A resolution is a document that presents the issues a committee wants to solve and the solutions that are proposed for that issue. Any delegate in a committee may write a resolution, and the author of the resolution is the submitter of this resolution. Most resolutions have multiple submitters – with a main submitter and co-submitters – so that different countries may share their ideas and come to a consensus. For LFSMUN, delegates will be allowed to prepare by writing a resolution before the day of the conference.
How do you write a resolution?
A resolution has three main parts: the heading, the pre-ambulatory clauses and the operative clauses. Grammatically, the entire resolution is one single sentence so no clause should begin a new sentence, and a full stop only comes at the end of the very last clause of the resolution.
1- Heading: FORUM: (committee; e.g. Human Rights Council) QUESTION OF: (topic, e.g. addressing the humanitarian situation in Syria) MAIN SUBMITTER: (submitter’s nation, e.g. Russian Federation) CO-SUBMITTER: (other submitters’ nations)
2- Pre-ambulatory clauses: Before the pre-ambulatory clauses, the name of the committee must be stated in capital letters. The pre-ambulatory clauses present all the issues that the committee wants to resolve in the resolution. It can mention previous international actions and efforts to resolve the issue, state the significance and refer to past resolution and other international laws, treaties and conventions. The opening of pre-ambulatory clauses should be italicized, and a clause opening should not be repeated in its exact form. Pre-ambulatory clauses must always end with commas.
Example: THE HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL, Recalling the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which recognizes the dignity, equality and rights of all global citizens,
3- Operative clauses The operative clauses are the solutions that the submitters of the resolution suggests in order to resolve the issues. The operative clauses should respond to the specific issues that were previously presented in the pre-ambulatory clauses. Big operative clause may have sub-clauses and then sub-sub-clauses, numbered in the following order:
1. [clause] a) [sub-clause] (operative numbers should align with the first letter of the pre-ambulatory clause) i. [sub-sub-clause] There is always a line-space between the end of one clause and the beginning of the next. Operative clauses, except for the final one, must always end in semi-colons. Operative clause opening should be underlined. Like pre-ambulatory clause openings, no operative clause opening should be repeated in its exact form. The final clause usually is : “Remains actively seized on the matter” in order to conclude the resolution. Example: 1. Urges all member states to comply with the goals of the UN Department of Humanitarian Affairs to streamline efforts of humanitarian aid; 2. ….. 10. Remains actively seized on the matter. Written by Lucie Liu, Director of Outreach of LFSMUN I