Position papers are an important element of judging in selecting the overall team awards. In order for a delegation to be considered for an overall award the team must have submitted a complete position paper package (one per each committee on which that country is seated), the papers must be in the prescribed format. Please email position papers to bwright1@jccc.edu
A position paper is a one page statement of a country’s policy on each of the topics under consideration by a committee and the rationale behind it. Issues requires each country’s representatives to submit position papers to each committee on each topic of debate. There are several reasons for position papers. Writing position papers serves to focus delegates’ thoughts on the topic areas. Position papers also give Committee Chairs an opportunity to learn the degree to which the delegates understand the topic areas. Delegates should have copies of their own position paper so they can refer to them the day of the event. The papers will also be of use when delegates attempt to write a resolution that may deal with the points of major concern to the committee. Furthermore, access to the papers may allow them to clarify points made in another delegate’s speech.
A position paper must be written on each committee’s topic area. When writing their position papers, delegates should ask themselves two questions about the issues in the topic areas:
| What are the major points of interest or concern in this area? | |
| What are the possible resolutions to the problems in this area? |
Next, delegates should answer specific questions about their country’s position:
| Of what regional or functional grouping is our country a part? | |
| What is our country’s policy on the topic? Why? | |
| What issues in this area are particularly relevant? How? |
Delegates may wish to research their country’s position on issues in the area and on similar issues that have directly affected their countries.
The above information should then be placed in a one-page position paper. Delegates are not expected to cover in a single page their nation’s policy on every aspect of the topic, but rather to give a short statement of purpose for their actions in the committee. Delegates are encouraged to include any avenues that they wish to pursue in committee in attempts to provide a solution to the problem presented. An example of a position paper follows this section.
Each position paper should have a heading at the top with the following information:
| The delegate’s name (bold and centered) | |
| The committee name (bold and centered) | |
| The country’s name (bold and centered) | |
| School |
Then each topic section is to have a heading
| The topic title (bold and italicized) |
Position papers should be submitted in Times Roman 10 or 12 point font on diskette in Microsoft Word format or transmitted as an email attachment. Position papers should be transmitted as a country package and not individually and must come from the faculty advisor and not the individual students. Last the position paper needs to follow the below criteria.
| Position Paper evaluation criteria and expectations: | Excellent | Good | Fair | Poor |
| (1) A clear statement of your country’s position on each topic and an indication of why your country takes this position in the context of what it has already done in relation to the topic | ||||
| (2) Overall assessment of paper. Paper is well researched, organized, presented and answered the main issues. It provides the reader with clear understandings and explanation of policies. | ||||
| (3) Include sufficient detail and elaboration. | ||||
| (4) Suggestions for a plan of action in addressing the issue. | ||||
| (5) Employ correct grammar and usage. Also use correct mechanics (spelling, capitalization, punctuation, paragraph form). Make sure that the paper makes logical sense and flows well by providing transition sentences. |
SAMPLE POSITION PAPER
General Assembly Plenary
Delegation from the United Kingdom
Johnson County High School
Topic A: International Cooperation on Humanitarian Assistance in the Field of Natural Disasters, from Relief to Development
The United Kingdom has been fortunate enough in our long history to have emerged in the modern age free of any of the disaster-based setbacks much of the rest of the world has had to face. Indeed, the UK has been relatively unaffected by natural disaster. This does not, however, make the United Kingdom apathetic to the plight of the Global community, particularly in the face of some of the most tragic natural disasters history has seen that have occurred in just the last few years. Though the United Kingdom has not been directly affected, we have played a direct role in addressing and solving these crises. The UK has played significant role in infrastructure development and funding in Haiti after the most recent earthquake. The UK also played crucial roles in disaster relief efforts in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh after tsunamis. Overall, the United Kingdom is one of the world’s largest contributors to disaster and humanitarian relief. However, we also believe that contribution without coordination can be just as disastrous as any earthquake or flooding. As such, the UK sees two major changes that should be made in the way the United Nations handles disaster relief. First and foremost, the United Kingdom believes it is imperative that all states fully implement the Kyogo Declaration. This declaration refocuses disaster relief and development efforts by addressing the major flaws in the Yokohama strategy, specifically the need for better coordination and disaster identification preparedness. When states fully implement this policy we will be better able to prevent disaster and address it in the unfortunate even that it does occur. Secondly, it is imperative that we reorganize humanitarian relief organizations under the United Nations. The United Kingdom has seen major cooperation occur between NGO’s, the private sector, and the public sector in our own country. Establishing an umbrella-type organization or body that can coordinate all of these organizations (or at the very least be aware of their role, etc.) is crucial to accomplishing the goals the United Nations has set for itself.
Topic B: International Drug Control
The United Kingdom is hardly unaffected by the trafficking of illegal of substances. Drugs like Heroin from Afghanistan have been able to successfully cross our borders through other countries like Turkey and Pakistan. Cocaine from Colombia and other South American countries has also infiltrated the United Kingdom. Ultimately the majority of drug concerns in the United Kingdom are the results of foreign markets. However, the United Kingdom does believe that a strategy modeled after our own domestic policy will be the most effective reform to the United Nations method of combating illicit drug trade. The UK has developed a four-prong method of addressing domestic drug use. Focusing on young people, communities, treatment, and availability has been a crucial part of the United Kingdom’s fight against drugs. Such a policy should also be the framework of reform for the United Nations. Focusing not on young people, but instead on easily susceptible groups, including those who are impoverished or dependent on drug trade will be crucial to eradicating the cause of drug trade at it’s root. A focus on communities should remain a cornerstone of UN policy: instability is often the route of drug dependence, drug trade, and organized crime. Renewed and increases efforts to address these causes at a community level with a focus on not just development, but specifically drug eradication will be a crucial part of a new strategy. Treatment will perhaps be the least important of the four particularly as we strive to eradicate the cause, not consequences of drug trade. However, under UK policy, treatment is preferred to incarceration and the United Nations must adopt a similar policy when dealing with those responsible for trafficking. This does not necessarily mean that we as an organization should send every petty trafficker to a rehabilitation program, but rather that our goal should be reestablishing those that are often the victims of their societies as productive members of the global community. Fourth and finally, reducing the availability of drugs on an international level must me a major facet of United Nations policy. Again, this will involve community development and addressing the problem at its route. Thus far, focusing solely on the consequences of illicit drugs has been ineffective. However, by redistributing resources to address causes the United Nations will be more effective at creating real drug control.
