What is a position paper?

A position paper is essentially a breakdown of your country's stance on the given topics. Writing a coherent position paper will help you better organise your ideas and communicate your ideas with the rest of the committee. Previous experience shows that position papers significantly raise delegates' abilities to create speeches and contribute actively to debates. 

 

Submitting your paper

The deadline for submitting your position paper will be released here at a later date. BIGMUN requires one position paper concerning each topic in your committee, however, some delegates find it useful to write three independent ones. As a minimum, your position paper should be a page long and must include your country's position on all the topics to be discussed within your given committee.

 

To submit your position paper, you must email it to the chair of your committee at BIGMUN. 

 

Crisis Committee

It is not necessary for delegates in the Crisis Committee to write position papers, as their topic is announced at the begining of the conference.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Writing an effective position paper

The aim of a position paper is to give delegates a framework for researching their topics and organising their thoughts. Therefore, the better the position paper, the better prepared you will be. 

 

An ideal 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 regards 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;

• How the positions of other countries affect your country’s position.

​

If you have any questions regarding position papers, feel free to contact your chairs.