Student’s Guide: How to write a Position

Paper?
When grading Position Papers, many conferences put up to 50% of the paper’s weight into
the proposed solution section. This meant that, for delegates who want Research Awards or
simply want to know where to concentrate their efforts, the best option is the solution
focused paper. If done correctly not only will your paper be concise, complete, and
organized, but you will find your proposed solutions section much simpler to write.

A good position paper will include:

1. A brief introduction to your country and its history concerning the topic and committee;
2. How the issue affects your country;
3. Your country’s policies with respect to the issue and your country’s justification for
these
policies;
4. Quotes from your country’s leaders about the issue;
5. Statistics to back up your country’s position on the issue;
6. Actions taken by your government with regard to the issue;
7. Conventions and resolutions that your country has signed or ratified;
8. UN actions that your country supported or opposed;
9. What your country believes should be done to address the issue;
10. What your country would like to accomplish in the committee’s resolution;
11. How the positions of other countries affect your country’s position

The proposals stated in the position paper need not be lengthy, but should make it apparent
that the delegate understands the complexities of the topic under the discussion. Ideally, it
should be a page long or at maximum a page and a half long.

On the next page, you will see an example of what a position paper might look like. There is
no particular format or style, but rather a suggested model for the document.
 Palestine - Israel Conflict
Name: Leyla İnci
School/University: Cevizlibağ Doğa Schools
Committee: United Nations Security Council
Delegate: Russian Federation

Russia's role as one of the 'Quartet' gives Russia back a leading role in attempts to
provide a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Russia advocated an international
peacekeeping force for the region in 1994, and recent statements suggest that Russia may
favor its imposition by force.

Russia is a close neighbor of the Near East and Gulf region. Russia has built major
power stations, plants and dams – unique dams - in the region and there are many Russians
there - there are 800,000 former Russians and former Soviet citizens in Israel. Over 100,000
families in the Arab world are related to families in Russia. Almost 20 million Russian
Muslims regularly visit Mecca in their tens of thousands.

Russia, as a great power, has two key roles with regard to the Middle East. Firstly, it is a close
neighbor, a major power with very broad interests, economic, political, spiritual, religious,
and, of course, military. Its second role is as a permanent member of the Security Council and
a co- sponsor alongside the USA in the Middle East peace process

The development of a much closer relationship between Russia and the West since
September
2001 and the worsening situation between Israel and the Palestinians have given Russia
greater opportunity to pursue active diplomacy in the region in the hope of promoting a
settlement. The intensification of the dispute has led to calls within Russia and elsewhere
for an international peacekeeping force to keep the peace between the Palestinians and
Israel. Such an idea was put forward by then foreign minister Andrey Kozyrev as far back as
March 1994, and Russian participation was offered. On 6th July 2001, foreign minister Igor
Ivanov stated that Russia believes that an international presence in the Middle East "in a
form acceptable to both Palestine
and Israel would help to check the dangerous tendencies in that region."

We believe that the mutual Israeli-Palestinian aggression has entered the stage where the
imposition of peace should be the single common line of the world community interested in
a Middle East settlement.