Most resolutions start as scratch notes during an unmoderated caucus and go through a couple of clear stages before they’re something the whole committee debates.
Working paper → draft resolution
A working paper is the informal starting point: a collaborative draft with none of a resolution’s formatting requirements yet, and it isn’t debated on the floor in this form.
To become a draft resolution, it needs to clear two things:
- Enough sponsors and/or signatories. The usual benchmark cited is roughly a fifth of the committee, though the exact split (say, 5 sponsors plus 15 signatories, vs. some other breakdown) is set by the conference, not fixed across all of MUN.
- Approval of form from the dais, the chair checking it’s structured correctly before it can be introduced.
Sponsors vs. signatories
- Sponsors wrote it and substantively agree with it. At most conferences, only sponsors can formally introduce the draft, and only sponsors can accept a friendly amendment to it. A sponsor generally can’t vote against their own resolution without formally withdrawing first. Some conferences don’t even allow withdrawal once debate has started.
- Signatories aren’t endorsing the content, they just want to see it debated. A signatory can vote against the resolution they signed onto without any contradiction.
Once a draft resolution is formally introduced, it stops being just the sponsors’ document. The committee as a whole can propose changes to it from that point on.
How a resolution is structured
Two clause types, each with its own grammar convention:
- Preambulatory clauses set up context: why the issue matters, what’s already been tried. They start with a capitalized present participle (“Recalling,” “Noting with concern,” “Emphasizing”) and end in a comma.
- Operative clauses state what the committee is actually deciding or calling for. They start with a capitalized present-tense verb (“Calls upon,” “Urges,” “Decides”), and each ends with a semicolon, except the very last, which ends with a period.
This mirrors how the real UN structures its own resolutions, though the sponsor/signatory threshold system most conferences use to gate introduction is a Model UN addition. A real UN draft resolution is typically tabled by one lead sponsor after informal consultation with other member states, without a fixed numeric co-sponsor requirement.
Next: Amendments