How to write a MUN resolution (format, paragraphs and a full example)

The formal text a committee debates and votes on: a heading, preambular paragraphs with the reasons, then numbered operative paragraphs with the actions.

A draft starts as your bloc's working paper and becomes a resolution only if the committee adopts it. Most Model UN committees write them, while crisis committees usually write directives instead.

A sample MUN resolution

Most conferences ask for a header like the one that opens this sample. Under it, the text follows UN format:

• The header names who wrote it and who wants it debated.
• Every operative paragraph names who acts: all Member States, two UN bodies, then the Secretary-General.
• OP3 asks for a report at the next session, a common way to end a draft.

Back your own paragraphs with real facts, as PP3 does with the UN's data on Sustainable Development Goal 6. For a real text, read General Assembly resolution 66/281, which created the International Day of Happiness in under 250 words.

One long sentence: the body's name, unnumbered preambular paragraphs ending in commas, then numbered operative paragraphs ending in semicolons.

The UN Editorial Manual sets the format of every UN resolution, and seven of its rules cover almost every draft:

1. 1Italics, not underlining. The UN puts the opening phrase of every paragraph, and the name of the body, in italics. THIMUN-style conferences usually underline them, so follow your conference.
2. 2Opening phrases from the lists below. A preambular paragraph often opens with a word ending in -ing, such as “Recalling”, or an adjective, such as “Deeply concerned”. When two paragraphs in a row share an opening phrase, add “also”, then “further”: “Recalling also” in the preamble, “Also requests” in the operative part.
3. 3Commas in the preamble. Preambular paragraphs are not numbered, and each one ends with a comma.
4. 4Numbers and semicolons in the operative part. Each operative paragraph opens with a present-tense verb, is numbered and ends with a semicolon.
5. 5Subparagraphs. A colon introduces them, they are lettered (a), (b), (c), and in the operative part each ends with a semicolon.
6. 6One full stop. Only the last operative paragraph ends with a full stop (a period).
7. 7No abbreviations. Write each name in full the first time it appears in the preamble, and again in the operative part.

Many MUN conferences call these parts clauses, preambulatory and operative clauses. The UN itself calls them paragraphs, and so do the examples here. Informally, it also numbers them PP1, PP2 and OP1, OP2.

A blank resolution with every part you fill in shown in square brackets.

Keep the punctuation as it is, and add or remove paragraphs as you need. At THIMUN-style conferences, the header names the forum, the question and the main submitter instead. If your conference runs on MUN Command, start the draft there and the editor sets up this shape for you.

Preambular paragraphs give the reasons for acting: the Charter and earlier resolutions first, then the facts of the problem.

Three or four preambular paragraphs are enough for most drafts, so spend your time on the operative part. A preambular paragraph only explains: every request belongs in an operative paragraph.

In UN drafting practice, a report of the Secretary-General comes last, after the facts. These ten opening phrases cover most drafts:

Two pairs are easy to mix up. “Taking note of” is for a report or a statement, while “Noting” means you observe a fact. For your committee's own earlier resolutions, use “Recalling” or “Reaffirming”, never “Welcoming” or “Taking note of”. The preambulatory clauses list gives every phrase with its meaning.

Operative paragraphs are the actions: each opens with a verb and asks for, decides or recommends one thing.

Choose each operative paragraph's verb for its strength. “Requests” is very common and neutral, “Calls upon” is stronger, “Urges” stronger still, and “Demands” the strongest and rarest. How strong each verb is shows softer and sharper forms.

These ten verbs cover most drafts:

The operative clauses list gives every verb with its meaning.

General Assembly vs Security Council

Write only what your body has the power to do. The General Assembly uses “Decides” only for its own work, such as proclaiming an international day. When it asks the Security Council to act, use “Recommends” or “Invites”.

Many conferences allow “condemns” and “demands” only in the Security Council. The General Assembly has used both, as in resolution ES-11/1, so this is a conference rule, not a UN one. Where your conference has it, follow it. See which body can use which phrase.

A strong operative paragraph names who acts, what they do, how, by when and who pays.

Strong means specific. Check each paragraph against five questions:

• Who acts? Member States, a UN body or the Secretary-General.
• What do they do? One clear action.
• How? A fund, a programme or a law.
• By when? A date or a deadline.
• Who pays? Where the money comes from.

Compare two paragraphs on the same idea:

• Weak: “Encourages countries to improve water in schools;”. It is vague about who acts, and it names no method, no date and no money.
• Strong: “Calls upon all Member States to build safe drinking water points in every public school by 2035, through their national school building programmes and funded from their education budgets;”. It answers all five questions.

Ask an existing body to act before you invent a new one. “Requests the United Nations Environment Programme to...” costs less, and draws fewer “who pays?” questions, than a new agency. Keep one action per paragraph, with subparagraphs for its steps.

Get your paragraphs into your bloc's draft, trade the rest in a merge, then sponsor the draft that carries them.

Start from your position paper, because its proposals are your first operative paragraphs. Your opening speech names only one of them, so the rest are what you bring to your bloc.

Can you write your resolution before the conference?

It depends on your conference's procedure, so check its rules before you write. Many North American conferences ban pre-written drafts and can take away your award. THIMUN-style conferences expect one or two drafts from home.

Working paper vs draft resolution

1. 1Working paper: your bloc's first written ideas, in any format.
2. 2Draft resolution: the working paper rewritten in resolution format, with enough sponsors and signatories and the dais's approval.
3. 3Resolution: the draft the committee adopts in a vote.

A merge is a negotiation over paragraphs, not documents. Before it starts, decide which paragraph your country cannot give up. Then put both papers side by side, keep every paragraph both blocs accept, and trade the rest one for one:

If your bloc ignores you, offer what it lacks, such as a finished paragraph or your region's votes.

Sponsors and signatories

Sponsors wrote the draft: they present it, answer questions and argue for it. Signatories only want the committee to debate it, so you can sign a draft and still vote against it.

Your conference sets how many of each a draft needs. Collect signatories from outside your bloc too, because each is a delegation you talked to before the vote. If your paragraphs are in, ask to sponsor:

If your conference runs on MUN Command, its document editor suggests opening phrases, numbers your paragraphs and puts your whole bloc in one draft.

First drafts rarely fail on ideas. They fail on a missing number, a full stop in the wrong place or an opening phrase nobody uses. In MUN Command's document editor you write the ideas, and the editor keeps the layout:

• Opening words as you type. Click into an empty paragraph and a list of common opening phrases appears. Type a few letters to narrow it, or write your own.
• Numbers and end marks, done. Operative paragraphs and their subparagraphs number themselves, and a grey end mark shows wherever one is missing.
• Your bloc in one draft. Sponsors write in the same text at once, and delegates who can only read it suggest changes for the sponsors to accept or reject.
• A draft from home, sorted. Paste it in or upload a PDF or Word file, and MUN Command sorts it into preambular and operative paragraphs for you to check.
• One tap to the chair. Request chair approval, and your draft's card shows whether it is pending, approved or needs revising.

It works on a phone too, in the iPhone and Android apps or any browser. Once the committee introduces your draft, MUN Command gives it its number and runs the vote. A passed amendment is written into the text for you.

The step-by-step guide to the editor shows every button. MUN Command runs the rest of the session as well, from the speakers' list to the final vote.

Amendments come first, then the vote on each draft, which usually needs a simple majority.

During debate, delegates propose amendments, usually to operative paragraphs, and argue for or against them in short speeches. A friendly amendment, which every sponsor accepts, goes in without a vote, and an unfriendly one goes to a vote.

Before the vote, ask each undecided delegation what single change would win it over, and accept the ones you can as friendly amendments. The rules guide covers closure of debate and how each vote counts.

Most errors are format slips, actions in the wrong part and copied text.

• Format slips. Underlining where your conference wants italics, a full stop after every paragraph, or “WHO” instead of “World Health Organization”. Check the seven rules before you send your draft, or let MUN Command's editor number it for you.
• Joining paragraphs with “and”. Each paragraph stands on its own, as in UN resolutions.
• Actions in the preamble. “Recalling” and “Deeply concerned” give reasons. Anything you want done goes in an operative paragraph.
• “This resolution” in a General Assembly draft. The General Assembly writes “the present resolution”; “this resolution” is Security Council style.
• Copied or AI-written text. Many conferences reject both, so write your own paragraphs.