How to write a MUN position paper (with a full example and template)

A short paper, written before the conference, that tells your chairs where your country stands and what it will propose.

A position paper speaks for your country, not for you, and some conferences call it a policy statement. It moves from the problem to your country's record to its proposals, as Ghana's paper below shows.

Your chairs, the dais, read it before the conference to see where each country stands, and some use it to plan the debate. Other delegates often read it too, so the countries you negotiate with may know your proposals before you say a word. At conferences that run on mymun, every delegate in your committee can open it.

A header, then three paragraphs per topic: the problem as your country sees it, the record, and what your country proposes.

Put your country, committee and topic in a short header. Then give each topic three paragraphs that build one argument, from the problem to the record to your proposals. Use this shape unless your conference gives you its own.

Write every sentence as your country: “Ghana believes” or “our government”, never “I think”. Name UN documents in full, such as “General Assembly resolution 80/138”, so a reader can find them. Write each proposal as an action that says who acts and what they do, so it could become an operative paragraph in the resolution.

Ghana's paper on paying for climate adaptation, in three argued paragraphs with its sources, to read or download as a PDF.

You are Ghana in the General Assembly's Second Committee, which drafts its yearly resolution on protecting the climate. Topic A asks who pays for adaptation, which protects people from climate harm, and for loss and damage, the harm adapting cannot stop. Every fact is in the paper's sources, and the proposals are a delegate's plan built on Ghana's record.

Each paragraph sets up the next.

• The problem gives Ghana's position, then backs it with the President's words and four checkable facts that end on the gap.
• The record shows that the UN has already named that gap, and that Ghana helped. The demand then reads as the next step, not a new idea.
• The proposals close the gap through a commitment and a fund that already exist. The red line says what Ghana will vote against, and the paper ends on the President's words.

Each line of your country profile feeds one paragraph, and you write the proposals first.

Your country profile answers the four research questions, so it already holds the paper: each line feeds one paragraph. Write the proposals first. They are the hardest part and the part chairs remember, and once they are clear, the first two paragraphs only lead up to them.

Before writing them, decide what your country wants most, the least it could accept and what it would vote against: its red line. Put what it wants most and the red line in your paper, and keep the least for negotiating. The countries that share your aims and red line are your natural bloc.

If your country has said nothing on the topic, build its position from its votes, groups and interests, and say where it comes from:

Write sentences you can lift out: your opening speech takes its position from paragraph 1 and its proposal from paragraph 3.

Your position in the first sentence, one fact they can check, and proposals someone could act on.

Your chairs read every paper in your committee before the conference, so they skim for those three things, in that order. One dated quote from your government shows more research than a page of statistics.

Ghana's second proposal works through the Fund for responding to Loss and Damage, which already exists, so it reads as prepared. A new agency with no budget reads as a wish.

Common mistakes

Check your paper against these before you send it:

• Retelling the background guide (some conferences call it a study guide) or your country's history. Spend the page on what only your country can say.
• Copying text. Copying from the background guide, a UN document, another delegate's paper or Ghana's example is plagiarism. Quote briefly, in quotation marks, and write the rest yourself.
• Contradicting your country's record. If your country voted no, your paper cannot say yes.
• Vague proposals. “Ghana calls for action” proposes nothing. Name who acts and what they do, as in a strong operative paragraph.
• Unchecked facts. Every vote, quote and number needs an official source you could show your chairs.

About one page per topic, unless your conference sets its own rules for length, format, sources, AI and the deadline.

One page per topic is the usual length. Some conferences want a 300-word statement, others two pages for both topics. Check your background guide or handbook as soon as you have your country.

If your conference sets nothing, use a plain font at 12 point, such as Times New Roman, single-spaced, with 2.5 cm (1 inch) margins. List your sources at the end and save the paper as a PDF. If the rules are unclear, ask your chairs before you write.

If you miss the deadline, tell the organizers or your chairs at once and ask whether a late paper still counts. Finish it anyway, because your speech needs it.

At every conference that runs its registration on mymun, you upload your position paper there and read every paper in your committee.

Once you have your country, upload your paper as a PDF on “My Application”, and your chairs can read it straight away.

Then read the other papers in your committee under “Committee” in the conference menu. You walk into the first session knowing your partners' proposals and your rivals' red lines.

If your conference runs elsewhere, send the PDF the way its instructions say.