that can be voted upon and
hopefully approved by the committee.
Harvard National Model United Nations 2019
Amendments
Fundamental to the process of
debate, compromise, and revision is
the process of amending the draft
resolution. The amendment process
serves as an opportunity to build
upon and refine the draft resolution
introduced to the committee before
it is voted upon by the delegates.
Amendments can draw attention to
points not initially addressed in the draft
resolution and ensure that such points
are included in the final document.
The procedure of amending the draft
resolution to include other perspectives
and ideas not originally considered is
imperative to the overall purpose of
the conference to draw attention to the
diversity of perspectives and advocate
collaboration among delegates.
It is vital that delegates thoroughly
read and follow the Rules of Procedure
as they approach the amendment
process. The process of amending a
draft resolution entails three primary
steps: 1) proposing an amendment,
2) debating an amendment, and 3)
voting on an amendment. In addition
to obtaining the consent of the
Director, delegates must attain a certain
number of signatories in order for an
amendment to be introduced to the
committee.
Delegates should be aware of
the difference between a friendly
amendment and an unfriendly
amendment. A friendly amendment
merely requires being signed by all
sponsors and approved by the Director
for it to be automatically added to
the draft resolution. In addition to
the specified number of sponsors
and the approval of the Director, an
unfriendly amendment requires being
voted up and ultimately passed in that
voting procedure in order for it to be
incorporated in the draft resolution.
Friendly amendments are not accepted
at HNMUN, meaning that all
amendments, once introduced to the
committee, are subject to the procedure
of being voted upon by all delegates
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Guide to Delegate Preparation and Parliamentary Rules of Procedure
in the committee. If an amendment
passes the voting procedure, it is then
immediately included in the draft
resolution.
To clarify, this entire amendment
process is conducted prior to the final
voting that is to take place on the
entirety of the newly amended draft
resolution. Delegates should refer to
the Rules of Parliamentary Procedure
at the end of this document if they seek
a more comprehensive understanding
of the three primary steps to amending
a draft resolution.
Voting
At the end of the conference,
delegates have the duty of voting on
the final draft resolution(s) on the
floor, which include(s) any possible
amendments passed in the amendment
process. The final draft resolution(s)
on the floor is/are the culmination
of extensive thought and great
deliberation. That being said, it is not
always the case that a resolution passes
at the end of the conference. In order
for a resolution to pass, the majority of
the committee must vote in its favor.
In the event that more than one draft
resolution is introduced to and voted
upon in committee, as is often the case,
delegates should bear in mind that only
one resolution may be passed by the
committee for a single topic area. If a
draft resolution is passed, debate and
discussion on the topic area is officially
closed.
SUBSTANTIVE
PREPARATION
This section serves as a guideline
for delegates in regards to proper
preparation for the substantive aspect
of discussion and debate during the
conference. The suggestions provided
are, as stated, merely suggestions.
That is, delegates are nonetheless
encouraged to expand beyond these
suggestions and conduct independent
research to strengthen their substantive
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40
knowledge as a means of optimizing
the conference experience.
Delegates who are new to MUN
or HNMUN are encouraged to consult
the Guide to First Time Delegations,
which provides an introduction to
MUN and the events of the conference.
The preparation tips outlined below
will be most useful when combined
with a thorough examination of
committee background guides and
Rules of Procedure, as well as conduct
of independent research.
Understanding the Mandate of the
Committee
The primary source of reference
for delegates to develop a strong
understanding of the purpose and
overall structure of the committee is
the background guide written by the
committee Director. Delegates should
consult the “Committee Expectations”
section of the background guide to
gain a better comprehension of the
Director’s hopes for the committee’s
trajectory as delegates engage in debate.
The “History and Structure of the
Committee” section of the background
guide can serve as an introduction
for delegates to the manner in which
the committee came into fruition and
provide vital background pertaining to
historical events and responsibilities
that have shaped the committee to this
very day. That being said, delegates
are encouraged to add to their
understanding by consulting sources
provided by the United Nations.
Delegates can easily access online the
Charter of the United Nations, the
founding document of the UN signed
in 1945, to broaden their knowledge
of the powers and responsibilities of
the General Assembly, the Economic
and Social Council, and the Security
Council. The UN also provides websites
that specifically detail the powers and
responsibilities of the committees
of the General Assembly and the
commissions of the Economic and
Social Council. Evidently, such sources
are most useful to delegates belonging
to a committee within the actual system
of the UN. For delegates participating in
committees on behalf of international
bodies not traditionally associated
with the UN, there are still likely to be
treaties, charters, or documents of a
similar nature online that outline the
powers and responsibilities relevant to
the body in question.
Aside from gaining an awareness of
the powers and responsibilities of the
committee, delegates will likely find it
beneficial to also develop a knowledge
base of the historical actions and
precedents of the committee. Reading
resolutions made by the committee in
the past and analyzing the strategies
previously used by the committee
to address international issues of a
varied nature can allow delegates to
improve their comprehension of how
to approach negotiation and debate
at a conference in a constructive and
methodical manner. As mentioned, the
website of the UN serves as an excellent
resource for this type of analysis as it
provides resolutions made in the past
by committees and bodies within the
system of the UN.
Researching the Topic Areas
The background guide written
by the Director for the committee
can serve as a strong guiding premise
for delegates as they commence the
research process on the given topic areas.
The Director of each committee has
devoted a great deal of time and effort
to establish a foundational basis for
delegates in the form of a background
guide. The principal sections of each
topic area, the “History and Discussion
of the Problem” and the “Current
Situation,” provide delegates with a
detailed understanding of how the
topic areas have been shaped by
matters in a historical context and
how the topic areas are relevant to the
present day. However, the information
provided on the selected topic areas are
not at all exhaustive. That is, while the
background guide is intended to serve
as a basis for the delegate’s research, the

delegate should not solely depend upon
the information that appears within
the background guide. Delegates are
encouraged to expand beyond the scope
of the background guide by consulting
reliable, academic sources, whether they
be print or found online. At the end of
each background guide, each Director
has provided a bibliography listing all
the resources that they consulted in the
process of writing the background guide.
Delegates are especially prompted to
also consult these sources on their own
in order to deepen their understanding
of the topic areas. Faculty advisors
and head delegates can facilitate the
research process for delegates by
making delegates aware of resources
available to them in their academic
communities as such resources can
supplement their independent research,
thus heightening their potential to
contribute meaningfully to debate at
the conference.
Delegates need not feel
overwhelmed by the vast range of
information they are likely to come
upon as they conduct independent
research on the topic areas. To narrow
the wide breadth of information, it is
reasonable and likely advantageous for
delegates to focus on particular aspects
of the topic areas about which they
feel most passionate and would like to
further address in the context of drafting
and eventually finalizing a resolution.
Another section of the background
guide for each topic area that delegates
should consider thoroughly is that of
“Past International Actions.” Delegates
can research past international actions to
contemplate how such actions perhaps
intensified or ameliorated certain issues
pertaining to the topic areas and reflect
on why such actions have failed to fully
address the topic areas in question. A
comprehensive analysis of faults in
past initiatives can allow delegates to
formulate creative yet sensible solutions
to the issues discussed in committee.
Guide to Delegate Preparation and Parliamentary Rules of Procedure
Researching Country Policy
It is crucial that delegates research
their country’s policy on the topic areas
of each committee as well as the state’s
political situation in a larger context.
While it is understood that some
flexibility in positions is necessary to
compromise and negotiate with other
countries during debate, participants
must maintain the assigned country’s
policy as much as possible. Directors
will be enforcing this aspect of debate,
as it is crucial to the simulation and the
overall international education.
HNMUN requires delegates to
adopt the position of a specific country
or character throughout the course of
the simulation. This is a key element of
the “international” experience of MUN,
as it forces delegates to examine the
perspectives, problems, and policies of
another country at a very fundamental
level. It is also one of the most difficult
aspects of MUN because delegates
must confront the inherent biases of
their own national perspectives and
historical understanding. While it may
be difficult to find a published account
of a country’s position on a particular
issue, it may be possible to contact the
country’s delegation at the real UN to
continue research. Developing a better
general understanding of the country
- cultural and religious beliefs, political
systems, UN voting history, and so
forth - will allow committee members
to construct a plausible position for
each country on each of the topic areas
when they are unable to find an explicit,
published position by the country’s
government.
In addition to a country’s policies
and cultural traits, it is useful to
research traditional allies of a country,
other countries that affect the balance
of power in the region, and states with
which a delegate’s assigned country has
been in conflict in the past. Furthermore,
delegates should consider the actions
and intentions of non-state actors that
have been involved in the issue. In
Harvard National Model United Nations 2019
combination with the “Bloc Positions”
and “Relevant Partners” sections of the
background guide, this type of research
will inform delegates of potential allies
at the conference, with whom they
could discuss solutions to the problems
posed by the topic areas.
Position Papers
Position papers are the central
means through which delegates
can demonstrate the substantive
preparation they have devoted to the
conference. Writing a strong, well-
organized, thoughtful position paper
will not solely allow delegates to deepen
their understanding of the topics before
the conference but also to contribute
meaningfully to debate and discussion
during the conference. As delegates
write their position papers prior to
the conference, they are expected to
coherently and succinctly articulate the
policy of their respective nations in
regards to the topic areas featured in
the background guide.
Position papers tend to commence
with a concisely written introduction
explaining the topic area. Delegates
can then proceed with a discussion of
how the topic pertains to their country,
and the policies that the nation has
adopted in the past in order to address
the topic. As delegates engage in this
discussion, they should draw attention
to how those policies ultimately proved
to be successful or unsuccessful in
resolving the central issue at hand.
After this, delegates can conclude with
an overall statement clearly identifying
the current stance of the nation on
the topic. Namely, in their position
papers, delegates are to clarify what
they believe the paramount solution
to the central issue would be, taking
into consideration the powers of and
constraints on the committee.
Position papers must discuss both
topic areas included in the background
guide. For each topic area, the text of
a position paper tends to be no more
than two double-spaced pages in length,
meaning that the entirety of the text
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Guide to Delegate Preparation and Parliamentary Rules of Procedure
is collectively no longer than four
double-spaced pages for both topic
areas. The expectations for position
papers may differ among committees as
expectations are subject to the discretion
of the Director. Delegates can refer to
the “Position Papers” section of the
background guide for further details
concerning how they are expected to
specifically structure and approach the
process of writing position papers for
their respective committees. Guidelines
for submission are emailed to Head
Delegates and Faculty Advisors in
January. Position papers are due on 25
January 2019.
FLOW OF COMMITTEE
This section serves as an overview
of the typical flow of a resolution
committee at HNMUN. As will
be explained in a later section, the
continual crisis committees of the
Specialized Agencies do not follow this
procedure. This section is only meant
to give you a broad picture of what to
expect as committee progresses; the
Rules of Procedure can provide the full
details as to how each step is executed.
Setting the Agenda
Most resolution committees at
HNMUN present delegates with two
topic areas to choose from. Once a
committee convenes, its first action
item must be to vote on which topic
area should be debated first. This is
called “Setting the Agenda.” After a
round of for and against speeches,
conducted through a Speaker’s List, the
committee enters voting procedure to
set the agenda. The topic area that the
committee votes on will then become
the committee’s primary agenda item
for that session of HNMUN. Delegates
can expect agenda-setting to comprise
a substantial portion of the first
committee session.
After debate is closed and voting
procedures on the first topic area
are concluded, debate on the second
Harvard National Model United Nations 2019
42
topic area will automatically begin.
At HNMUN, it is extremely rare for
committees to have the time to address
the second topic. Once the agenda
is set, delegates should not expect to
debate the second topic. If they wish,
delegates may raise the second topic as
a point for informal discussion during
the Sunday Colloquium.
For single topic committees, the
procedure of setting the agenda will be
at the discretion of the director. Some
debate may still occur on the order of
discussing subtopics within a single
topic area, or committee may simply
procede immediately to substantive
debate.
Debate
After the agenda has been
determined, the committee will
fluctuate between three forms of
debate: Speaker’s List, Moderated
Caucus, and Unmoderated Caucus.
The first two forms of debate are also
known as Formal Debate, while the
third is known as Informal Debate.
Speaker’s List
Once the agenda is set, the
moderator will request for volunteers
to be added to the Speaker’s List.
This is a list of delegations wishing
to speak broadly on the topic area at
hand, for a pre-determined amount of
time (typically one minute). Delegates
may also request to be added to the
Speaker’s List by passing a note to
the dais after the Speaker’s List has
been opened. The moderator will call
upon delegations upon the Speaker’s
List to speak in sequential order, until
a motion for another form of debate
is raised. The Speaker’s List is typically
only utilized during the first committee
session, unless there comes a time
when all motions on the floor fail to be
passed. In such cases, the committee
automatically reverts back to the
Speaker’s List.
Moderated Caucus
A majority of formal debate will be
held in the form of moderated caucuses.
Moderated caucuses are raised by a
motion, which must include the total
time for the caucus, the amount of time
alloted per speech, and the topic of the
moderated caucus. By raising a motion
for a moderated caucus, delegates have
the opportunity to set the topic of
discussion; as such, delegates typically
raise motions on topics closely related to
their country’s interest, topics that they
have researched extensively, or topics
that would smoothly supplement what
has been discussed in committee thus
far. At times, the Director may suggest
topics to be raised in a moderated
caucus, especially if major points within
the topic area at hand have not yet been
addressed by the committee.
During a moderated caucus, the
moderator will call upon a subgroup of
speakers at a time. This allows delegates
to respond quickly to previous speakers
in the moderated caucus if they wish.
Questions or comments are not
permitted following speeches in a
moderated caucus.
Unmoderated Caucus
Umoderated caucuses constitute
informal debate, in which all delegates
may collaborate and voice their
ideas unrestricted by parliamentary
procedure. Motions for unmoderated
caucuses may be made whenever the
floor is open, and should stipulate the
length of the caucus. Once the motion
is passed, delegates have permission to
move and speak freely in the committee
room.
Depending on the stage of debate,
the primary focus of an unmoderated
caucus can differ. During the first and
second sessions, delegates typically
use unmoderated caucuses to discuss
their preliminary ideas, find like-
minded delegations, and form “blocs”
of delegations looking to cooperate.
Later, unmoderated caucuses are
used as opportunities to collaborate
on documents, gain signatories, and

informally discuss substantive points in
debate. Unmoderated caucuses are also
an opportunity to take a short break
from committee activities.
Working Outside of
Committee
Working outside of the committee
room during committee session, as well
as outside of committee hours, has
become the norm at HNMUN and on
the collegiate Model UN circuit. First
and foremost, delegates should be
aware that this extracurriccular work
is by no means expected, or necessary
for success in a HNMUN committee.
However, given that a vast majority
of resolution committee delegates do
engage in this behavior, the HNMUN
team wishes to ensure that all delegates
attending the conference enter with
equal knowledge of such procedures.
In double-delegation committees,
a common practice is to have one
delegate engaging in debate inside the
committee room, while their partner
is working outside the committee
room. Directors will express when this
is permitted - typically during regular
formal debate (i.e. moderated caucuses).
HNMUN strictly enforces the rule
that one delegate per delegation must
be in the committee room at all times.
While a double-delegation partner is
outside the committee room, they may
be researching the topic area, drafting
a working paper or draft resolution,
or speaking with other delegates. This
is advantageous because the use of
elctronics is permitted outside of the
committee room.
At times, the demands of a
resolution committee lead delegates to
spend time outside of the committee
session working on committee-
related matters, namely drafting or
merging working papers and draft
resolutions. Any work done outside
of the committee session is entirely
unsupervised, and done at the will of
each delegate.
Guide to Delegate Preparation and Parliamentary Rules of Procedure
Generally, working outside of the
committee is done to optimize the
amount of time one can spend on
writing their documents. By maximizing
this time, delegates can turn in more
substantive and comprehensive
documents. To reiterate, this practice is
by no means expected of any delegate,
and will not give delegates any advantage
during the awards process. In fact, the
HNMUN team actively discourages
committee-related work when other
conference programming, such as our
social events, are made available to
conference participants.
Crisis in Resolution Committees
Crisis is used in resolution
committees to revitalize debate and
to explore various areas of a topic.
Crisis is usually introduced in the form
of crisis breaks, which may take the
form of announcements by expert
witnesses, a video, or a press release.
At the Director’s discretion, delegates
may respond to crisis by tabling debate
on the current topic area and passing
directives that address the crisis matter.
The Director may also choose to
have the committee debate the urgent
matter but not write directives. In this
case, delegates will incorporate their
response to crisis in working papers and
draft resolutions. Directors will typically
inform delegates as to whether they can
expect crisis to be incorporated into the
committee.
Delegates may also experience press
conferences, hosted by delegates in
the Press Corps, or non-governmental
organization (NGO) presentations,
hosted by delegates in the NGO
Program. While these events are not
officially crisis breaks, they do serve
as a break in parliamentary procedure,
and allow the committee to uniquely
address certain topics.
Flow of Debate Over Time
Each committee will move through
the stages of debate at varying paces.
Committee size, Director preferences,
and topic areas can all influence this
Harvard National Model United Nations 2019
pace. The Director and Moderator will
work to ensure that the pace is suitable
for optimizing the delegate experience,
while enabling the committee to
complete its duties by the end of the
conference.
The following provides a sample of
a typical resolution committee schedule
at HNMUN. Delegates should, by no
means, expect that their committees
will follow this schedule; it is purely
meant to give an idea of what one could
expect. The Director will often disclose
their envisioned schedule at the start of
each committee session, or if delegates
so request.
• Thursday Session: Preliminary
announcements, agenda-setting,
Speaker’s List debate, one
unmoderated caucus
• Friday Session I: Drafting
working papers, debating
substantive points regarding
the topic area
• Friday Session II: Introducing
working papers, refining
debate on action items for the
topic area, beginning to draft
resolutions
• Saturday Session I: Writing draft
resolutions, continuing debate
on the topic area
• Saturday Session II: Introducing
and debating draft resolutions,
amendment procedure
• Sunday Session: Voting on
draft resolutions, Sunday
Colloquium
Closure of Debate
Committee debate will conclude
with a motion to close debate. At this
time, the committee is left to vote for
the draft resolution that they would
like to adopt as the committee’s official
resolution.
Sunday Colloquium
HNMUN 2019 is continuing the
initiative, “Sunday Colloquium.” At each
director’s discretion, committees may
enter an informal discussion regarding
topics of the committee’s choosing.
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Guide to Delegate Preparation and Parliamentary Rules of Procedure
This is an opportunity for conference
participants to speak substantively and
in accordance with their own views,
rather than as a delegate representing
another country. Topics may include
personal views on the committee’s
progress or topic area, the topic area
not discussed by the committee, the
relevance of the committee to the
present day (for historical committees),
or how participants would like to tackle
the topic in their real lives. Whether
a committee will hold the Sunday
Colloquium is primarily dependent
upon whether it is able to complete
voting procedure before the end of
Sunday’s committee session.
The Substantive
Committee Staff
The staff of Harvard National
Model United Nations have distinct
roles and responsibilities at conference.
Delegates may find that the substantive
staff at HNMUN takes on a more
active role than what they have been
accustomed to at other Model United
Nations conferences. The primary job of
the staff is to work with the delegates in
achieving the goals of the committee in
particular and the conference as a whole.
The staff of each committee includes
a Director, a Moderator, and Assistant
Directors. Continual crisis committees
also have Crisis Directors, but do not
have Moderators. At HNMUN, the
Director is the substantive expert,
and the Moderator is the procedural
expert; together, they share the duties
of running the committee, rather
than being coordinated by only one
committee “chair.”
Directors
The committee Director is the
substantive expert of the committee.
At HNMUN, the Directors choose
their committees’ topic areas, prepare
the background guides, and do
extensive amounts of other pre-
conference substantive preparation.
The Director oversees submission of
all documents before being discussed.
Harvard National Model United Nations 2019
44
All draft resolutions and amendments dilatory. In some smaller committees,
in committee must be approved by the moderator may also field some of
the Director to be presented to the the substantive issues that Directors
committee as a whole. Before accepting typically handle. Under certain extreme
working papers and draft resolutions, the situations, the Moderator is allowed to
Director is allowed to suggest changes suspend certain rules of procedure to
if he or she feels that the “Questions a streamline debate. Any questions about
Resolution Must Answer” (QARMAs) procedural issues should be raised with
are not sufficiently addressed or if it is the Moderator.
similar in content to other submissions.
Assistant Directors
Please note that the Director may not
Before the conference, the
approve of all written submissions
Assistant Directors prepare the updates
and may suggest appropriate changes
to the committee background guide.
before accepting any draft documents.
During the simulation, their job is to
Another important role of the
aid the Director by answering delegates’
Director is to oversee debate. As the
questions, monitoring blocs during
substantive leader of the committee,
caucus, and by providing ‘sounding
the Director also has the discretion
to rule on all points and motions
boards’ for delegate ideas, solutions,
brought before the committee. The
and concerns. If the committee is
producing a large amount of paperwork
Director may periodically comment
at some point in the course of debate,
on the direction of debate and
Directors will rely on the Assistant
suggest alternative courses of action.
Directors to work directly with
Committees sometimes overlook
delegates on preparing and suggesting
important issues within a topic area, and
revisions to draft resolutions. The
Directors are encouraged to bring these
Assistant Directors also help keep track
to the attention of the delegates. As for
of the Speakers’ List, votes, and other
committees with crises, the direction
procedural matters. Delegates should
of crises is determined entirely by the
feel free to approach the Assistant
course of debate. Statements made by
Directors at any time with questions
Directors are not meant to steer debate
about the substance or procedure of
along a predetermined crisis plan,
the committee.
although Directors are encouraged to
guide delegates when debate appears Crisis Directors
to have strayed from the topic at hand. Crisis Directors oversee, as their
Any questions about substantive issues name suggests, the crisis aspect of
should be raised with the Director. a Specialized Agencies committee.
Members of the committee from
Moderators
day one, they have worked with the
The Moderator performs the
Director to choose the committee and
procedural role for which the
decide the subjects the committee will
traditional “chair” at other MUN
cover. At conference, Crisis Directors
conferences would be responsible.
coordinate with the Directors and
While the Director is the substantive
Assistant Directors to plan and carry
expert, the Moderator is the procedural
out crisis breaks and to respond to
expert who runs the committee when
delegate-written notes. Indeed, in
it is in formal session. The Moderator
most committees, Crisis Directors
has a full understanding of the Rules of
(and Assistant Directors) will be the
Procedure, and it is their responsibility
ones readings delegates notes while the
to facilitate the committee’s work by
Director of the committee will be in
ensuring that the sessions run smoothly.
the committee room overseeing debate.
However, the Director retains the
The crisis staff will be in a separate
ultimate power to rule any motions

room from the committee, but they will
be circulating through the committee
room throughout the conference and
are always available if delegates have
questions.
Awards
The ultimate goal of being a
delegate at HNMUN is to come away
with a better understanding of the
problems facing the world today and
how these problems can be solved.
Though awards are certainly not the
focus of the simulation, we do feel that
certain delegates deserve to be rewarded
for exceptional diplomatic work in
committee. Committee awards will be
given at HNMUN 2019 in recognition
of superior performances by country
delegations; should two delegates
jointly represent a specific country in
a given committee, the awards will be
given to both delegates, based on an
evaluation of their overall, combined
performance. Keep in mind that
awards are not given based on a point
system, or based on which delegates
write the resolution that gets the most
votes; rather, awards are decided by the
committee staff based on a holistic view
of delegates’ performance in all aspects
throughout the course of the weekend.
The following are some of the criteria
that are used in evaluating delegates:
• Attendance at all committee
sessions and adherence to the
official conference and hotel
policies;
• Quality of position papers;
• Active participation in the process
of working paper, resolution, and
amendment writing;
• Contribution of innovative and
pragmatic ideas to substantive
debate, both orally and in written
form;
• Exhibition of a desire to
compromise, while adhering
to their country’s policies and
interests;
Guide to Delegate Preparation and Parliamentary Rules of Procedure
• Demonstration of co-operation
with other delegates in the
process of working paper, draft
resolution and amendment
writing, merging, and substantive
debate;
• Ability to work with and get along
with other delegates;
• Exhibition of an in-depth
understanding and research of
the intricacies of the topic area.
• Skill and effectiveness in
caucusing, amendment and
resolution writing, and debate.
• For double delegations:
Demonstrated teamwork and
cooperation, with the delegation’s
efforts distributed equally
between delegation members
This year, the “Verbal
Commendation” will be replaced by
a “Diplomatic Commendation” award,
to emphasize our wish to recognize
delegates that embody the diplomatic
spirit of the United Nations.
Awards will also be given to the
schools whose delegates best exemplify
the above qualities. In determining
these delegation awards, we will take
into account both the sheer number of
individual awards won by a delegation
as well as the ratio of awards won to the
size of the delegation.
GUIDE TO THE
SPECIALIZED AGENCIES
(SA)
The Specialized Agencies (SA) at
HNMUN is home to the United Nations
Security Council (UNSC) and continual
crisis committees. With a wide range
of temporal and regional committees
to choose from, it hosts some of the
most diverse and creative committees
on the college circuit. The structure and
conduct of continual crisis committees
are different from the more traditional
MUN committees. Delegates are able
to formulate crisis plans and interact
with our staff through crisis notes to
see their plans to fruition.
Harvard National Model United Nations 2019
Rules of Procedure
The United Nations Security
Council follows the rules of procedure
used in the GA or ECOSOC. Rules
of procedure for crisis committees are
more informal due to the small size and
fast-paced nature of committees. They
are subject to change at the discretion
of the dais; however, most committees
will rely heavily on moderated caucuses
for general debate and crisis updates.
A Speaker’s List may or may not be
created in committee.
Unlike other committees, crisis
committees frequently allow more
motions for un-moderated caucus.
Delegates are encouraged to raise a
motion for an un-moderated caucus to
work on directives, or react to a crisis
situation in which informal dialogue is
more favourable. Delegates normally
do not need to provide a reason for a
motion for an un-moderated caucus;
however, the dais may ask for one to
limit unnecessary breaks during debate.
Delegates in the Security Council
are highly encouraged to read
the HNMUN Guide to Delegate
Preparation and Rules of Parliamentary
Procedure as they apply to resolution
committees. Delegates in continual
crisis committees are also encourage to
read the full guide, but also should be
aware that some of the procedures are
subject to change at the discretion of
the dais.
Crisis Breaks
The fundamental difference
between committees in the Specialized
Agencies and other committees is the
incorporation of continual crisis. Crisis
Updates are planned by the dais and
crisis staff to highlight different issues
that the committee faces and provide
an opportunity for delegates to react
to unexpected situations. There are two
types of crises: timed crisis and untimed
crisis. In a timed crisis, delegates are
given a deadline by which they must
debate, introduce and pass a directive
to stop the crisis from escalating. An
untimed crisis does not have deadlines,
45
Guide to Delegate Preparation and Parliamentary Rules of Procedure

but has the potential to escalate over the • Notes are to individuals or delegates with a crisis plan can begin
course of the session at the discretion organizations that have a writing crisis notes immediately to
of the staff. realistic relationship with realize their goal. As committee debate
The best way to prepare for crisis the delegate’s character. For shifts in favor and/or against the
is to anticipate the types of crisis example, a leader in the Free delegate, they can adjust their crisis plan
that could occur in the committee. Syrian Army would not be accordingly.
By reading the background guide able to buy weapons from the
Directives
thoroughly, delegates can get a sense Russians or have an audience
Rather than draft working
of the issues that the committee will with the Russian President. If
papers and resolutions, delegates
address and prepare for events that the delegate wants to establish
in continual crisis committees write
would highlight these issues. Although ties with members outside of the
and pass directives. One can think of
one of the tests of crisis is the ability character’s circle, the delegates
directives as a single operative clause
to think on one’s feet, having a strong must first take the necessary steps
in a resolution; however, directives
sense of the presented issue will help through crisis notes to do so. In
are not suggestions but commands
one formulate quick responses when the case of non-obvious relations,
enacted through the jurisdiction of the
the crisis is introduced. In addition, delegates are encouraged to
committee. They may be press releases,
crisis updates can also be influenced describe the nature of their
military commands, amendments for
by or be the result of individual’s crisis relationship with the outside force
a Constitution, etc., depending on the
arc. Therefore, it is also encouraged to they wish to interact with.
type of committee. Directives must
put oneself in other delegate’s shoes • Notes should also be
pertain to a specific topic or crisis
to foresee and counteract potential addressed to individuals or
discussed in the committee and must
collusion by other delegates. organizations who are not
be written in the form of an imperative.
represented in committee. If
Good directives are concise and lay
the delegate wishes to interact
Crisis Notes out exactly what steps will be taken
with another delegate present in
In SA committees, delegates have to address an issue. Directives are
the committee, they can pass a
the opportunity to interact with the crisis introduced as the committee progresses
note via the note passers.
staff through notes to further their goals to give our crisis staff the opportunity
• Notes must be in the form of
in the committee. These notes are in the to formulate new updates in response
an imperative, and should state
form of concise commands written to to the directives. Due to the small size
the reason why the delegate
certain individuals or organizations that of a crisis committee, delegates will
wishes to pursue the action.
one’s character may have relations with. have much more speaking time than
The delegate needs to provide
Crisis notes have the ability to help or at a GA or an ECOSOC committee;
details or reasons for the action
sabotage other delegates, increase one’s therefore, delegates are able to discuss
to make sure the crisis staff
standing in committee, and/or shift the issues in a more specific and exhaustive
can react accordingly. The note
trajectory of the committee. Our crisis manner. As such, the directives should
should should be specific and
staff will come by regularly to collect reflect a similar level of specificity, and
concise.
notes and respond to each of them in a be comprehensive within those bounds.
Crisis notes are an important
timely fashion. The small size of the committees
tool to further a delegate’s goal in
also provides the opportunity to
committee. They provide the means to
When writing crisis notes, delegates introduce and debate on multiple
creatively conduct behind-the-scenes
should keep the following points in directives in an hour. Normally,
planning and supplement the delegate’s
mind: committees spend approximately 10-
work during debate. Well-formulated
15 minutes on a directive. Therefore,
crisis notes can also shift the trajectory
delegates are encouraged to write
of the committee as a whole and
directives while debate is in session to
shift debate in the delegate’s favor.
expedite the process.
Therefore, delegates should come into
Introducing Directives: Delegate are
the committee with goals they want
encouraged to write collaboratively
to achieve through crisis already in
with other delegates; however, only
mind. This does not mean delegates
one delegate, the main submitter, may
should come in with pre-written crisis
submit and introduce the delegate. To
notes. HNMUN policy does not allow
introduce a directive, the directive must
prewritten work in conference. Rather,
Harvard National Model United Nations 2019
46

have a number of signatories as decided
by the dais. The signatories do not need
to be supporters of the directive; rather,
being a signatory merely signifies
one’s belief that the directive should
be debated. Each directive must be
introduced by the main submitter when
the floor is open. Once the directive
is introduce, there are multiple ways
in which the committee can move
forward. Depending on the discretion
of the dais, delegates may motion for
a moderated caucus for open debate or
for-and-against debate. The dais may
also decide upon a fixed procedure for
debating directives.
Amendments: The amendment
process in the SA follows normal rules
of procedure. Although HNMUN does
not allow friendly amendments, except
grammatical and typological errors,
the dais may make exceptions to this
rule depending on the nature of the
amendment. In some cases, the dais
may also accept an amendment without
a vote if the main submitter agrees to
the amendments. These exceptions are
decided at the discretion of the chair.
Voting: While most committees
in the SA will vote by simple majority,
there may be exceptions depending
on the nature of the committee. For
example, simulations of national
parliaments may follow the percentage
set by the parliament in question. If
there is an exception, the dais will
announce it at the beginning of the
committee. Normal rules of procedure
apply for voting.
Committees set in a different time
period
All of the continual crisis
committees are set at the time period
given in the background guide.
Delegates will not be allowed to use or
to reference any events that happened
or information that was gathered after
the date in which the committee is set.
Anachronistic references will destroy
the historical accuracy of the simulation
and detract from the enjoyment and
overall experience of all delegates.
Guide to Delegate Preparation and Parliamentary Rules of Procedure
RULES OF
PARLIAMENTARY
PROCEDURE
Introduction
HNMUN strives to simulate the
actual procedural process of the United
Nations and has thus adopted a series
of rules with which to conduct debate.
The Rules of Parliamentary Procedure
that we use at HNMUN are a synthesis
of parliamentary rules from a variety
of sources. Do not be discouraged by
their length or complexity. Learning the
rules is like mastering a new language –
at first it is a bit confusing, but after a
little practice you learn how to function
in the new environment.
The rules found in the Conference
Handbook supersede all previous
versions, including those provided to
you in this Guide and online before
conference. In studying the rules, your
goal should be to know the rules so well
that you can focus on substantive issues
and not be distracted or confused by the
procedural aspects of the committee
sessions. Often, parliamentary
procedure can be employed as a
means of diplomatic maneuvering.
After you become sufficiently adept at
parliamentary procedure, you can use
the rules to your advantage.
Some aspects of parliamentary
procedure are often misunderstood.
They include:
Precedence: Precedence is the
hierarchy established between different
motions. Thus, after a Moderator
recognizes a motion from the floor, he
or she may ask if there are any other
motions on the floor. If, for example,
another delegate makes a different
motion, the Moderator will act on the
motion of higher precedence first.
Quorum: A quorum is the minimum
number of delegates who must be
present for the committee to conduct
business. Unless challenged and shown
to be absent, a director may permit
Harvard National Model United Nations 2019
debate when he or she feels that at least
one-quarter of the members are present.
To conduct substantive votes, such as
those on resolutions or amendments,
a majority of the members must be
present.
Points: There are three types of
points at HNMUN. A delegate may
rise to a Point of Personal Privilege.
Although they are in order at any time
(a delegate may rise to this point even
during a speech), delegates should use
caution when employing this point; it
should only be used when a delegate
experiences extreme discomfort which
may prevent him or her from engaging
in worthwhile debate (for example, if
the delegate can not hear the speech
being given). A delegate may also
rise to a Point of Order. Used to call
attention to an instance of improper
parliamentary procedure, this point is
in order only when the floor is open,
unless it interrupts a speech that is itself
out of order. Finally, a delegate may rise
to a Point of Parliamentary Inquiry. This
point is used when a delegate is unclear
about a specific aspect of parliamentary
procedure and is usually phrased as a
question. It is not, however, used to
obtain substantive information about a
topic and may only be raised when the
floor is open.
Procedural versus Substantive Motions:
A motion is procedural when it
concerns the application of these
Rules of Parliamentary Procedure. No
abstentions are allowed when voting
on such motions; all members of
the committee must vote, including
accredited observers and non-member
states. A motion is substantive if it
concerns the passage of the content
of a draft resolution or amendment.
Abstentions are allowed and only
members with voting power are allowed
to vote.
The Rules of Parliamentary
Procedure are divided into several
sections, described below:
47
Guide to Delegate Preparation and Parliamentary Rules of Procedure
• “General Rules” includes rules
that govern who is entitled to
participate in committees, how
delegates will interact with the
staff of the conference, and
under what circumstances
and in what ways committee
sessions may be held.
• “Rules Governing Debate”
includes rules that establish
how formal debate runs, how
the agenda is set, how debate is
closed, and how caucuses work.
• “Rules Governing Speeches”
includes rules on the speakers’
list, speeches, yields, comments,
and rights of reply.
• “Rules Governing Points”
describes the points that can
be made during committee
session.
• “Rules Governing the Path to
a Resolution” includes rules
on working papers, resolutions,
and amendments.
• “Rules Governing Voting”
describes how procedural votes
will be taken and how voting
procedure will be conducted.
If you are still unclear about the
Rules of Procedure, the committee staff
will be able to explain any ambiguities
or answer any questions.
General Rules
RULE #1 - Scope: These rules
for the General Assembly, the
Economic and Social Council, the
Regional Bodies, and the Security
Council simulations are self-
sufficient, except for modifications
provided by the Secretariat, and
will be considered adopted in
advance of session. No other
rules of procedure are applicable.
If the Director provides alternate
rules based on the nature of the
committee, those rules will always
take precedence over these in the
event of a conflict.
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48
RULE #2 - Language: English
will be the official and working
language of the conference.
The only exception to this rule
are explicitly designated special
language committees. The
Director’s decision on this matter
will not be subject to appeal.
RULE #3 - Delegations: Each
member state in committee will
be represented by one or two
delegates and will have only one
vote in all matters. Observer states
are considered non-members (see
Rule #5).
RULE #4 - Credentials: The
credentials of all delegations have
been accepted upon registration.
A credential is defined as the
permission granted to a delegate
or delegates to represent a
particular country in a particular
committee. Actions relating to the
modification of rights, privileges,
or credentials of any member
may not be initiated without the
consent of the Secretary-General.
RULE #5 - Participation of Non-
Members: Representatives of
Approved Observers and of
Non-Member States will have
the same rights as those of full
members, except that they may
not vote on any substantive
issues. Representatives of Non-
Governmental Organizations
and the Press Corps will also
have the same rights as those of
full members, except that they
may not vote on any issues, both
procedural and substantive.
RULE #6 - Statements by the
Secretariat: The Secretary-General
or a member of the Secretariat may
at any time make either written or
oral statements to the committee.
RULE #7 - Powers of the
Committee Staff: The Moderator
of the committee will declare
the opening and closing of
each committee session. The
Moderator will accord the right
to speak, announce decisions, rule
on procedural points, and ensure
and enforce the observance
of these rules. The Moderator
may temporarily transfer their
duties to another member of the
committee staff. If the committee
does not have an appointed
Moderator, the Director will
assume the responsibilities of
the Moderator. Committee
staff members may also advise
delegates on the possible course
of debate. The Director may
interrupt committee proceedings
to allow for a presentation, guest
speaker, expert witness, or crisis
break. Additionally, the Director or
Moderator may allow an NGO or
PC delegate to speak upon being
introducted to the committee.
Ruling on all motions is subject to
the discretion of the committee
staff. In the exercise of these
functions, the committee staff will
be at all times subject to these rules
and responsible to the Secretary-
General.

RULE #8 - Appeal: Any decision
of the Moderator or Director,
with the exception of those
matters that are explicitly stated
to be unappealable, may be
appealed by a delegate. Appeals
only refer to procedural motions,
not substantive decisions. A
motion to appeal must be made
immediately after the decision
of the committee staff is made.
The delegate will be recognized
for thirty seconds to explain
their motion and there will be no
further debate on this matter. The
Moderator or Director may speak
briefly in defense of the ruling.
The appeal will then be put to a
vote, and the decision of the dais
will stand unless overruled by two-
thirds of the total membership. A
“No” vote on the appeal indicates
support of the dais’ ruling; a “Yes”
vote indicates opposition to that
ruling. The following rules may
never be appealed by a delegate:
a. Director’s approval of a draft
resolution or amendment (Rule
#30 and #32).
b. Moderator’s decision to rule
a moderated or unmoderated
caucus out of order or dilatory
(Rule #14 and #15).
c. Moderator’s decision to end an
unmoderated caucus early (Rule
#14).
d. Moderator’s decision to rule
a motion for suspension or
adjournment out of order (Rule
#17).
e. Dais’s decision to refuse a right of
reply (Rule #24).
f. Moderator’s decision to refuse
Clarificatory Points on a draft
resolution (Rule #31).
g. Moderator’s decision to rule a
motion for a roll call vote out of
order or dilatory (Rule #37).
Guide to Delegate Preparation and Parliamentary Rules of Procedure
RULE #9 - Quorum: The Moderator • Once the committee has been
may declare a committee open and called to order, a motion to set
permit debate to proceed when at the agenda should be raised. The
least one-quarter of the members delegate who raises this motion
of the committee are present. A must propose one topic agenda to
member of the committee is a be considered first on the agenda.
representative who is officially
• The only topic areas that may be
registered with the United Nations
proposed for the agenda are those
in that committee or with the
listed in the preparation materials.
given body. The presence of a
The Director may modify these
majority of the voting members
topic areas at their discretion. If a
will be required for any substantive
committee only has one topic area,
vote. A quorum will be assumed
the agenda is automatically set to
to be present unless specifically
this topic area.
challenged and shown to be
absent. A roll call is never required • A “for-against” Speakers’ List with
to determine the presence of a no comments will be established
quorum. to debate the motion. Speakers
“for” will speak in support of the
RULE #10 - Courtesy: Delegates
topic area suggested; speakers
will show courtesy and respect to
“against” will speak in favor of
the committee staff and to other
the other topic area. During this
delegates. No talking is allowed
time, no motions for moderated
in the committee room, except
or unmoderated caucuses will be
during an unmoderated caucus or
in order. Speakers will alternate
when recognized by the dais staff.
between “for” and “against”
The Moderator will immediately
speeches.
call to order any delegate who fails
to comply with this rule. • A motion to close debate on
setting the agenda will be in order
RULE #11 - Electronics: No
after the committee has heard
use of electronic devices by
at least two speakers for the
delegates is allowed in the
motion and at least two against
committee room during formal
the motion. In accordance with
debate or moderated caucusing.
the procedure described in Rule
These devices include, but are
#16, the Moderator will recognize
not limited to: laptops, tablets,
two speakers against the motion
smartphones, and electronic
to close debate. A two-thirds
dictionaries. Electronics may be
majority vote is required for
used outside the committee room,
closure of debate on the agenda.
while caucusing. Only laptops may
If the Speakers’ List on setting the
be used in the committee room
agenda is exhausted, debate will
during unmoderated caucusing.
automatically be closed even if a
motion to close debate would not
Rules Governing normally be in order. However,
Debate the Moderator may recognize
additional speakers for the
RULE #12 - Agenda: The first order
of business for the committee will Speakers’ List at their discretion.
be the consideration of the agenda.
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49
Guide to Delegate Preparation and Parliamentary Rules of Procedure
• When debate is closed, the
committee will move to an
immediate vote on the motion to
set the agenda. A simple majority
is required for passage. If the
motion fails, the other topic area
will automatically be placed first
on the agenda.
• After debate is closed and voting
procedures on the first topic
area are concluded, debate will
automatically begin on the
second topic area; at the director’s
discretion, no motion is necessary.
• The Secretary-General or a
representative may call upon a
committee to table debate on the
current topic area so that a more
urgent matter may be attended to
immediately. A delegate may then
motion to table debate for a more
urgent matter. After a resolution
has been passed on the new topic,
the committee will return to
debate on the tabled topic.
If all resolutions on the new topic
fail, the committee may return
to debate on the tabled topic
area only at the discretion of the
committee Director.
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50
RULE #13 - Debate: After the
agenda has been determined, one
continuously open Speakers’ List
will be established for the purpose
of general debate. This Speakers’
List will be followed for all debate
on the topic area, except when
interrupted by procedural motions,
introduction of a draft resolutions,
and discussion of amendments.
Speakers may speak generally on
the topic area being considered
and may address any working
paper or draft resolution currently
on the floor. Delegates may not
refer to any working paper, draft
resolution, or amendment that has
not yet been introduced to the
committee. An open floor denotes
that the committee is in formal
debate.
RULE #14 - Unmoderated Caucus:
A motion for an unmoderated
caucus is in order at any time
when the floor is open, prior to
closure of debate. Unmoderated
caucuses are not allowed during
setting the agenda. The delegate
making the motion must specify
a time limit for the caucus, but is
not required to specify a purpose
for the caucus. A majority vote of
members is required for passage.
The Moderator may rule the
motion dilatory and may end the
unmoderated caucus early, and
these decisions are not subject to
appeal.
RULE #15 - Moderated Caucus:
The purpose of the moderated
caucus is to facilitate substantive
debate at critical junctures in the
discussion. Moderated caucuses
are not allowed during setting the
agenda. In a moderated caucus,
the Moderator will temporarily
depart from the Speakers’ List
and call on delegates to speak at
their discretion. A motion for a
moderated caucus is in order at
any time when the floor is open,
prior to closure of debate. The
delegate making the motion
must briefly explain its purpose
and specify a time limit for the
caucus as well as the time limit
per speech. A majority vote of
members is required for passage.
After a motion has passed, no
new motion may be proposed
during the moderated caucus.
If no delegate wishes to speak
during a moderated caucus, the
caucus shall immediately end. The
Moderator may end a moderated
caucus early at their discretion.
The Moderator may also rule
the motion dilatory, and this
decision is not subject to appeal.

RULE #16 - Closure of Debate:
When the floor is open, a delegate
may move to close debate on the
substantive or procedural matter
under discussion. Delegates may
move to close debate on the
general topic, debate on the agenda,
or debate on an amendment. The
Moderator may rule such a motion
dilatory. When closure of debate
is moved, the Moderator may
recognize two speakers against the
motion. No speaker in favor of the
motion will be recognized. Closure
of debate requires the support
of two-thirds of the committee.
If the committee is in favor of
closure of debate, the Moderator
will declare the closure of the
debate and move the committee
to immediate voting procedure. If
a given Speakers’ List is exhausted,
debate will automatically be closed.
RULE #17 - Suspension or
Adjournment of the Meeting:
Whenever the floor is open, a
delegate may move for the
suspension of the meeting
(suspending all committee
functions until the next meeting),
or for the adjournment of
the meeting (suspending all
committee functions for the
duration of the conference). The
Moderator may rule such motions
out of order; these decisions will
not be subject to appeal. When
in order, these motions are not
debatable, but will be immediately
put to a vote barring any motions
taking precedence. These motions
require a majority to pass. A
motion to adjourn will be out of
order prior to the lapse of three-
quarters of the time allotted for
the last meeting of the committee.
RULE #18 - Postponement and
Resumption of Debate (Tabling):
Whenever the floor is open, a
delegate may move for the
postponement of debate on a
Guide to Delegate Preparation and Parliamentary Rules of Procedure
draft resolution or amendment
currently on the floor. The motion,
otherwise known as “tabling,” will
be debatable to the extent of two
speakers for and two speakers
against the motion. A two-thirds
majority will be required for this
motion to pass. No debate or
action, including voting, will be
allowed on any draft resolution
or amendment on which debate
has been postponed. A motion
to resume debate on a draft
resolution or amendment on
which debate has been postponed
will be debatable to the extent
of two speakers for and two
speakers against the motion. A
simple majority will be required
for a motion for resumption of
debate to pass. Resumption of
debate will cancel the effects of
postponement of debate.
Rules Governing Speeches
RULE #19 - Speakers’ Lists: The
Committee will have an open
Speakers’ List for the topic area
being discussed (see Rule #13).
The default speaking time for
the Speakers’ List is one minute,
although the Moderator may
change this at his/her discretion.
Delegates may motion to change
the speaking time, and these
motions will be voted on in the
order in which they are introduced.
Separate Speakers’ Lists will
be established as needed for
procedural motions and debate
on amendments. A country may
add its name to a Speakers’ List by
submitting a request in writing to
the dais, provided that the nation
is not already on the Speakers’ List,
and may remove its name from
the Speakers’ List by submitting a
request in writing to the dais. At
any time, a Moderator may call for
members that wish to be added to
the Speakers’ List. A Speakers’ List
for the second topic area will
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not be opened until the committee
has proceeded to that topic. A
motion to close any Speakers’ List
is never in order. If the Speakers’
List is exhausted and there are no
more points or motions, debate is
automatically closed.
RULE #20 - Speeches: No delegate
may address a session without
having previously obtained the
permission of the Moderator. The
dais may call a speaker to order if
their remarks are not relevant to
the subject under discussion or are
offensive to committee members
or staff. When a delegate exceeds
the allotted time decided for
speeches as described in Rules 15
and 19, the Moderator may call the
speaker to order.
RULE #21 - Absence: Delegates
who are absent from committee
when recognized by the dais
forfeit their time. The Moderator
shall continue with debate.
RULE #22 - Yields: After being
recognized from the Speakers’
List, a delegate may yield any or all
of their time in one of three ways:
to another delegate, to questions,
or to the dais. Please note that only
one yield is allowed per speech. A
delegate must declare any yield at
the conclusion of their speech.
• Yield to another delegate: The
speaker’s remaining time will
be offered to antoher delegate
chosen by the delegate themselves.
If the delegate accepts the yield,
the Moderator shall recognize the
delegate for the remaining time.
The delegate may not make any
further yields. To turn the floor
over to a co-delegate of the same
member state is not considered a
yield.
• Yield to questions: Questioners
will be selected by the Moderator
and limited to one question each,
which will be limited to thirty
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Guide to Delegate Preparation and Parliamentary Rules of Procedure
seconds. Follow-up questions will
not be allowed. The Moderator
will have the right to call to order
any delegate whose question is,
in the opinion of the Moderator,
rhetorical, leading, 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 dais: Such a yield
should be made if the delegate
does not wish their speech to be
subject to comments (Rule 23).
The Moderator will then move to
the next speaker.
RULE #23 - Comments: If a
speech from a Speakers’ List
ends before time has elapsed with
no yields, the Moderator may
recognize delegates, other than
the initial speaker, to comment
for thirty seconds each on the
specific content of the speech
just delivered. The Moderator may
rule a comment out of order if it
is irrelevant or does not pertain
directly to the preceding speech.
Commenters may not yield. No
comments will be in order during
debate on procedural motions,
amendment discussion, or in
moderated caucuses. A maximum
of two comments will be taken on
any speech.
RULE #24 - Right of Reply: A
delegate whose personal or
national integrity has been
impugned by another delegate
may submit a written request for
a Right of Reply to the Director
or Moderator. The Director or
Moderator’s decision whether
to grant the Right of Reply is
unappealable. A delegate granted
a Right of Reply will address the
committee at the request of the
Moderator for thirty seconds.
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Rules Governing Points
RULE #25 - Points of Personal
Privilege: Whenever a delegate
experiences personal discomfort
which impairs their ability to
participate in the proceedings, their
may rise to a Point of Personal
Privilege. A Point of Personal
Privilege may interrupt a speaker
only if the speaker is inaudible and
delegates should use this power
with the utmost caution.
RULE #26 - Points 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. The Point of Order
will be immediately decided by
the Moderator in accordance with
these Rules of Procedure. The
Moderator may rule out of order
those points which are improper.
A representative rising to a Point
of Order may not speak on the
substance of the matter under
discussion. A Point of Order may
not interrupt a speaker.
RULE #27 - Points of Parliamentary
Inquiry: When the floor is open,
a delegate may rise to a Point of
Parliamentary Inquiry to ask the
Moderator a question regarding
the Rules of Procedure. A Point of
Parliamentary Inquiry may never
interrupt a speaker. Delegates
with substantive questions should
not rise to this point, but should
rather approach the committee
staff during caucus or send a note
to the dais.
Rules Governing the
Path to a Resolution
RULE #28 - Working Papers:
Delegates may propose
working papers for committee’s
consideration. Working papers
aid discussion of draft resolutions
through formalizing (in written
form) ideas expressed in the
committee. They need not be in
draft resolution format. Working
papers require the approval of
the Director to be copied and
distributed. Once distributed,
delegates may begin to refer to that
working paper by its designated
number, but otherwise, debate
proceeds normally on the topic.
There is no formal introduction
of working papers; they are
considered introduced as soon as
they are distributed. There are no
votes for the approval of working
papers.
RULE #29 - Signatories for Draft
Resolutions: A motion to introduce
a draft resolution (see Rule 30)
will be in order when it receives
the approval of the Director and
is signed by 25 members in the
General Assembly, 15 members
in the Economic and Social
Council and the Regional Bodies
committees with greater than 40
member states, 8 members in the
Economic and Social Council and
the Regional Bodies committees
with less than or equal to 40
member states, or 4 members in
Security Council simulations.
The final number of signatories
required for each committee will
be announced by the moderator,
as it is contingent on the eventual
size of the committee. Signing a
draft resolution need not indicate
support of the draft resolution.
Signing a draft resolution only
indicates a desire for the draft
resolution to be discussed in
committee. The signatory has no
further obligations. A delegate
may be a signatory on more than
one resolution. There are no
official sponsors or authors of
draft resolutions.

RULE #30 - Introduction of
Draft Resolutions: Once a draft
resolution has the requisite
number
of signatories, has been approved
by the Director, and has been
distributed, a delegate may move
to introduce the draft resolution.
A procedural vote is then taken to
determine whether the resolution
shall be introduced. Should
the motion receive the simple
majority required to pass, the draft
resolution shall be considered
introduced and on the floor. More
than one draft resolution may be
on the floor at any one time, but
at most one draft resolution may
be passed per topic area. A draft
resolution will remain on the floor
until debate on that specific draft
resolution is postponed or a draft
resolution on that topic area has
been passed. Once debate on the
draft resolutions begins, delegates
may then begin to refer to that
draft resolution by its designated
number. No delegate may refer
to a draft resolution until it is
formally introduced.
RULE #31 - Clarificatory Points on
Resolutions: At the Moderator’s
discretion, he or she may recognize
a delegate or group of delegates
rising to answer clarificatory
points on an introduced draft
resolution, or the Moderator
may answer these points him or
herself. These points are non-
substantive and typically refer to
typographical errors or mistakes
in the punctuation and spelling
of the document in question.
The Moderator’s decision on this
matter is not subject to appeal.
Any substantive points will be
ruled out of order during this
period, and the Moderator may
end this “clarificatory question-
answer period” for any reason,
including time constraints.
Guide to Delegate Preparation and Parliamentary Rules of Procedure
RULE #32 - Amendments: • A motion to introduce an approved
Delegates may amend any draft amendment may be made when
resolution which has been the floor is open. Amendments
introduced. Only one amendment do not need to be introduced
may be in the order in which they are
received. If the motion receives
introduced at any given time.
the simple majority required to
The motion to introduce an
pass, the Moderator will read the
amendment is considered a
amendment aloud, time permitting.
procedural motion, and the final
General debate on the topic area
vote on the amendment is a
will be suspended, and a Speakers’
substantive vote. An amendment
List will be established for and
must have the approval of the
against the amendment.
Director and be signed by 12
members in the General Assembly, • A motion to close debate will be
10 members in the Economic and in order after the committee has
Social Council and the Regional heard at least two speakers for
Bodies committees with greater the amendment and at least two
than 40 member states, 6 members against or if the Speakers’ List
in the Economic and Social has been exhausted. Otherwise,
Council and the Regional Bodies following the normal procedure
committees with less than or equal of Rule 15, the Moderator will
to 40 member states, or 3 members recognize at most two speakers
in Security Council simulations. against the motion to close debate
The final numbers for required on the amendment. A vote of
signatures will be announced two-thirds is required for closure.
by the Moderator, as they are
• When debate is closed on the
contingent on the eventual size
amendment, the committee will
of the committee. Amendments
move to an immediate substantive
are numbered in the order in
vote on whether or not to adopt the
which they are introduced. Since
amendment. If this vote receives
there are no friendly amendments,
the simple majority required, the
all amendments must be voted
amendment will be considered
on by the majority of the voting
part of the draft resolution. After
members of the committee to be
the vote, debate will resume.
included in the draft resolution.
Amendments to amendments
are out of order; however, an
amended part of a resolution may
be further amended at a later time.
Like draft resolutions, there are no
official sponsors of amendments.
Preambulatory clauses may not be
amended.
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Guide to Delegate Preparation and Parliamentary Rules of Procedure
Rules Governing Voting
RULE #33 - Procedural Voting: All
voting is considered procedural
with the exception of voting on
draft resolutions and amendments.
All Delegates must vote on all
procedural motions, and no
abstentions are allowed. A motion
that requires a simple majority
needs more affirmative than
negative votes to pass. A motion
that requires two-thirds to pass
requires exactly or more than
two-thirds of the votes to be
affirmative. In Security Council
simulations, a procedural motion
requires nine votes to pass. If
there is an insufficient number of
speakers for/against a motion, the
motion will automatically fail/pass.
RULE #34 - Substantive Voting:
The only substantive voting is
voting on passing draft resolutions
and amendments. All other votes
will be procedural votes. After
debate has been closed on the
general topic area, the committee
will
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move into final voting procedures
and the chambers are then
sealed. At that point, only the
following points and motions
will be entertained: Division of
the Question, Reordering Draft
Resolutions, Motion for a Roll Call
Vote, Point of Personal Privilege,
Point of Parliamentary Inquiry,
and Point of Order. If there are
no such motions, the committee
will vote on all draft resolutions.
For substantive voting, each
country will have one vote. Each
vote may be a “Yes,” “No,” or
“Abstain.” Members who abstain
from voting are considered as
not voting. All matters will be
voted upon using placards by
default, except if a motion for a
roll call vote is accepted. A simple
majority requires “Yes” votes
from more than half the members
voting, as in more affirmative
votes than negative votes. Once
a resolution has been passed, the
voting procedure is closed, as only
one resolution may be passed on
a topic area. In Security Council
simulations, a substantive vote
requires nine votes to pass, and the
five permanent members of the
United Nations have the power to
veto any substantive vote.
RULE #35 - Reordering Draft
Resolutions: After debate is closed,
a motion to change the order
of voting on draft resolutions
currently on the floor will be in
order. If both a motion to reorder
and motion to divide the question
are raised, the Moderator will first
take a vote on a general motion
to reorder draft resolutions. If it
passes, the Moderator will take
motions for different permutations
on reordering the draft resolutions.
If it fails, the Moderator will take
a vote on whether to divide the
question. If the motion to divide
the question passes, but the final
document of the divided
resolution fails, the Moderator will
again accept a motion to reorder
draft resolutions. The delegate
raising this motion will indicate
the desired ordering of draft
resolutions. The default order
will be the order in which the
draft resolutions were introduced.
There will be no debate on this
motion, and it will require a simple
majority to pass. Only one such
motion can pass in each round of
voting procedures. The reordering
proposals will be voted on in the
order that they were received;
there is no precedence of one over
the other. Hence, the Moderator
will first take all proposals for
reordering, and then proceed to
call for votes on each one, until
one of them passes
RULE #36 - Division of the
Question: After debate on any
topic has been closed, a delegate
may move that the operative parts
of a draft resolution be voted on
separately. Preambulatory clauses
and sub-operative clauses may
not be removed by division of the
question.
• The motion can be debated to the
extent of at most two speakers for
and two against, to be followed by
an immediate procedural vote on
that motion.
• If the motion receives the simple
majority required to pass, the
Moderator will take motions on
how to divide the question and
prioritize them from most severe
to least severe.
• The committee will then vote on
the motions in the order set by the
Moderator.
• Once a division, requiring a
simple majority, has been passed,
the resolution will be divided
accordingly, and a separate

substantive vote will be taken on
each divided part to determine
whether or not it is included in the
final draft. If all of the operative
parts of the substantive proposal
are rejected, the draft resolution
will be considered to have been
rejected as a whole.
• Parts of the draft resolution that
are subsequently passed will be
recombined into a final document.
The final document will be
immediately put to a substantive
vote as a whole, requiring a simple
majority of those voting “yes” to
pass.
RULE #37 - Roll Call Voting: After
debate is closed on any topic area,
any delegate may request a roll
call vote on any draft resolution
being considered. Such a motion
may be made from the floor and
agreed on by a simple majority of
the committee. A motion for a roll
call vote is in order only for the
final substantive vote on a draft
resolution.
• In a roll call vote, the Moderator
will call countries in alphabetical
order starting with a selected
member.
• In the first sequence, delegates may
vote “Yes,” “No,” “Abstain,” or
“Pass.” A delegate may request the
right to explain his/her vote only
when the delegate is voting against
the policy of his/her country;
such a vote is termed “with Rights.”
The delegate may only explain an
affirmative or negative vote, not
an abstention from voting.
• A delegate who passes during the
first sequence of the roll call must
vote either “Yes” or “No” during
the second sequence. The same
delegate may not request the right
to explain his/her vote.
Guide to Delegate Preparation and Parliamentary Rules of Procedure
• All delegates who had requested
the right of explanation will be
granted time to explain their votes,
not to exceed thirty seconds per
delegate.
• The Moderator will then announce
the outcome of the vote.
Precedence of Points and Motions
1. Point of Personal Privilege
(Rule 25)
2. Point of Order (Rule 26)
3. Point of Parliamentary Inquiry
(Rule 27)
4. Adjournment of the Meeting
(Rule 17)
5. Suspension of the Meeting
(Rule 17)
6. Unmoderated Caucus (Rule 14)
7. Moderated Caucus (Rule 15)
8. Motion to Change Speaking
Time (Rule 19)
9. Introduction of a Draft
Resolution (Rule 30)
10. Introduction of an Amendment
(Rule 32)
11. Postponement of Debate
(Rule 18)
12. Resumption of Debate
(Rule 18)
13. Closure of Debate (Rule 16)
At the start of final voting procedure,
only the following points and motions
are in order, in the following order of
precedence:
1. Point of Personal Privilege
(Rule 25)
2. Point of Order (Rule 26)
3. Point of Parliamentary Inquiry
(Rule 27)
4. Reordering Draft Resolutions
(Rule 36)
5. Division of the Question
(Rule 35)
6. Motion for a Roll Call Vote (Rule
37)
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Guide to Delegate Preparation and Parliamentary Rules of Procedure

SAMPLE POSITION PAPER

Delegation: The Russian Federation

Committee: Disarmament and International Security Committee
Topic A: Separatism

The Russian Federation considers separatism to be one of the gravest dangers facing the world today. Separatist groups
threaten peace and security around the world. From developing countries like the Philippines to developed countries like
Spain, the stability of both the internal structure of states and of the international world order is under attack. The danger of
separatism has grown even greater in recent years, as separatist groups in many countries have become increasingly linked both
with religious extremism and with international terrorist networks. Though separatism once could be considered an internal
affair, it now must be seen within the context of international security. An attack on one country by a separatist group is
frequently an attack on the international system itself, as separatist groups increasingly use terrorist tactics designed to destabilize
an entire region. Thus, it is essential that the Disarmament and International Security Committee consider ways to address the
destabilizing impact of separatism. In particular, Russia believes that the committee, while reiterating the UN’s condemnation of
separatism in general, must work to provide aid to states victimized by separatist groups and must facilitate the means by which
the international connections of separatists groups can be analyzed.

As a country particularly victimized by separatist movements, Russia strongly opposes any attempt to give legitimacy to any
group that uses terrorist tactics and any move by the UN to recognize a so-called “right to secession.” The Russian Federation
has contended with separatist terrorists in Chechnya and the North Caucasus for over a decade, and it believes that its experience
in this region gives ample reasons for why the UN should never recognize separatist groups, except as agreed to by the victimized
state. As Russia has learned over the course of the conflict in Chechnya, “separatists” are frequently aided by international
terrorist networks, including those preaching religious extremism. For example, the perpetrators of the atrocity at Beslan in
2004 included two Arabs. It is believed that a great deal of the funding that goes to Chechen separatists comes from religious
extremists in the Islamic world. Furthermore, Chechnya provides numerous examples of the vile tactics used by many separatist
groups; whether by setting bombs in Moscow apartments, murdering children in Beslan, invading civilian neighborhoods in
Nalchik, or raiding homes in Chechnya itself, Chechen separatists seem to stop at nothing to further their end. These are not
“freedom fighters.” These are terrorists.

The Russian Federation accepts that UN mediation can be extremely useful in ending wars, including wars of separatism;
however, it insists that any UN presence can only come with the consent of the UN member state involved, and there should
never be an assumption that the end-point of negotiations will be secession. Russia sees the Sudanese experience as the one
that should be the framework for any future UN involvement in secessionist conflicts. UN mediation was largely responsible for
ending the Sudanese Civil War, but only because the UN’s presence at the negotiating table came as a result of a request from
the Sudanese government, because the SPLA was seen to be the legitimate voice of the South Sudanese people, and because the
SPLA was not a terrorist organization. The negotiations were successful, ended the war, and created a framework of autonomy
for South Sudan; however, if any of these factors had been absent, peace would have been impossible. Therefore, Russia believes
that while it is possible for the UN to establish a framework for dealing with separatist groups, it must also work to determine
the legitimacy of those groups, the legitimacy of their demands, and any links between those groups and international terrorism;
furthermore, it must remember that, from a political rather than military perspective, separatism is an internal issue, and must
be treated as such.

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 Guide to Delegate Preparation and Parliamentary Rules of Procedure

SAMPLE WORKING PAPER

The purpose of the Working Paper is to clearly communicate the interests of one or more countries. Please note that there
is no set format for working papers; the following is just one example of a possible working paper. To facilitate the process,
working papers should include the name and topic of the committee. Pending the approval of the Director, working papers may
be copied and distributed to the committee.

Committee: UN Conference on Trade and Development

Topic A: Generalized System of Preferences

The committee believes that a GSP should be set up so that Lesser-Developed Countries (LDCs) receive preferential
treatment from Developed Countries (DCs). To that end we propose:

1. Each DC reduce their tariffs to the lowest level possible. This level will be determined by the below created subcommittee,

2. Bilateral trade agreements should be pursued for further reductions in tariffs.

3. Trade preferences should be granted in the following areas:

Agriculture
Manufactures
Semi-manufactures
Raw materials

4. Decisions on product coverage by preference giving nations be made in consultation with the affected LDC. Annual re-
evaluation of coverage shall take place with the LDC with disputed going to the below-created subcommittee.

5. A subcommittee of UNCTAD should be created with equal membership of developed and developing countries. This
subcommittee would have the following powers:
a. To mediate disputes between preference givers and receivers
b. Make recommendations which all countries should follow
c. Serve as a forum for airing grievances relating to the GSP
d. Report regularly to the Secretary-General
Membership should be as follows:
a. Five permanent nations from the DCs
b. Five permanent nations from the LDCs and LLDCs
c. Ten members elected annually by UNCTAD

Voting rights will have to be worked out, but the UN format for subcommittees seems best. Of course, we are amenable
to change.

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Guide to Delegate Preparation and Parliamentary Rules of Procedure

RESOLUTION FORMAT GUIDE

Heading
The title should be in capital letters, above the main body of the resolution. The title consists of a number (signifying the
first or second topic area being discussed), followed by another number (identifying the individual resolution). For example, the
first draft resolution on the first topic area discussed would be titled “Draft Resolution 1.1” accordingly. The committee Director
will assign the number once the resolution has been approved.
On the left margin and two lines below the title should be:
(1) the committee name,
(2) the topic addressed by the resolution, and
(3) the signatories of the resolution.
NOTE: There are no sponsors of a resolution.

Body
The resolution is written in the format of a long sentence. Just as grammatical rules make a language more uniform in its
usage, so is the resolution in its format.
The resolution begins with “The General Assembly,” for all GA committees and with “The Economic and Social Council,”
for all ECOSOC committees. The Regional Bodies and the Security Council use their own names as the introductory line. The
rest of the resolution consists of phrases and clauses with the first word of each phrase/clause underlined.
The next section, consisting of Preambulatory Phrases, describes the problem being addressed, recalls past actions taken,
explains the purpose of the resolution, and offers support for the operative clauses that follow. Each clause in the preamble
begins with an underlined word and ends with a comma.
Operative Clauses are numbered and state the action to be taken by the body. These clauses all begin with present tense
active verbs, which are generally stronger words than those used in the Preamble. Each operative clause is followed by a semi-
colon except the last, which ends with a period. Any sub-operative clauses (or sub-sub-clauses, etc,) also should end with a semi-
colon. There should be no periods in the body of the resolution.

Content
Of course, the most important characteristic of the final resolution is the content, which will be carefully scrutinized by the
Director before approval. A well-written resolution demonstrates:
• Familiarity with the problem. Relevant background information and previous United Nations actions are included.
• Recognition of the issues. Arguments on the topic are specified early. At a minimum, the resolution should address in some
form all the issues listed in the “Questions a Resolution Must Answer” section of the Background guide.
• A clear and concise style. Every clause and phrase should have a purpose.
• Good form. Each phrase and clause should follow the exact format described above.

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 Guide to Delegate Preparation and Parliamentary Rules of Procedure

Preambulatory Phrases
Affirming Guided by
Alarmed by Having adopted
Approving Having considered
Aware of Having considered further
Believing Having devoted attention
Bearing in mind Having examined
Cognizant of Having heard
Confident Having received
Contemplating Having studied
Convinced Keeping in mind
Declaring Noting further
Deeply concerned Noting with regret
Deeply conscious Noting with satisfaction
Deeply convinced Noting with deep concern
Deeply disturbed Noting further
Deeply regretting Noting with approval
Desiring Observing
Emphasizing Realizing
Expecting Reaffirming
Expressing its appreciation Recalling
Expressing its satisfaction Recognizing
Fulfilling Referring
Fully aware Seeking
Fully alarmed Taking into account
Fully believing Taking note
Further deploring Viewing with appreciation
Further recalling Welcoming

Operative Clauses
Accepts Further recommends
Affirms Further requests
Approves Further resolves
Authorizes Has resolved
Calls for Notes
Calls upon Proclaims
Confirms Reaffirms
Considers Recommends
Declares accordingly Reminds
Deplores Regrets
Draws attention Requests
Designates Resolves
Emphasizes Solemnly affirms
Encourages Strongly condemns
Endorses Supports
Expresses its appreciation Takes note of
Expresses its hope Trusts
Further invites Urges
Further proclaims
Further reminds

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Guide to Delegate Preparation and Parliamentary Rules of Procedure

Sample Resolution (please bear in mind this document is substantially shorter than most HNMUN resolutions in terms of number of clauses)
DRAFT RESOLUTION 1.1

Committee: Commission on Information Regulation

Topic: International Newsflow Imbalance
Signatories: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Colombia, Congo, Estonia, Haiti, India, Italy, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Panama,
South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Uganda, United States of America, United Kingdom

The Economic and Social Council,

Recalling its Resolution A/36/89 of 16 December 1981, “The Declaration on Fundamental Principles Concerning the
Contribution of the Mass Media to Strengthening Peace and International Understanding,”
Further recalling Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, “Everyone has the right to...receive and impart
information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers,”
Recognizing that the problem of newsflow imbalance is that two-way information among countries of a region is either
nonexistent or insufficient and information exchanged between regions of the world is inadequate,
Realizing the need for all sovereign nations to maintain their integrity and still play an active role in the international system,

1. Recommends that a three-level information interchange system be established on the national, regional, and international
levels to ameliorate the current problems of newsflow imbalance, to operate as follows:
a. Each regions’ member nations will report their national information and receive the information of other nations in
their region from the regional level of this interchange system;
b. Nations will decide the character of the newsflow media best suited to the need of their sovereign territory, be this
printed, audio, or audio-visual;
c. Regional News Gathering Agencies will serve to gather information from the nations in their region, and these boards
will have no editorial discretion and will serve to forward all information to the International Board;
d. Each regional agency will be composed of representatives from every member nation of the nation of the region;
e. The primary function of the International Board will be to translate information accumulated from the regional news
gathering agencies;
f. The secondary purpose will be to transmit all information gathered back to the member nations via the regional news
gathering agencies;
g. In order to expedite the transfer of information from the international to regional level the international board will
utilize a UN frequency on a European Economic Community satellite;

2. Urges the establishment of the University of International Communications, which will be based in Geneva, Switzerland,
with the following aims:
a. The University and branches will be established with the express purpose of bringing together world views and
facilitating the transfer of technology;
b. All member nations of the United Nations will be equally represented at the University;
c. Incentives will be offered to students of journalism and communications at the University to return to their countries
to teach upon completion of instruction;
d. The instructors of the regional education centers will be comprised of a multi-partisan coalition of educators from
throughout the world;

3. Calls for the continued use of funds from the International Program for the Development of Communications, Special
Account, The United National Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the UN Development Programme,
and other sources of funding including national governments and private donors;

4. Recommends that the distribution of funds be decided by the International Programme for the Development of
Communication (IPDC).

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