Position Paper tips and sample

position paper Sample

Committee Name:

Committee Topic: 

Country Name: 

Your Name: 

Background of the Topic:

*What is the issue? What is the controversy?

*Historical background and causes of the problem.

*What nations are directly involved with or are affected by the issue? 

*What effect does this problem have on the international community?

United Nations Involvement:

*What role has the United Nations played in the issue (i.e. resolutions, speeches, conferences, aide contributed, other)?

Country Policy and Involvement:

*Your nation’s involvement (if any) with the topic?

* Your nation’s position on the topic and opinion.

• Possible solutions your country would plan to propose?

good position paper will include:

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

Position Paper Tips

• Keep it simple. To communicate strongly and effectively, avoid flowery wording and stick to uncomplicated language and sentence structure.
• Make it official. Try to use the seal of your country or create an "official" letterhead for your position paper. The more realistic it looks, the more others will want to read it.
• Get organized. Give each separate idea or proposal its own paragraph. Make sure each paragraph starts with a topic sentence.
• Cite your sources. Use footnotes or endnotes to show where you found your facts and statistics. If you are unfamiliar with bibliographic form, look up the Modern Language Association (MLA) guidelines at your school's library.
• Read and reread. Leave time to edit your position paper. Ask yourself if the organization of the paper makes sense and double-check your spelling and grammar.
• Speech! Speech! Do you plan to make an opening statement at your conference? A good position paper makes a great introductory speech. During debate, a good position paper will also help you to stick to your country's policies.
• Let the bullets fly. Try not to let your proposals become lost in a sea of information. For speechmaking, create a bulleted list of your proposals along with your most important facts and statistics so that you will not lose time looking for 

Committee Name: Human rights council

Topic A: Protecting human rights while countering terrorism

Country: Switzerland

Delegate: Michelle Lisette Verdín Johnson

Background of the topic

The human cost of terrorism has been felt in virtually every corner of the

globe. The United Nations family has itself suffered tragic human loss as

a result. Terrorism clearly has a very real and direct impact on human rights, with

consequences for the enjoyment of the right to life, liberty and physical integrity of victims, terrorism

can destabilize Governments, undermine civil society, and threaten social and economic development. Security of the individuals is a basic human right and the States

therefore have an obligation to ensure the human rights of their nationals.

Repressive measures have been used to stifle the voices of human rights defenders

UN involvement

The United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy was adopted by Member States on 8 September 2006, the States Members of the United Nations, resolve to implement all General Assembly resolutions on measures to eliminate international terrorism, to recognize that international cooperation and any measures that we undertake to prevent and combat terrorism must comply with our obligations under international law, in particular human rights law, refugee law and international humanitarian law. 

Country policy and involvement 

Switzerland is concerned that United Nations sanctions to combat terrorism could be weakened if they continue to ride over fundamental human rights.

That is why Switzerland, with ten other countries, has presented new recommendations aimed at improving the sanctions regime so that basic legal norms are respected

 it believes the system would be more effective if there were mechanisms to guarantee fundamental human rights.
 

It is one of a number of countries which have been trying for several years to promote a more transparent and fairer system. They have already had some success.

In the fight against terrorism, Switzerland has two main focuses at international level: 

• Cooperation with other states and the provision of mutual support for each other’s counter-terrorist activities