* ALL posts should be diplomatic and respectful of other delegates
* Only delegates and researchers may post in committees
* Posts should be restricted to topics designated at the top of each caucus area
* Posts should include your name and country/observer assignment in the 'Subject' line and a valid email address in the 'Email' line (email addresses which 'bounce' may result in a delegate's removal from the Participants List)
* If a delegate holds dual positions (e.g. Spain and EU Observer) each address should be signed as ONE of the delegations s/he represents
*
GA: Only Delegates, Observers, and Researchers may post in
the General Assembly.
Discussion is limited to those topics which fall under the
jurisdiction of the General Assembly.
* SC: Only Security Council members and
those invited by the SC Chair may post.
Discussion is limited to those topics which fall under the jurisdiction of the
Security Council.
* If a delegate has a complaint or objection about anything that goes on in a committee, procedural or otherwise, they MUST email the Chair. This should be the first step. Do not bring up the issue in the committee - it is unnecessarily distracting to the work that is going on in the virtual simulation.
* If a delegate communicates with the Chair via email and disagrees with a ruling they may first email the Chair a second time to ask for reconsideration, and if they still disagree with the Chair, appeal (also via email) to the UNOL Board of Appeals (composed of SG, past Secretaries-General, all Chairs and one Staff member) for revaluation by members other than the one that made the decision. The procedure followed by the Board of Appeals is here.* If a delegate must, for any reason, be expelled or suspended from UNOL then that delegate is prohibited from posting in any committee or in the Public Discussion Area. Normally an expulsion will last for one year after which time the delegate may return to the site under probation if he/she wishes to continue participating. This remains at the discretion of the Staff and Secretariat. Suspension periods are determined as and when necessary, relating to the specific case.
* Any postings that do not conform to the Guidelines will be removed without warning at the discretion of the Chair. If a delegate believes a post to be inappropriate they are asked to contact the respective Chair, preferably with the message number of the post (the URL is also useful).
SOME
"COMMON SENSE" SUGGESTIONS FROM A DELEGATE:
1) UNOL is not the UN. Face this.
2) You are an unpaid guest of the owners of UNOL. Respect their wishes since
you are participating with their hospitality - you have no "right" to
change the way the site runs. Suggestions are always welcomed, but do not
presume they have to be carried out.
3) Try to show respect for other delegates. If you dislike a delegate do not
necessarily make a public display on the caucus pages - that is disrespectful.
4) Don't make personal attacks on other delegates. If nobody did there would be
no personal attacks. Everyone would have to admit this would be better.
5) If you think someone is wrong, or procedure is not being followed, then
email that person politely, or the Chair, or if necessary the Staff, and get
the issue settled IN PRIVATE. A public argument is not constructive to debate
about the issues at hand.
6) UNOL is different from other MUNs for various reasons. If you don't approve
of adapting the UN Charter to an online environment then stay offline.
7) Try to take everything within context. You are only representing a country -
if someone disagrees with your policies do not take it as a personal attack.
All delegates are respectfully requested to submit a
Position Paper for their country that will be linked to the country's
name on the Participants page at http://www.unol.org/particip.shtml. Some information about writing a Position Paper is available on the
site at http://www.unol.org/pospaper.shtml. Send your position paper in an e-mail to staff@unol.org and it will be put into
HTML and loaded up ASAP. Additions, changes, and corrections should
also be sent via e-mail.
Working
Papers and Resolutions | Topic Discussions | Amendments
| Motions
Course of Debate | Voting and Quorum
Calls
NOTE: All procedures listed below apply for all the caucus areas (except for the Public Discussion Area - see below), unless otherwise stated.
WORKING PAPERS AND RESOLUTIONS:
* Resolutions should consider problems in the 'real world' -- taking everything of which delegates are aware into account, and envisioning the delegates' best idea of what should be done about the problem. Any implementation in UNOL of passed resolutions will necessarily be only at the discretion of the secretariat/staff, due to the nature of UNOL.
* GA: A resolution MUST first pass through the Lobbying Area as a Working
Paper before it can be debated in the General Assembly.
* SC: Resolutions in the Security Council do not need to go through the Working
Paper process and can be submitted directly to the Chair
of the Security Council for inclusion on the agenda.
* Working Papers must be submitted to the Lobby Area Moderator for inclusion on the Working Papers Bulletin Board.
* Working papers should be discussed in the Lobbying Area. A working paper must have been placed on the Working Papers Bulletin Board and have been discussed for at least a week before being submitted to the General Assembly. This process is used to encourage the improvement of papers that have been submitted even before they reach the GA.
* To qualify as a resolution for the General Assembly a Working Paper must obtain a total of FIVE signatures, including that of the original sponsor.
* Working Papers which have qualified must then be submitted to the GA President for inclusion on the GA Agenda. The sponsor(s) of the Working Paper must also email the Lobby Area Moderator as notification that the paper has been sent to the GA President.
* A resolution that has been submitted will be added as the next item for discussion on the Agenda. If there is more than one item pending, the Chair may use his/her discretion to decide which item is debated next OR whether to hold an Agenda Item Vote to allow delegates to decide.
* If there are no items pending for discussion the Chair, or a delegate, may submit a motion to the Chair asking for an 'Open Discussion' on a specific topic (possibly leading up to the drafting of a resolution).
* The Chair may at his/her discretion decide to set the Agenda of his/her caucus area to a topic of choice.
* The sponsor(s) must then inform the Chair (and the proposition of the amendment) whether the amendment is 'friendly' or 'unfriendly'.
* Friendly amendments are included into a resolution automatically.
* Amendments marked as Unfriendly require THREE signatories (inclusive of sponsor) to qualify for a vote. Unfriendly amendments proceed to a vote (if qualified) when the debate/submission of amendments deadline is reached. Amendments which pass the vote are included into the resolution.
* Amendments must be emailed to the sponsor(s) and the Chair within the deadline for debate/submission of amendments. Amendments submitted after this time cannot be accepted.
* The sponsor(s) is/are allowed an additional THREE days after the debate/submission of amendments deadline to review all the amendments that have been submitted. They MUST inform the Chair which amendments are friendly and which are unfriendly by the end of this time.
* Motions must not be posted on the Caucus Page of a committee.
* Motions must be submitted to the Chair of the committee.
* The Chair will rule the motion in or out of order: if a motion is ruled in order the Chair will post the motion on the caucus page and call for seconding/opposition.
* If there is no seconding the motion automatically fails. If there is seconding but no opposition the motion automatically passes. If there is both seconding and opposition then a vote on the motion will take place.
* All timings for the course of debate are at the discretion of the Chair. Recommended/usual timings are included in brackets for information purposes.
* GA: Working paper is introduced to Lobby Area via Lobby Area Moderator and
the Working Papers Bulletin Board.
* SC: Resolution introduced to SC via SC Chair.
* GA: Qualified working paper introduced to GA via CA President.
* Debate on resolution and amendments, and inclusion of friendly amendments (2 weeks)
* Voting on unfriendly amendments (1 week)
* Debate on modified resolution (if unfriendly amendments pass) (4 days)
* Voting on Final Resolution (1 week)
* Voting on a resolution is done by simple majority unless a Motion to Make an Important Question is passed in which case a 2/3 majority is required for a resolution to secure passage.
* Voting on a resolution is compulsory and constitutes a Quorum Call (participation check). Observers are required to post 'Observer Present' as a follow-up to a Vote Call to register a 'present' in the Quorum.
* The number of missed quorum calls needed before a delegate is removed is posted for the GA on the Participants Page and for the SC are at the discretion of the chair. From time to time the Staff and Secretariat will also use their discretion on removals, based on the number of missed quorums, time of registration and activity in forums.
* Delegates who are aware they may be absent during a vote are asked to contact the relevant Chair to register a Leave of Absence. They will therefore be exempt from the Quorum Call for the duration of their absence.
* Quorum Call results are posted on the Participants Page.
UNOL is an evolving entity, and has adapted considerably since its foundation. Developments and new ideas are frequently considered. One of these ideas is, when appropriate, to temporarily enable the UNOL Community group (delegates, researchers, secretariat and staff) to work towards Goodwill and the other goals of the site in a real-life active role, utilizing the existing UNOL structure of a Model UN. One way this can be done is through a new form of expression of opinion: a "UNOL Communiqué" endorsed by the "UNOL Community" (defined above) rather than a model of one of the UN organs like the General Assembly.
An example of a UNOL Communiqué would be to empower the Secretary-General, on behalf of UNOL, to endorse a petition or other document relating to the international community and/or the work of the real United Nations.
UNOL Communiqués will be worded like, and look like, resolutions, but there are a few notable differences:
* UNOL Communiqués will copy the usual form of
a resolution. For information on drafting a resolution please read the Resolution
Tutorial
* UNOL Communiqués are submitted to "The UNOL Community" rather
than to the usual organ (General Assembly, Security Council et. al.)
* UNOL Communiqués are discussed in the General Assembly forum in UNOL, but
discussion is open to all delegates, researchers, secretariat and staff and is from a personal point of view *NOT from the role of representing
a country*. That means posts on the topic of a UNOL Communiqué should be
posted using your name, WITHOUT a nation listed. (Since UNOL is an Internet
community and the Internet is borderless, we will use only the names of
individuals in the discussion and voting.) Discussion would otherwise be
the same as discussion on resolutions, in both the Lobbying Area and the GA
forums.
* Voting on UNOL Communiqués is done in the same way as normal voting, except
votes should be posted using ONLY your name *see above*.
* If a UNOL Communiqué is passed, then UNOL will act on the operative clauses
that are included.
Procedure on UNOL Communiqués:
* The usual rules of the General Assembly will be suspended for the duration of
discussion on a UNOL Communiqué. The following rules will be implemented
instead:
* UNOL Communiqués must be submitted to the President of the General Assembly
who will then transfer the paper to the Staff and Secretariat for approval.
Only UNOL Communiqués approved by a majority of members of the Staff and
Secretariat will be eligible for discussion in the General Assembly forum.
* When approved, the UNOL Communiqué will be added as the next item on the GA
Agenda. Normal GA rules will be in operation until the UNOL Communiqué reaches
the floor for discussion, upon which they will be suspended and these rules
implemented.
* Debate timings:
i) the document is approved by the Secretariat and Staff;
ii) the document should be up for discussion in the LA for at least one week,
and obtain at least five signatories, before it is transferred to the GA;
iii) GA Debate deadline: two weeks from date of reaching the floor (debate includes all parties named above as being part of UNOL Community);
iv) Voting period: one week from deadline of debate (voting includes all parties named above as being part of UNOL Community).
* UNOL Communiqués require a 2/3 majority in favour, out of all votes cast, to
secure passage.
* Upon completion of the process, when the Communiqué is finalized, a notation
will be attached as to the vote -- for/against, the number of participants at
the time of the vote, from how many nations. (This is to have a record of how
widespread the represented viewpoint is -- UNOL consists of people from all
across the world participating towards Goodwill. The internet, while
borderless, has enabled us to all take part regardless of our country of
origin.)