Position Paper Guidelines

Position Paper is a paper that is to be submitted before entering into the committee. It contains a
clear stance of your country regarding the Agenda. It also comprises of a brief introduction of the
Committee on the agenda with past actions that your country has taken with concerned
committee of UN or on a national basis. It contains a well-defined series of solutions that are
feasible to solve this agenda. There are certain specifications that you would need to consider
while preparing the position paper, which are outlined below:
1.1. Technical Specification
1.2. Structural Specification
1.3. Contents of a Position Paper
1.4. Source Authentication
1.5. Additional Guidelines
1.6. Submitting Procedure
1.7. Evaluation Criteria

1.1. Technical Specification

 Default language: English.
 Page Layout:
- Paper size: Standard, 21 cm × 29.7 cm (A4).
 Margins:
- Top: 2 cm;
- Gutter: 0 cm.
- Bottom: 2.7 cm;
- From edge: Header: 1.25 cm;
- Left/Right: 2.5 cm.
- Footer: 1.25 cm.
- Resulting type area: 16 cm × 25 cm.
 Font: Times New Roman
 Font Size: 12.
 Alignment: Justified
 Line spacing: Line spacing should be set at 1.15. The first line of a paragraph should not
be indented. Leave a line space between paragraphs.
 ‘Widow/Orphan’ lines: Never start a page with the last line of a paragraph or of a
displayed list, and never finish a page with the first line of a paragraph or of a displayed
list. Make sure that all headings are followed on the same page by at least two lines of
text.
1.2 Structural Specification
 Position papers are usually one to one-and-a-half pages in length. The document must be
within 2 pages including references.
 Cover Page: Not Necessary.
 Committee Logo: Insert committee’s official logo at the left-hand side corner of the position
paper.
 Country Emblem: Use the country’s official emblem at the right-hand side corner.
 Watermark: Not mandatory (If you want then use country’s national emblem as watermark)
 Write down the name of Country, Committee and agenda accordingly in first section.
 Reference/Citation: Either as a list at the end or using MS word reference & citation section.

1.3. Contents of a position paper

 Introduction/Generalized idea of Agenda with Committee actions. (1st Paragraph)
 Actions of Your Country regarding the Agenda. (2nd Paragraph)
 Actions of Your Country with UN/ concerned committee/ International Bodies and future
solutions recommended by you. (3rd Paragraph)
 Policy Recommendation/Solutions. (This will be the last paragraph)

A good position paper should contain the followings:

• 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; (if any)
• 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 should do 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.
1.4. Source Authentication

• Valid and Binding:

1. All reports published by the United Nations and its agencies.
2. Reports by Governments and its agencies. (With respect to their country only)

• Valid but not binding, in the order of precedence:

1. Reuters
2. Al Jazeera
3. Amnesty International
4. Human Rights Watch

• Not Valid but can be used for reference purposes:

1. Any report published by a recognized news agency or NGO.

• Not accepted under any condition

1. Wikipedia
2. Wiki Leaks
3. Blog Articles etc

1.5. Additional Guidelines

 Keep it simple. To communicate strongly and effectively, avoid flowery wording and stick to
uncomplicated language and sentence structure.
 Make it official. The more realistic it looks; the more others will want to read it.
 The references must be from valid sources.
 Cite your sources. Use footnotes or endnotes to show where you found your facts and
statistics.
 Do not copy/plagiarize anything from anywhere.
 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.
 We will be running a plagiarism check, so do not plagiarize. Any position paper that is more
than 20 % plagiarized will not be accepted.

1.6. Submission Procedure

 The file of the position paper should be sent in .pdf format via e-mail.
 Mention the Subject as Country_ Committee _Conference
 Submission Mail ID: [email protected]
 CC to: [email protected], [email protected].
 Deadline for submission of Softcopy: 11:59 pm, 1st July, 2020.
 Position Paper submitted after the Deadline shall not be accepted.

1.7. Evaluation Criteria for Position Paper

 Formal Language, writing quality, proper style, official view of the Paper.
 Minimal Plagiarism.
 Analysis of situation and facts.
 Citation of relevant documents/UN sources/UN Treaties & Conventions.
 Coherent & Logical analysis of Recommendations to be accepted by the Committee.

SAMPLE ON THE NEXT PAGE

Sample Position Paper

Committee: United Nations Human Rights Council.
Agenda: Protection of Human Rights through Eliminating Political Extremism and Ensuring
Freedom of Press.
Country: Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Political extremism, having a deep root in the history of human civilization, continues to persist
even today in many forms. Being a blatant human right violation by itself, it affects other basic
human rights as well - one of which being the freedom of expression. Extremists tend to press
their views on the mass, creating a loophole in terms of human rights. As the global community
continues the fight to eradicate one of the biggest threats to democratic societies, it also
continues to face the multifarious obstacles, including the lack of trust in political leadership,
intolerance among the mass and politico-economic inequality, which makes it even more
challenging to tackle. The roots of such complexities go far deeper than just political challenges.
While corruption, weak infrastructure of the rule of law, inequality and many other factors are on
the rise with an obvious and adverse impact to the extent of freedom of press and the political
situation of the states as a whole, it calls for an urgency of ensuring a better and stronger system
of governance in order to tackle such crises.
The Federal Republic of Nigeria acknowledges the efforts of the United Nations Human Rights
Council and the global community to minimize the adverse impacts of political extremism and
ensure the freedom of press. The foundation of this basic human right was laid in the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, as it proclaimed the right to seek, receive and impart information
through any media. [1] It recognizes the efforts of the council to ensure the safety of the
journalists and media workers as an essential instrument to preserve the freedom of press. [2]
Nigeria to this date remains devoted to ensure the best treatment of its citizens in terms of human
rights and has collaborated with the international community to continue its fight against
extremism within its borders. Its constitution ensures that the citizens of the state can enjoy their
right to information as declared in the UDHR and the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights. [3] [4] Nigeria expresses its concern over the worldwide situation of political
extremism and media freedom, and pledges its commitment towards eradicating extremism in all
forms and utilize the positive impact of media in doing so.
Nigeria reiterates the necessity of a strong system of governance in order to tackle political
extremism and ensure the freedom of press. It calls for focus on eradicating corruption in all
sectors
of governance through collaboration with the United Nations bodies and regional
organizations, recognizing it as the prime obstacle on transparency of the government - which
in turn is essential to maintain a sustainable democratic system. It also urges the states to
promote the formation of an educated civil society and to establish impartial judicial systems
ensuring equal access of all citizens with a broader goal of eradicating political extremism, in
collaboration with the international community if necessary. Nigeria calls for attention of the
governments to develop policies targeting the safety of journalists and ensure proper
implementation of existing ones, and strictly condemns the abuse of protection laws for the
purpose of restricting freedom of press. It also encourages the states to collaborate with the
International Programme for the Development of Communication of UNESCO for facilitating
investigations into attacks and violence against journalists and to promote the freedom of
media as a whole. Lastly, Nigeria draws the attention of the international community to the
significance of such initiatives, which is perfectly termed by the Secretary General of the
United Nations as “essential for peace, justice and human rights for all”. [5]

References:
1. Article 19, Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)
(http://www.un.org/en/universal- declaration-human-rights)
2. A/HRC/RES/39/6 - Resolution on the safety of Journalists (2018) (https://documents-
dds- ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G18/296/43/PDF/G1829643.pdf)
3. Section 39, Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
(https://nigeriaworld.com/focus/constitution/chapter4.html)
4. Article 19, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
(1954) (https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/ccpr.aspx)
5. Statement of the Secretary General of the United Nations, World Press Freedom Day
(2018), (https://minusca.unmissions.org/en/world-press-freedom-day-un-secretary-generals-
message)