For delegates in General Assemblies, Economic and Social Council, or Regional Bodies

Once you have completed your preliminary research, you are ready to write your position paper. Unless otherwise indicated in the respective committee background guide, HMUN requires delegates to write a one single-spaced page position paper. Each position paper has three basic parts: your country’s national interests, your country’s national policies, and your opinion on potential resolution components. National interests are what a country would like to see happen in the world (e.g. Cameroon, a lesser developed country troubled by terrorism, wants to reduce the incidence of terrorism to stabilize its government). These interests are not subject to compromise, but instead generally idealized goals or methods of solving specific problems.

National policies are the country’s attempts to secure its interests (e.g. Cameroon, in an effort to combat terrorism, has sought to enter into new extradition treaties). These policy positions are usually open to negotiation. Your opinions on potential resolution components are your responses to the “Proposed Solutions” and “Questions a Resolution Must Answer” sections of the Background Guide. Although these sections provide flexibility, you need to keep in mind the interests of your nation. Possible resolutions must be consistent with your country’s national interests and current national policies (e.g. Cameroon feels that any resolution on the prevention of terrorism must assign to the injured state the right to try the terrorists. In addition, Cameroon would not be averse to the establishment of an international information network on terrorism. Cameroon, however, will not support any resolution that allows terrorist acts to be protected from extradition under the political offense exception doctrine). 

Writing position papers benefits you in many ways. The staff reads over the position papers and summarizes them in order to gauge what the committee will be like and to see which delegates have done a good job preparing for the conference. Most importantly, writing a position paper makes you think about the information you have researched and helps you to express ideas concisely and clearly, making you better prepared for the conference.

The structuring of the position papers is intended to elicit responses from the delegates that provide a clear picture of a nation’s stance on a particular topic area. Delegates can find more structuring guidelines, sample position papers, a position paper outline, and further information in their Background Guides and in the Guide to Delegate Preparation.

For delegates in Specialized Bodies or Crisis Committees

Suitable modifications will have to be made for delegates in the Specialized Bodies and Crisis Committees; in particular, delegates in these committees may want to include details about the personal agenda that they plan to pursue in their crisis notes to help the Crisis Director prepare for and help to steer your crisis arc. Do you want to increase your political influence and potentially take over? Do you want to become extremely wealthy? Are you trying to assassinate your archnemesis? What resources and connections can you leverage? Are there directives that you can pass that will secretly benefit you? The purpose of answering such questions is to get you thinking about the crisis element of the committees, which is equally as important as the directives you pass, and to communicate those goals to our crisis staff. It is also completely fine, and expected, if these plans change by the time of the conference or during committee itself; in fact, given the dynamic pace of our committees, it’s highly likely that you will have to adapt and change your plans.

By the time you finish your position paper and crisis paper, you should have a solid understanding of your country or character’s public and private goals, the resources they have, and the strategies you want to use. More information about expectations for delegates in the Specialized Bodies and Crisis Committees can be found in the respective background guides.