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Back to Unit 6: Preparing for More Complex Conferences.
While most Model UN committees produce and vote on Resolutions, occasionally, you may be assigned to a committee which is drafting a report or declaration. In many ways, writing a report or declaration is similar to a Resolution in that it is a statement of policy, offering solutions to the matter you have been debating. However, they also differ in many ways. You will usually only prepare one report per committee (instead of multiple resolutions). Unlike Resolutions, which are essentially one long sentence, a report or declaration has many sentences in paragraph form. They tend to offer recommendations, rather than Operative Clauses. Often, the report or declaration requires the agreement of all member states in the committee, not just a simple majority.
The chairs of your committee may offer a specific template for how to write the report or declaration for your committee. If so, please read it very carefully; nothing here should be seen to supersede the guidance of your chair.
How To Write a Report or Declaration
Usually, different groups in your committee will work on different parts of the report or declaration. Reports go through the same edits as a resolution — with a working paper, draft report segment, then a final report segment.
Reports tend to have three parts:
- Introduction
- Mandate
- Conclusions and Recommendations.
Usually there are sub-headings using A, B, C, etc. to cover the subtopics. It is important to be organized when writing a report, for each sub-header must correspond with the main topic. Please refer to the Resolution article for the proper words to use when writing a report or resolution. You may use the suggested words for the Introduction as you would as writing a Preambulatory clause, and for your conclusions and recommendations, you can use the phrases suggested for writing an Operative Clauses.
With a small committee, reports are easy. However, with large committees it can be difficult to create one cohesive document. Try your best in collaborating with others. You will most likely work on just one segment, so that is good place to insert elements from your three-point plan.
For further details on how to write a report, please refer to the NMUN Delegate guide, starting on page 22.
Katie James with input from Kelsey McGhee and Matthew Bolton, for Pace University, 2013. Version 3.0 BETA. For information, permissions or corrections, contact Dr. Matthew Bolton, mbolton@pace.edu