Model United Nations of the University of Chicago : Position Papers
Position Papers
Position papers should be mailed to MUNUC and postmarked by January 11 in one packet per school.
Position Papers are the published work of a delegation outlining country specific information related to the topic area at hand and an official position and plan toward resolving the problem. As such, each delegation should send one paper on each topic. In most cases, this means each pair of students will need to write one paper on Topic A and one paper on Topic B.
Position papers should
- utilize size 12 Times New Roman font
- be in black print only
- have the Committee, Topic Area, Country, and Delegate(s) headings in the upper left corner of the page
- appear untitled
- be one page in length (single spaced)
As a stylistic suggestion, refer to what your country hopes to achieve and not you, the delegate. For instance:
“Her Majesty’s Government desires…,” “The people of Bolivia would like to see…,” or “The Kingdom of Spain believes…,”
would be appropriate in place of:
“I want…,” “we feel…”
Position Papers should follow the formatting guidelines stipulated by the MUNUC Secretariat. However, with regards to content, delegates have considerable freedom. Most Position Papers are organized in a fashion similar to that outlined below.
- Paragraph 1 – Background of the topic with relation to the Member State
- Paragraph 2 – Official position of the Member State
- Paragraph 3 – Solutions to the problem that are amenable to the Member State
SAMPLE POSITION PAPER
- Committee: Security Council
- Topic Area A: Former Yugoslavia
- Country: Ghana
- Delegate: Mr. Kofi Annan
Ghana strongly believes that U.N. policy regarding the situation in the Balkans has been flawed from the start. First, Ghana would like to remind the Security Council of Article 51 in the United Nations Charter.
Nothing in the present Charter shall impair the inherent right of individuals or collective self-defense if an armed attack occurs against a Member of the United Nations, until the Security Council has taken measures necessary to maintain international peace and security.
This article of our Charter clearly establishes the right of any sovereign nation to defend itself from an external attack. However, the U.N.-imposed arms embargo over the regions of the former Yugoslavia clearly takes this right away from the nation of Bosnia-Herzegovinia. While the U.N. has blindly imposed this embargo over all of ex-Yugoslavia, the amply supplied Serbs have used the armaments left behind by the Yugoslavian Federal Government to beat the poorly armed Bosnians into submission. As such, Ghana believes that the U.N. is doing a tremendous injustice to the nation of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Thus, unless this body acts immediately to halt Serbian aggression in Bosnia, we are obliged to lift our blanket arms embargo to allow the Bosnians to defend themselves. It should be noted here that we can, and should, lift the arms embargo against Bosnia while keeping it against Serbia, as the Serbs are not currently fighting for the safety or integrity of their nation (as the international community recognizes it), but are rather the aggressors in this situation.
However, Ghana would like to stress that it strives for a peaceful solution to the conflicts in Bosnia and Croatia, and to the tensions in Macedonia and Kosovo, and thus would not simply endorse an escalation of warfare within the region. As the situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina is of the utmost importance, as the greatest number of human lives are being lost there, Ghana believes that the Security Council should deal with this nation first. Although Ghana does not like the fact that the Bosnian-Croat federation would hold only 51% of the land of Bosnia-Herzegovina, we believe that if the Bosnian-Muslim and Croat leaders can agree to this type of reduction in land, then it should be acceptable to the world community. Because two of the combatants have agreed to this type of land agreement, Ghana believes that it is up to the Security Council to force the Bosnian Serbs and Yugoslav Serbs to accept this new partition of Bosnia, or face a collective onslaught and erosion of their currently held positions. As such, Ghana approves of the fact that the Yugoslav Serbs have ostracized the Bosnian Serbs for not agreeing to the aforementioned plan; however, to make sure that no aid is reaching the Bosnian Serbs, Ghana believes that the U.N. should force the Federal Serbs to allow U.N. monitors between the internationally recognized borders of Serbia and Bosnia. If Serbia does not allow this, Ghana believes that the Security Council should tighten the embargo against Serbia, not even allowing humanitarian aid into the country. Although this may seem unnecessarily harsh, we believe that more direct pressure on the Serbian people and leaders will force them to quickly change their stance, thus saving more lives in the long-term. In addition, Ghana believes that the proposed Bosnian-Croat federation should receive military backing from the U.N. and NATO in order to safeguard its existence. Although we know that the U.N. cannot control NATO, we believe that our positive working relationship in the past will allow for continued cooperation in this realm. Thus, we believe that only a significant and overt military support for the Bosnians will result in an end to this conflict.
Ghana believes that a continued U.N. presence in Croatia and Macedonia will be the best way to defuse tensions in those nations. Although UNPROFOR has experienced difficulties in Croatia, Ghana would like to point out that many of the recent breaks in the cease-fire there have been due to offensives by the Croats, who were the people that UNPROFOR was originally trying to protect. Thus, unless both the Croats and Serbs in Croatia are willing to stop fighting, UNPROFOR should not take on a further role. However, as the preemptive peacekeepers in Macedonia seem to be working, Ghana fully supports them and requests the Security Council to reevaluate the situation and perhaps send more troops there to safeguard the peace.
Last updated: Wed Dec 19 10:42:12 -0600 2007