Importance of research binder and organize Delegate materials:

Key objectives:
Demonstrate elements such as position papers, procedures, and resolutions as practiced by the Model United Nations.
Assess change over time using primary and secondary sources.

Outcomes:

1. Describe Position Papers.
2. Explain Model United Nations Resolutions.
3. Identify foreign policy issues.
4. Research policy positions.
5. Describe general policy background.
6. Explain member state positions.
7. Distinguish between proposed solutions.

Section 1: Understanding the different elements of ModelUN

It’s important to prepare for Model United Nation because that’s how you’ll get the most out of your MUN experience. By preparing, you will learn how to research foreign policy, prepare speeches, and write UN resolutions. At the conference itself, you will learn about the perspectives of different countries, how to make speeches on the spot, and negotiate with other delegates to find global solutions.

By the end of your Model United Nations conference experience, you will have improved your skills in research, public speaking, debate, negotiation, and diplomacy. These are skills that will help you through college, and throughout the rest of your life.

Before you can start preparing for the conference, your advisor should have assigned you the following 3 things:

• Your Country. At the ModelUN conference, you are pretending to be a diplomat from your assigned country. You need to know basic information about your country’s history, government, and recent news. More importantly, you will need to know your country’s foreign policies on your topics.
• Your Committee. JCCCMUN is a simulation of the United Nations. The UN is a big organization that works with many other organizations and governments. Each MUN committee simulates a different part of the UN. You need to know where your committee fits into the UN and what your committee has the power to do.
• Your 2 Topics. Each JCCCMUN committee has 2 topics to debate. Each topic is a different problem that the real UN is trying to solve. These are big problems that no single country can solve on their own.

The objective of the ModelUN conference is to find global solutions to global problems. As a delegate of your assigned country (called a delegation), you will meet the other delegates in your committee, discuss your topics, and propose solutions. However, every other delegate has a different perspective on what those solutions should be. You will need to understand their perspectives and try to find agreement. You will work with other delegates to write down your agreed upon solutions into a document called a resolution. At the ModelUN conference, you will have the following goals:
• Give well-researched speeches about your topics, country policy, and possible solutions;
• Find other delegates you can work to write resolutions; and,
• Persuade the entire committee to vote in favor of your resolution.

In order to achieve these goals, you need to prepare for the conference. There are 6 steps to preparing for CCCMUN, and that’s how you will organize your binder and all preparations:
1. Start by reading about Model UN, the real UN, and your
2 topics (Getting Started) 2. Create a research binder with at least 10 sources (Research Binder)
3. Based on your research, write a 2-page position paper on each topic (Position Paper)
4. Based on your position paper, write a 1-minute opening speech (Public Speaking)
5. Practice writing a resolution with your MUN team (Resolution Writing)
6. Practice simulating Rules of Procedure with your MUN team (Rules of Procedure) By going through these steps, you will feel prepared to attend a ModelUN conference. It may seem like a lot of work, but you will not be doing it alone. Your entire JCCC ModelUN team can go through these 6 steps together. Here is a suggested preparation timeline:

Conference Delegate Guide:

Importance of a research binder:

After reading your topic background guides, your objective is to gain a better understanding of the topic, your country’s policy on the topic, and what your country wants to do about the topic. You’re going to dive into many different websites and research sources. You need a way to organize all your sources or else you will lose track of your research. One of the best ways to organize your research is to create a research binder.

You should have one research binder that includes sources for each of your topics. For each topic, you can organize your binder into 4 sections:
• Topic Background: This section should include your background guide and other sources that describe your topic in general, including Wikipedia pages, news articles, and reports produced by the United Nations and other organizations.
• Past International Action: This section should include information on your committee and what it has already done about the topic. This section should also include primary sources, such as resolutions, treaties/conventions (a convention is a type of treaty), and international policies and campaigns (like the Millennium Development Goals), as well as other important sources that describe how the UN is trying to address the topic.
• Country Policy: This section should include sources about your country (such as the CIA World Factbook) and your country’s position on the topic. This can include speeches made by your political leaders and papers produced by your government.
• Possible Solutions: This section should include sources on what the UN should be doing to address the topic. This can include recommendations by UN bodies, experts (like professors), and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
Having a well-organized binder will make it easier for you to understand your research and write a position paper. To help you get started with your research binder, here is a list of different sources and websites that you should visit:

Topic Background
• Background Guide. Either you, another delegate, or your chair will inevitably refer to something written in the committee’s background guide during a conference. Also, what your chair has written about is what he’ll focus on in committee. Use that knowledge to craft speeches and operative clauses that grab the chair’s attention.
• Wikipedia. Information on your country’s history and its recent controversies. There should be articles on your topic, too. Wikipedia might not be edited as rigorously as a print publication, but you are not writing an academic research paper – you’re attending a Model UN conference. Just take note of any potential issues that are listed at the topic of Wikipedia pages, e.g. “This article needs additional citations for verification.”
• News Articles. You want to know the latest news on your topics, as well as your own country. The simplest way to do this is to run searches on Yahoo! News and Google News, and print out the headlines. BBC Online also features easy-to-use timelines and profiles on your issues and country. Large publications like the New York Times and Wall Street Journal also have in-depth coverage on their websites.

Past International Action
• Your committee’s actual UN website. The goal of a committee is to pass a resolution, which depends on what a committee can and cannot do. You want to understand your committee’s mandate (why it was created), powers (what it can do), organization (how it fits into the UN and the larger international community), and membership (who’s in it).
• The UN Charter. If you are in a GA, ECOSOC, or Security Council committee, then the source of your committee’s power is the UN Charter. If you are in a regional organization like NATO or OAS, then you are still affected by the Charter, particularly Chapter VII on international security and Chapter VIII on regional arrangements.

Resolutions, Treaties, and Conventions: Before you can do anything on the topic, you need to know what’s already been done. You can find past resolutions through the UN documentation center, although it can be difficult to navigate. Once you’ve found the latest resolution, the preambulatory clauses should direct you to other resolutions. The most relevant piece of international law on your topic might not be a past resolution, but instead a treaty or convention.

Country Policy

• CIA World Factbook. Every MUNers go-to source for essential information on their country. You want to know your country’s location, neighbors, population size, type of government, type of economy, trade partners, and the international organizations it’s a part of. Not knowing this information as your country’s representative can be potentially embarrassing.
• Speeches and Press Releases. These are the ways that policy-makers set policy. Be sure to use speeches and press releases from people in the executive branch of your country’s current government (President, Prime Minister, Foreign Minister / Secretary of State, Ambassadors). Legislators and judges may say something different, but as a representative of your country, you work for the Head of State / Head of Government. Start with the website for your country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs / Department of State.
• Voting Record. Actions speak louder than words. If your country’s leaders have not clearly articulated a policy on your topic, then you can infer it from how your country has voted on past resolutions, treaties, and conventions (or whether they were even present). Note that recent speeches may indicate a change in policy away from however your country has voted in the past, especially if your government has changed administrations. Nonetheless, you still want to know how your country’s past actions on the topic, for your own knowledge, and in case anyone asks.

Possible Solutions

• UN Reports: Many times, the United Nations has produced reports on what they believe needs to be done next on the topic. They may be referred to as a report of the Secretary General, recommendations by a high-level panel, or an outcome document of a conference.
• Think Tanks. Organizations like RAND are paid to come up with solutions to the topics you discuss in Model UN. Think tank publications have more depth and evidence than an opinion article, but they’re typically not as dense as an academic paper. They might also be pushing a certain agenda, so be aware of that. Otherwise, they are a great starting point for proposing potential solutions.
• Your Ideas. Include in your binder your position papers, working papers, notes, thoughts, as well as blank lined paper – Don’t rely on a conference to bring enough paper for draft resolutions and note passing. You can do all the research you want, and you can be really fast and efficient at it, but none of that matters until you boil down what you’ve read into ideas that you can explain in your own words.

Working Papers & Resolutions:

The purpose of the United Nations is to solve global problems. Diplomats work together to develop solutions to these problems. When they’ve agreed on these solutions, they write them down into a written document called a resolution.
At the conference and as a ModelUN delegate, your goal is to work with the committee bloc to help write a resolution. This means you need to share your possible solutions with other delegates, listen to their possible solutions, decide what you agree on, and write it all into a resolution. These resolutions will be voted on, and the goal of every committee is to pass one or more resolutions.

Resolution writing is important not just because that’s what real UN diplomats work on. Resolution writing teaches you about negotiation, teamwork, and diplomacy. You need to listen to other delegates; if they feel like you’re not really listening, they won’t work with you. You will have to understand another perspective that is different than your own or the country you represent. And you will have to decide what you agree on and disagree on, and turn that into a written document that others can understand. Resolution writing lies at the heart of MUN. But first, you need to learn how to write a resolution. Check out the sample resolution on the next page and read “Basics of a Resolution” to understand what each part of the resolution means. Then, you should practice writing a resolution with your teammates on a practice topic like “Bullying.” (i.e. What should your school do to prevent bullying? As a team, write a resolution about that topic.) After you’ve understood the parts of a resolution and how to write one, the next chapter on “Rules of Procedure” will explain when and how the actual resolution writing process takes place during the conference.

Important: Pre-written resolutions are not allowed at the conferences. Meaning you cannot write a resolution on your assigned topic and bring that to the conference. If you do so and are caught, you may be dismissed from the conference.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sample Resolution:

Committee: General Assembly 1st Committee
Topic: Child Soldiers
Sponsors: China, Rwanda, Russia
Signatories: DR Congo, India, North Korea
RESOLUTION 1.1

The General Assembly,

Concerned that children are being recruited for military purposes,

Recognizing that the disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration programmes (DDR) are too rigid, unable to adapt to different situations of different soldiers,

Understanding that DDR programmes are costly and unaffordable for countries who are having the issue of child soldiers,

Concerned for the safety of the people involved in carrying out DDR,

1. Endorses funding for the International Rescue Committee and NGOs to set up schools as to give former child soldiers an education and equip them with different skills to direct them away from a life of violence after conflict, including: a. Elementary schools, b. Middle schools, c. High schools, and, d. Colleges;
2. Calls upon countries to create military units specifically to directly rescue or counter the use of child soldiers in their country by rebel militias;
3. Recommends the setting up of “rehabilitation villages” to collect all former child soldiers and rehabilitate them, focusing on sustainability, holistic skill building, and education;
4. Reminds countries subscribing to these recommendations that rehabilitating every child will depend on individual cases.

Basics of a Resolution
A resolution has three main parts: the heading, the preambulatory clauses, and the operative clauses. We’ll break down the example above into these three parts below.
1. Heading This is the heading section from the sample resolution: Committee: General Assembly 1st Committee Topic: Child Soldiers Sponsors: China, Rwanda, Russia Signatories: DR Congo, India, North Korea The heading contains four pieces of information: • Committee: This is the name of your committee. • Topic: This is the name of your topic. • Sponsors: This is a list of the delegates (shown by the name of the countries they represent) who participated in writing the resolution. These delegates are the strongest supporters of the resolution. Your goal is to be a sponsor on a resolution. • Signatories: This is a list of the delegates who want to see the resolution debated. They do not necessarily support the resolution; they may be undecided. Signatories are important because the CCCMUN rules of procedure require every resolution to have a specific number of sponsors and signatories before being debated.

2. Pre-ambulatory Clauses – Spell out what has been done on the topic by the United Nations or legal justification. It also outlines the issues or problem to be addressed These are the perambulatory clauses from the sample resolution: Concerned that children are being recruited for military purposes, Recognizing that the disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration programmes (DDR) are too rigid, unable to adapt to different situations of different soldiers, Understanding that DDR programmes are costly and unaffordable for countries who are having the issue of child soldiers, Concerned for the safety of the people involved in carrying out DDR,

The preambulatory clauses state all the issues that the committee wants to resolve on this issue. It may state reasons why the committee is working on this issue and highlight previous international actions on the issue.
Pre-ambulatory clauses can include:
• Past UN resolutions, treaties, or conventions related to the topic,
• Past regional, non-governmental, or national efforts in resolving this topic,
• References to the UN Charter or other international frameworks and laws,
• Statements made by the Secretary-General or a relevant UN body or agency, and,
• General background info formation or facts about the topic, its significance, and its impact.

3. Operative Clauses These are the operative clauses from the sample resolution:
   1. Endorses funding for the International Rescue Committee and NGOs to set up schools as to give former child soldiers an education and equip them with different skills to direct them away from a life of violence after conflict, including: a. Elementary schools, b. Middle schools, c. High schools, and, d. Colleges;
   2. Calls upon countries to create military units specifically to directly rescue or counter the use of child soldiers in their country by rebel militias;
   3. Recommends the setting up of “rehabilitation villages” to collect all former child soldiers and rehabilitate them, focusing on sustainability, holistic skill building, and education;
   4. Reminds countries subscribing to these recommendations that rehabilitating every child will depend on individual cases.
   Operative clauses state the solutions that the sponsors of the resolution propose to resolve the issues. The operative clauses should address the issues specifically mentioned in the preambulatory clauses above it. To write an operative clause, take a solution that you want to include in the draft resolution. You then take that solution, combine it with an underlined operative phrase, and end it with a semicolon (the last operative clause ends with a period). Operative clauses are also numbered. This differentiates them from preambulatory clauses, helps show logical progression in the resolution, and makes the operative clauses easy to refer to in speeches and comments.

Section 2: Your Country’s Policy Positions & Speeches

Suggested language to use when communicating your country’s foreign policy

Copies of recent speeches & press releases from your country on your topics: speeches are the ways that policy-makers set policy. Be sure to use speeches and press releases from people in the executive branch of your country’s current government (President, Prime Minister, Foreign Minister / Secretary of State, Ambassadors).

Voting records of your country for Specific Treaties/Resolutions heavily cited in the Background Guide. Actions speak louder than words. For example, if your topic includes the Paris Agreement you should know if your country is a signatory and if it has ratified the agreement yet, Signing is NOT the same as ratifying, so you need to know both. You also need to know if your country has voted “yes”, “no”, or “abstain” on UN resolutions pertinent to your topic. If your country’s leaders have not clearly articulated a policy on your topic, then you can infer it from how your country has voted on past resolutions, treaties, and conventions (or whether they were even present). Note that recent speeches may indicate a change in policy away from however your country has voted in the past, especially if your government has changed administrations. Nonetheless, you still want to know how your country’s past actions on the topic, for your own knowledge, and in case anyone asks.

Section 3: Research on your Topics

Recent News Articles on your topic. You want to know the latest news on your topics, as well as your own country. The simplest way to do this is to run searches on Yahoo! News and Google News, and print out the headlines. BBC Online also features easy-to-use timelines and profiles on your issues and country. Large publications like the New York Times and Wall Street Journal also have in-depth coverage on their websites.

Reports & Blog Posts about your topic from think tanks. Organizations like Brookings, Council on Foreign Relations, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), RAND, & others are paid to come up with solutions to the topics you discuss in Model UN. Think tank publications have more depth and evidence than an opinion article, but they’re typically not as dense as an academic paper. They might also be pushing a certain agenda, so be aware of that. Otherwise, they are a great starting point for proposing potential solutions.

Hard copies of select resolutions, treaties, and documents heavily cited in the Background Guide: Before you can do anything on the topic, you need to know what’s already been done (for example, if you’re on the NPT committee you should have a hard copy of the actual NPT)

 

 

 

 

Section 4: Writing Position Paper and giving speeches

Policy Position Papers

A copy of your policy position paper!

Position Papers from key allies (hint: Download and print the position papers from allies, countries with good ideas, and any country you might be interested in working with. Do NOT plagiarize other papers! Use these to quickly forge interests and begin drafting working papers using their ideas + your ideas)

 

Policy Position Paper
A position paper is a two-page document that describes your country’s position on the topic and what you country wants to do about it. Writing a position paper is important because it helps you understand what you need to say and do at an MUN conference. In the process of writing the position paper, you will need to read through your research, understand it, analyze it, and think critically about your country. You can take the position paper with you to the CCCMUN conference, and it help guide what to say in your speeches and what you want to achieve in negotiations and resolutions.

You should write a position paper on each of your topics. A position paper contains the following sections, each which should be 1-3 paragraphs long: • Topic Background • Past International Action • Country Policy • Possible Solutions • Sources

You can see that the position paper sections match the sections in your research binder. You can use your research binder to write each section. So if you created a well-organized research binder, you’ve already done half the work. Each section should answer the following questions:

Topic Background • What is the definition of the topic? • Where does the topic take place? Who is involved? • How many people does it affect? Where, and in what ways? • When did this topic become an issue?

What has the UN done on the topic or Past International Action • What has the UN (e.g. your committee) tried to do on this topic? • What are the most important resolutions and treaties on this topic? • What are the two (or more) sides to this topic?

What is your assigned countries Policy • How has this topic impacted your country? • What has your country tried to do about this topic? • What have your political leaders (your President, Prime Minister, or Foreign Minister) said about this topic? (Find quotes)

Possible Solutions • What is a possible solution that your country would support? Consider an existing solution that could be expanded with more support or funding. • How would this solution be funded?

 

Sample Position Paper Committee:
General Assembly Topic: Child Soldiers
Country: Rwanda

Address the Topic
For years millions of children have been exploited as soldiers for the betterment of their countries or rebel groups located in their countries. Taken away from their families to military camps, in which they experience a life that bears no similarity to the comforts of a normal childhood, these children are trained as little more than weapons that can act as fighters on the front line of battle, or even as spies or guards. These children, separated from their families and all they have known in their previous lives, face significant setbacks in development and general well-being, as they experience the traumas of battle that adults can barely handle. Furthermore, the question exists of how to bring these children through the long process of transitioning out of a militant lifestyle back into the lives they should have had, free of violence and full of support and comfort.

Past International Action

In 1989 the United Nations created the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which defined a child as anyone under the age of 18 and laid out the right of a child to survive and be protected from harmful influences and abuse. In 2002, the Optional Protocol was added to the Convention, which said that all soldiers must be 18 or older. 100 countries have signed it. UNICEF and other NGOs send aid to countries in which child soldiers are prevalent and work to rehabilitate and reintegrate these children into society. A notable NGO is the Invisible Children, which brought awareness to the issue through its “Kony 2012” campaign.

Country Policy Position on the topic:
Rwanda condemns the use of child soldiers and has made marked efforts to end the exploitation of children in the army. In accordance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, voluntary military service is only permitted after reaching the age of 18. However many child soldiers still exist through non-governmental military organizations, which human rights laws cannot affect, making improvement slow and challenging. Rwanda is committed to promoting peace, security, and stability within borders; however, the country’s right to sovereignty must be protected.

Possible Solutions
Rwanda proposes plan AEIR to counter the use of child soldiers in Rwandan territory:
• The first step is apprehension of individuals suspected of facilitating the use of child soldiers in non-governmental militant groups.
• Second, enforcement of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, along with the Optional Protocol, must be refined so strict regulation covers all militant groups within Rwanda.
• Third, thorough investigation must be made into allegations of Rwandan authorities’ facilitation of child soldiers into militant groups, particularly M23.
• Fourth, Rwanda desires to further expand DDR Programs with the focus of returning former child soldiers to a normal life in society. Funding for plan AEIR can come from World Bank loans or funding from the UN, and federal funding will be used to expand DDR Programs established by UNICEF and NGOs. Any form of aid from the UN or outside countries is welcome; however, in order to protect the sovereignty of Rwanda any other form of intervention into Rwandan territory is prohibited.

Sources
• https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/rw.html
• http://www.un.org/cyberschoolbus/briefing/soldiers/soldiers.pdf • http://www.child-soldiers.org/news_reader.php?id=692
• http://www.minaffet.gov.rw/index.php?id=918

Speeches/Public Speaking

THREE Pre-written speeches: Agenda setting speech; Opening speech for each topic; At least 1 solution oriented speech from your position paper

 

Public Speaking

Public speaking is a highly valuable skill you have the opportunity to develop through Model United Nations. Knowing how to prepare and deliver well-organized and thoughtful speeches will help you in school, your future career, and the rest of your life. At a conference, you will have many opportunities to give speeches. As the representative of your assigned country, you will be expected to speak about your country’s policy on the committee topics and your proposed solutions. There are three ways you can give speeches at the conference:

• Speakers List: When the committee begins, the chair (the person leading the committee) will create a list of delegates who wish to give speeches. These speeches are typically about the topic, country policy, and possible solutions, and range from 1-2 minutes long. The first time you speak on the speakers list is referred to as your opening speech. You should prepare this speech before the conference. After your first speech, you can sent a note to the chair to request being re-added to the speakers list.
• Comments: After a delegate makes a speech, the chair will ask if other delegates would like to make a short comment. Comments are typically about whether a delegate agrees or disagrees with the speaker, and range from 30 seconds to 1 minute long. To make good comments, you need to listen to other delegates’ speeches, decide whether or not you agree or disagree with they said, and explain why. The key is not being afraid to raise your placard after every speech.
• Caucus: The moderated caucus will be explained in more detail in the next chapter on Rules of Procedure, but the moderated caucus is different than the speakers list. Whereas the speakers list is about the topic in general, a moderated caucus is about a specific question on the topic. For example, a delegate may motion for a moderated caucus to discuss a specific draft resolution. The speakers list tells you who is going to speak next, but a moderated caucus has no list; delegates must raise their placards and wait for the chair to call on them to speak. Each delegate typically gets 30 seconds to 1 minute to speak. A moderated caucus is like having a conversation with your entire committee.

This section will focus on helping you prepare your opening speech, since that is the one speech you can fully prepare for. Your goal is to prepare a 1-minute opening speech. Read the next section on opening speeches to learn how to organize your speech. Then use the opening speech worksheet to write out your speech. You should use information from your position paper. Finally, practice your opening speech with your teammates.

Preparing an Opening Speech

The purpose of the opening speech is to share your country’s policy on the committee topic. Your speech should begin in an engaging way that gets the committee to listen to you. And your speech should end by telling the committee what they should be doing about the topic.

The easiest way to organize your opening speech is in three parts:
• Hook: An engaging way to grab your audience’s attention;
• Point: Your country policy on the topic; and,
• Action: Your possible solutions to the topic.

Each part is explained in more detail below. Hook The beginning of a speech should grab your audience’s attention. It should give your audience a reason to listen to you – otherwise they will fall asleep. An attention-grabbing introduction is often called a “hook.” There are many different types of hooks, but here are a few common ones that work well in MUN.

Question: Asking the audience a question is often an easy way to get their attention because it prompts them to think of how they might respond. Example: “Do you think it is possible for us to live in a world without poverty? The people of my country think so. We believe we can achieve the end of poverty.”

Quote: Beginning with a quote is another easy way to gain attention because it prompts the audience to think how they know it. Example: “Fifty years ago, United States President John F. Kennedy said, ‘Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.’ Today, ask not what the world can do for you, but what you can do for the world.”

Statistic: A statistic can grab an audience’s attention if it is surprising or genuinely interesting. Example: “Over 1 billion people around the world live on less than US$1.25 a day. Over 1 billion people live in extreme poverty.”
Story: A story is the oldest form of communication and if told well, can certainly grab an audience’s attention. But speeches in MUN are typically very short, so keep the story brief! Example: “One year ago, in rural Pakistan, a girl was walking to school, minding her own business, when a gunshot rang out – and she was shot in the head. The Taliban did not want her to go to school – they did not want any girls to go to school. But that girl survived, and today she fights for girls’ right to education around the world. That girl’s name was Malala, and today is her birthday – today is Malala Day.”

It is not simply enough to use a question, a quote, a statistic, or a story to begin the speech – it must grab the audience’s attention.

Point
The point is the purpose of your speech. It is your main message. It is your answer to the prompt. It is the reason why you’re speaking. Once you have you audience’s attention, you should deliver your point. State it succinctly in one sentence. MUN speeches are often short, so stick to one point. Make it significant but simple to understand. It is better to say one thing well than many things poorly. In opening speeches in MUN, the “point” is to state your country policy on the topic. Then offer 2-3 reasons explaining why your country had adopted this policy. Example: “The Republic of Korea believes that education is a human right, and that all people should have access to education. Korea has a very strong education system, but some of the most well-educated students in the world; we know the value of education. So we believe that all countries and all people should have proper access to education. And historically we have support many UN and NGO programs that provide education, especially to those living in developing countries.”

Action

Good speeches end with a “call to action,” which is when you tell your audience to go and do something. If you point was convincing, then your audience should be ready to do something they would not have otherwise done before. In opening speeches, a good call to action would be proposing one of your possible solutions. You want to call the committee, the United Nations, and the international community to action by adopting one of your possible solutions to the topic. Example: “To provide universal access to education, Korea proposes the creation of an international fund called ‘Education For All’ that will support 3 programs in developing countries: building more schools, training new teachers, and preventing girls from dropping out of school. Korea calls upon the international community to create and donate to this fund. If you like this idea, feel free to send us a note or meet us in the next unmoderated caucus to discuss this further.

Example Speech On July 12, 2013, Malala Yousafzai spoke at the United Nations on the right to education. The following are excerpts from her speech that follow the Opening Speech format.

Hook: Malala’s story of being attacked by the Taliban – and surviving – is a powerful hook.
Dear Friends, on the 9th of October 2012, the Taliban shot me on the left side of my forehead. They shot my friends too. They thought that the bullets would silence us. But they failed. And then, out of that silence came, thousands of voices. The terrorists thought that they would change our aims and stop our ambitions but nothing changed in my life except this: weakness, fear and hopelessness died. Strength, power and courage was born. I am the same Malala. My ambitions are the same. My hopes are the same. My dreams are the same.

Point: The purpose of Malala’s speech is to promote the right to education. She believes so strongly in the right to education, she would want the children of her attackers to have an education.
Dear sisters and brothers, I am not against anyone. Neither am I here to speak in terms of personal revenge against the Taliban or any other terrorists group. I am here to speak up for the right of education of every child. I want education for the sons and the daughters of all the extremists especially the Taliban. I do not even hate the Talib who shot me. Even if there is a gun in my hand and he stands in front of me, I would not shoot him.

Action: Malala calls upon world leaders and global citizens to “pick up their books and pens” – a metaphor for the right to education.
Dear sisters and brothers, now it’s time to speak up. We call upon the world leaders that all the peace deals must protect women and children’s rights. We call upon all governments to ensure free compulsory education for every child all over the world. We call upon the developed nations to support the expansion of educational opportunities for girls in the developing world. So let us wage a global struggle against illiteracy, poverty and terrorism and let us pick up our books and pens. They are our most powerful weapons. One child, one teacher, one pen and one book can change the world.