GA procedures
General Rules
Before speaking, a chair/delegate must always raise the committee placard, in order to be recognised by the President or another member of the Board. Upon being recognised, delegates should stand up and speak clearly in English. The delegate should also state her/his name and school when recognised and before addressing the Assembly. Delegates may not yield the floor (i.e. pass the microphone) to other delegates, except during the final summing-up speech. Delegates or chairs may not speak out of turn from the floor. The authority of the President and the Board is absolute and all delegates must respect his/her decisions. Delegates who do not respect the rules will be called to order one or two times, and thereafter may be expelled from the Assembly.
Order of General Assembly
The setting of debate time, and changes in debate time, are entirely at the discretion of the President and the Board.
Reading of the operative clauses
There will be then be three minutes for each committee to present their resolution, by reading out the operative clauses including friendly amendments.
Defence speech
This will be followed by a three-minute defence speech from a member of the committee.
Attack speech
There will then be three minutes in which an attack speech can be made by another committee. Any delegate may make the attack speech, once he or she has been recognised by the President. If the attack speech is two minutes or less, the chair of the debate may recognise another attack speech for the remaining time.
Open debate
The rest of the time (approx. 35 minutes) is set aside for open debate among delegates. If you wish to make a point, raise your committee sign and wait to be recognised by the Board before taking the floor. If the President feels that the Assembly has reached a consensus before the full time allotted for the debate is complete, then he/she may proceed immediately to voting.
Sum-up Speech
3 minutes to sum-up the debate, 1-2 speakers from the committee
Voting Procedure
Following the completion of general debate, delegates will be given the opportunity to vote on the resolution in the form of in favour, against or abstention. Delegates should refrain from abstaining on resolutions whenever possible. Chairs will collect the votes, standing-up to announce the results when called. A Board member counts the votes and announces the result after the debate on the following resolution.
The way to announce the votes in English is: in favour, against, abstention
Committee placard
This placard is to be raised whenever the committee wants to speak to the Assembly. You also raise this placard when you want to respond, as proposing committee, during the floor debate.
Points of Information
Points of Information are points made by delegates requesting clarification, explanation or definition of a word or phrase in a resolution only. They should not be used to attack or defend the speaker or the resolution. The information sign must be recognised before the delegate can make his/her point. The question is directed to the committee in question, during the allocated time for Points of Information, which occurs post the defence and attack speeches and pre general debate. Points of information (have priority over other points) Whilst Points of Information are usually called for immediately after the Attack Speech they are also more than valid through the entirety of the debate. Almost always a Point of Information will take the form of 'Who', 'What', 'Where' or 'When' question. A Point of Information is answered immediately by the Proposing Committee.
Point of Personal Privilege
The privilege sign should be raised when a delegate cannot hear or understand what has been said. In this case the President may interrupt the speaker to recognise the point.
Point of direct response
If the committee has a direct response, it means you want to respond directly to the previous given point. A direct response is given priority in the debate. Each committee might use the direct response once in every debate.
Point of Order
A chair can raise the order sign when (s)he disagrees with a decision made by the President or the Board. Delegates should not interrupt the debate, but raise the order sign and wait until they are recognised. This sign is only to be used when it is felt that General Assembly procedure has not been adhered to, or a mistake that has been made.
Amendments
Amendments are modifications to the text of a resolution – a change to one clause only, by deleting, adding or substituting words or figures. A friendly amendment must be signed by the whole committee presenting the resolution and is automatically included in the modified text of their resolution. A friendly amendment is therefore not subject to a vote. It is possible to include a friendly amendment during the initial reading of the clauses.
