Position Paper Guide RYMUN 12

Position Paper Guide

Position Paper Guide RYMUN 12

RYMUN requires position papers for all committees. Writing a position paper is an important part of the process of establishing an understanding of your country's stance on the topics to be debated, and provides a great opportunity to concisely organize your thoughts and ideas. If at any time you have a question while writing your position paper, you are encouraged to email your Director What to Research 1. Your country's history and background on the topic, as well as past positions on the issues the committee is addressing. 2. Try and find quotes and writings from current leaders in your country in order to find out where your country currently stands on your committee's topics, as well as to provide support for your national position. 3. Look for statistics and other relevant facts that support your country's position. Also look at some of what the opposition is saying in order to organize responses to inevitable disagreements. 4. Find out what actions your country has taken so far, and what actions it is currently considering on the topic. 5. Research what treaties and resolutions concerning your committee's topics your country has already signed/ratified, and what additional international actions your country has either supported or opposed thus far. General Guidelines for Position Paper Writing 1. Stick to the topics set forth for the committee in the background guide. Please steer away from giving a history of your country and listing facts about your country, unless you can explain why that history or those facts are relevant to the committee's topics. 2. Avoid using "I" in the position paper. Use phrases like "The United States believes...." You are not representing yourself, but a country! 3. Avoid giving background on the topics unless the background pertains to your country's specific position. 4. Be sure your country's stated position on a topic is clearly stated and if applicable, explain how the issue affects your country. 5. The best position papers usually concisely, but clearly, explain your country's stance on the given topics.

6. Also use the position paper as an opportunity to display some of your ideas for actions to be taken. While undoubtedly you will change these proposals throughout the course of debate, having some picture of how you would like to see an issue acted upon will get you off to a great start. Ultimately, you need to understand your country's goals and how the positions of other countries affect the attainment of those goals.

Position Paper Guide RYMUN 12 7. Make sure your thoughts are well organized. If they aren't organized in the paper, then they might not be organized in your head (and consequentially, in debate) either. 8. Get an early start on your position paper. Ideally you should start researching as soon as you find out your country and committee assignment. This will then give you ample opportunity to contact your chairs if you find you need assistance. 9. Give yourself time to edit your position paper. Leave it alone for a little while and come back and read it the next day. You never know what new perspective you might have by simply re-reading what you've written. 10. Please remember to cite your sources! It is important that others get credit for their contributions to your position paper. Plagiarism is a violation of academic integrity and is not tolerated at RYMUN. 11. Position papers should be 1 page double spaced per topic in 12pt Times New Roman font with 1" margins. **Note for crisis committees: What is appropriate for a position paper may vary by committee. There may or may not be set topics for a committee, and as such it may be acceptable to ignore some of these guidelines for your position papers, depending on the committee. Position paper guidelines for crisis committees will be outlined in those respective background guides**

*Example Position Paper:

Committee: United Nations Commission on Population and Development Country: The United States of America Topic 1: Urban Slums The United States of America revels in the opportunity to work with her colleagues in international development and humanitarianism during this session of the United Nations Commission on Population and Development, as to make substantial progress on the issues on the Agenda, many of which allude to or are directly representative of the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Though the issues we will confront in this session are complex and difficult, they need not be met with complex and difficult solutions. Instead, the USA stresses innovation and shared commitment in responses to these issues, as many times a simple answer is the most effective. Urban slums are without a doubt the very thing the framers of the MDGs sought to prevent in their efforts to improve the lives and livelihoods of the people of this planet. Simply, Urban slums represent the peak of horrid living conditions, little to nonexistent access to drinking water, sanitation, health care, and so forth. It is a blatant slap in the face of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that so many live in the squalor of the slums, and quite honestly it reflects poorly on the international community as a whole that we have done so little to alleviate their suffering. As President Obama mentioned in address to the UN MDG summit, that if the international community just keeps doing the same things the same way, we will miss many development goals. That is the truth. This is why, in efforts to change the way that we do business, the USA strongly supports renewed, stronger actions taken by member nations, recognizing the fact that progress in even the poorest of countries can advance the prosperity of those far beyond their borders, including my fellow Americans. Therefore, the USA calls for increased involvement of the urban poor in the conversation, city and municipal government funding for infrastructure improvements while utilizing the volunteer labor of the slum dwellers, and vocational training programs/aid administered to catalyze the transition from an

Position Paper Guide RYMUN 12 informal to formal economy. Only then will we be able to break the cyclical poverty that keeps those living in slums at the fringes of society. Topic 2: Contraception policy in the context of over-population Contraception in the context of overpopulation is a topic that merits strong discussion, particularly with regards to the treatment of women. It is without a doubt gravely concerning that many women are prevented from using, unaware of, or otherwise unable to access contraceptives for habitual use. Subjugated, these women are forced into sexual relations with or without marriage before the age of 14, often pregnant by 15. Those lucky enough to survive childbirth are usually condemned to having to sell their bodies to support themselves, which results in many women under the age of 18 becoming HIV carriers, thereby spreading the disease. Further, societal requirements and/or expectations for high fertility place an extreme burden even on the mothers with stable family situations. Finally, the persistence of female infanticide and gender-targeted abortions (collectively known as gendercide in some circles) threaten to derail the intent of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and must be addressed. That said, the United States isnt sitting idly by. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reaffirmed the Americas effort to contribute to increasing access to family planning by 2015 for 100 million women who now lack it. Further, given that economic growth has been pinpointed internationally as the most effective agent for achieving deep humanitarian reform, the USA submits to the commission that the most effective way of bringing down fertility rates to a more manageable level is by investing in women and girls. In this sense, strict delineations on what birth rate is acceptable and so forth are not necessary, simply because educated girls and women will be able to make such determinations for themselves, knowing their personal situations intimately. Topic 3: Accommodating the youth bulge Though strongly linked to the issue of overpopulation, the zeal, requirements, and potential productivity of those in the youth bulge demand an idiosyncratic response. In addition to the actions suggested in the previous section, America calls for a resolution that seeks to address the immediate economic, physical and societal needs of the vastly-expanding, currently unskilled young (less than 30) demographic, as well as the underlying conditions that cause them to be placed in a disadvantaged position. The United States therefore calls for specific international action on two fronts, as to lighten the burden that LDCs face in accommodating this demographic of their society, as well as to improve the life prospects the demographic faces in their entry into adulthood. Firstly, adjustment to education budgets and curricula, at both the elementary and higher levels is required to provide the young with a skillset that prepares them to be competitive participants in the 21st century global economy. This will not be possible without greater LDCs partnership with NGOs, private corporations, and other international organizations like Global Givers, which seeks to utilize the girl effect to improve the lives of those impoverished. Especially important in the long term, sweeping reforms of the laws and regulations surrounding treatment of the young is all but necessary, as to change the cultural paradigm of the young being the enemies of those older, and already established in a profession. Without fluid and organic succession planning, we are doomed to an era where instead of advancing with each subsequent generation, we regress, as knowledge and experience are not passed down sufficiently. Continued commitment internationally, in financial as well as political forms is all but requisite for success.

Position Paper Guide RYMUN 12

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