RULES OF PROCEDURES

General Rules:

The representatives in the council range from the permanent representatives to

the Council to the heads of states of the Members of the Council depending on
the importance of the crisis.

Member states may invite Observer delegations to participate in the Council.

Observers can participate in the debate, but do not have the right to vote or
raise motions.

Formal dress code is required at all time. For male Delegates, a tie is
obligatory.

Each delegation assumes the responsibility to have present a minimum of one

Representative at each Council session.

The Chair only recognizes the Delegate sitting in the front seat.

A Delegate may only address the Council if he/she has received permission
from the Chair.

Delegates must address the Chair and the Council before addressing the
Council, and only the Chair when addressing the Chair.

The sound level in the room should be maintained to the minimum.

The Chair tolerates no offensive remarks of any kind.

Delegates should not interrupt each others speeches, unless the Delegate has
risen a Point of Personal Privilege.

Delegates may yield some or all of their speech to another delegate or to

points of information (questions).

English is the official language in the council, if a delegation delivers a speech

in another language; immediate translation to English has to be provided.

The Secretariats reserve the right to halt the working process within the
Council in order to take 30 seconds of Caucus.

Keeping the time allocated for speeches is at the discretion of the Chair.

The Chair will have the final authority for any disputes arising as a result of
interpretation of the Rules of Procedure.

The Chair has the right to advise the council on procedural matters.

All Delegates participating in this Council must abide by the rules of

procedure of the Council.

1) Quorum:
For any session to start, at least 50%+1 members (9 in case of SC) must to be
present. The Chair declares the beginning of the session once Quorum is
achieved. The Chair has the right to open the session with no quorum if necessary.
2) Roll Call:
This is the attendance for the meeting. Each delegation will be called upon twice;
if there is no answer then this delegation is not present. Roll Call is to be done
whenever the meeting is suspended, as well as at the beginning of the first topic.
Each Delegation may respond by present or present and voting. Responding by
present and voting waves the delegations right to abstain on substantive matters.
Observers may only respond by present.
Delegations coming in late must send a note to the Chair declaring themselves as
present or present and voting, and the Chair announces that immediately.
3) Adopting the Agenda:
The topic of the meeting has to be agreed upon by the delegations present. The
provisional agenda is read more than once and then the amendments are
entertained. Delegates with amendments are asked for justification. The
amendments are voted upon from the most destructive to the least destructive.
Voting on amendments is substantive. Generally the agenda should not be
changed, however procedurally its valid and sometimes it can be constructive.
The Chair will read the adopted agenda after amendments.
4) Opening Speeches:
Opening Speeches are delivered at the beginning of each topic and should
represent the delegations general stance concerning the topic. No points of order
shall be entertained during opening speeches. Each delegation has 3 minutes to
give its opening speech. Each delegation may postpone its speech or wave its
right to speak. When entertaining postponed speeches, the last delegation to
postpone is the first delegation to speak.
5) Formal Debate:
This is the main form of debate. There is no time limit for the formal debate and
we go by the speakers list. All motions can be entertained during formal session.
After opening Speeches the speakers list is open and delegations can add their
names. Once the speakers list is empty, the topic is automatically closed. No
delegation can be listed on the speakers list more than once. To further add a
delegation to the speakers list, a note has to be sent to the Chair.

6) Informal Debate:
Delegations raise their placards to speak. Giving the floor is at the discretion of
the Chair. The only motions that can be raised during an informal session is a
motion to move back to a formal session or to extend the time for the informal
session, and either of them has to pass by consensus.
7) Caucus:
Delegates are free to move around and rules of procedure do not apply during the
period of caucus. However diplomatic behavior is still expected from all
Delegations. As soon as the time of caucus has elapsed all delegations must be
seated and we resume the debate in a formal session.
8) Motions:
A point of order has to be raised. The type of motion and the timing when
applicable have to be clearly mentioned. If there are objection to the motion, we
vote on the matter procedurally unless mentioned otherwise. Timing has to be
specified for informal debate, caucus and suspension. A motion may be
withdrawn any time prior to voting. Observers cannot raise motions.
Motions in order of precedence: Overruling the Chair, Expelling an Observer,
Declaring a member Party to the conflict, Adjourning, Suspension, Closing,
Voting, changing type of debate.
Moving to informal debate or caucus: changing the form of debate.
Suspending debate: when going to a short break (coffee break, lunch break,
overnightetc.).
Adjourning Meeting: Suspend the meeting until next year. Doesnt entail voting
on any draft resolutions at hand.
Vote on amendments: we move to vote on amendments to a draft resolution(s)
and once done, we are back in the formal debate. This is a substantive vote.
Vote on draft resolution: we move to vote on amendments to a draft
resolution(s) and then vote on the draft resolution(s). Once done, we are back in
the formal debate. This is a substantive vote.
Close debate: we move to vote on amendments to a draft resolution(s) and then
vote on the draft resolution(s). Once done, the debate is automatically closed on
this topic, and we move to entertain other topics if there are any left. Requires a
speaker for and a speaker against. Motions can be raised directly after the debate
is closed.

Overrule the Chair: is raised when the Chair does something incorrect in the
procedures of the council. Requires a speaker for and a speaker against. The Cochair takes over to entertain this motion and replaces chair until next suspension if
motion passes.
Expelling Observers: Motion to expel the Observers from the meeting until next
suspension.
Declaring a member of the Council party to the conflict: If this motion passes,
the delegation which is party to the conflict is now treated as an observer for this
agenda topic.
Challenging the nature of the vote (Double VETO, SC only): this is a
substantive vote and can be raised to change the vote from procedural to
substantive (Is this motion procedural?). If it fails, the vote is substantive; if it
passes, the motion remains procedural. This motion can be raised to challenge
either the motion to expel an observer or to declare a member party to the conflict.

9) Points:
There are six types of points:

Points of order: to raise motions of different kinds. Delegates may not

interrupt a speaker with a point of order.

Points of Clarification (inquiry): to request an explanation on the Rules

of Procedure by the Chair. Delegates may not interrupt a speaker with a
point of Clarification. e.g. How much time left for informal session?,
when is the suspension?, are Observers allowed to vote?...etc.

Points of Personal Privilege: to request a personal matter if it prevents

him/her from participating fully in Council activities. e.g, requesting a
Delegate to raise his voice/repeat his last statementetc.

Points of Information: Used to ask a delegate a question at the end of a

speech. The aforementioned delegate has one additional minute to reply.

Point of Right to Reply: Used if a certain country (B) was directly

mentioned in another country (A)s speech, and (B) wants to reply to it
directly, after (B) makes its reply, country (A) has the freedom to make
only one more reply to it, and then the floor is yielded back to the chair.

Points pertaining to Substantive voting:

o voting by roll call (automatically adopted)
o clause by clause (voted upon procedurally if there are objections)
o Division of Draft Resolution (voted upon procedurally if there are
objections, requires a speaker for and a speaker against)
o add/withdraw Delegations name from sponsors list (sponsors
must agree to addition)

During debate, points of Personal privilege have precedence on point of

clarification, which in turn have precedence on points of order. Delegates may
only interrupt a speaker with a point of Personal Privilege.
10) Voting:
Formal Voting Procedures are the most sacred part of the Rules of Procedure.
During Voting, there should be no note passing, no moving in or out of the room
(doors are closed), no switching seats and no side talks. No points of any kind are
entertained during voting except points of clarification concerned with the voting
process and points of Personal privilege. The Chair should clarify the type of vote,
the required majority and whether the Observers are allowed to vote. Each
member state has one vote.
There are two types of voting, procedural and substantive.
Procedural: the vote may be either yes or no, no abstentions are allowed. 9
affirmative votes is required for this vote to pass. Each member state has
one vote. Observers may (not) vote. Voting on all motions is procedural.
Substantive: Delegates may vote yes, no and abstentions are allowed. This
vote requires 50%+1 Majority to pass. Each member state has one vote.
Observers may not vote. Abstentions are allowed and do not count against
consensus (VETO), being interpreted as an absence of the abstaining state
from voting procedure. Voting on amendments to the agenda, amendments
to any draft resolution and voting on the draft resolution itself are
substantive.
When voting on a resolution clause-by-clause, each clause is read and then voted
upon separately. After that the draft resolution is further read and voted upon as a
whole. Only Operative clauses are voted upon.
11) Resolution:
Once a draft resolution is handed to the Chair, the Chair announces it received a
draft resolution and reads it to the Council. The Floor is then open for
amendments for a certain period of time decided by the Chair. After the time for
amendments elapses the Chair will not accept any further amendments.

The Chair should read the draft resolution once received, before and after voting
on amendments and finally before voting on it. Once adopted, the resolution is
read in its adopted version. Any delegate may ask the chair to further read the
draft resolution.
The main writers of the draft resolution are recognized as Sponsors. There must
be at least five sponsors on a draft resolution and a maximum of seven to be
recognized by the Chair. If during points pertaining to substantive voting, number
of sponsors to a draft resolution becomes less than 5, the Chair would ask any
delegations wishing to add their names to the speakers list to do so, and this has
to be approved by the remaining sponsors. If the number of sponsors remains less
than 5, the Chair disregards the draft resolution.
Amendments correcting grammatical, spelling or formatting mistakes will be
automatically adopted without vote from the Council, at the discretion of the
Chair. Amendments to Amendments are out of order. Amendments must be
submitted in the aforementioned format, otherwise it will not be considered by the
Chair. If one Amendment implies the rejection of a second Amendment, the
second Amendment will not be voted upon. The amendments are voted upon from
the most destructive to the least destructive.
Once an amendment is brought on the floor, the Chair asks if the Sponsors to the
draft resolution have any objections, if they do not this amendment is considered
friendly and it passes. If the Sponsors have objections, the Amendment is
considered unfriendly and subject to substantive voting. A passed Amendment
shall be automatically included in the Draft resolution. Sponsors may not send
amendments; Observers may not send amendments or vote on them.
After amendments the chair asks if there are any points pertaining mentioned
earlier- before proceeding with voting on the resolution as a whole if the motion
raised entails so.
If two or more draft resolutions relate to the same topic, they shall be voted upon
in the order in which they were submitted.
A nation may record a formal Reservation if a particular part of a proposal is
partially unacceptable to that nation. This reservation is raised at the time of
voting and will be formally recorded on the proposal in question. Accepting a
reservation is at the discretion of the Chair. The right of recording a reservation
should not be abused. (Council dependent)
12) Diplomatic Warnings:

Given by the Chair when a delegation acts in a non-diplomatic or disruptive way.

If a delegation is given two diplomatic warnings, it is expelled from the meeting.