RAFFLES MODEL UNITED NATIONS 2023

CONFERENCE

RULES OF
PROCEDURE
(ROP)

TEMPORA MUTANTUR
 RMUN 2023
Rules of Procedure

Section 1: General Rules 2

Section 2: Debate Procedure 4
Section 3: Points 7
Section 4: Rules Governing Substantive Matters 8
Section 5: Voting Procedures 11
Section 5.1: Procedural and Substantive Voting 11
Section 5.2 Voting on Resolutions and Amendments 12
Section 5.3: The Order of Disruptiveness 14

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 Section 1: General Rules

1. Scope: The rules included are applicable to all the committees of the General Assembly at Raffles
Model United Nations 2023. No other rules of procedure (ROP) apply. In the event that a situation
that has not been addressed by the ROP arises, the Committee Head Chairperson will have the final
authority on the procedure to undertake.

2. Special Rules of Procedure: Modifications to the ROP can be found in the Study Guides of the
International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), Arctic Council (AC), Politburo and Press Corps to
better simulate these bodies. Notably, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), United Nations
Security Council (UNSC) and Joint Cabinet Crisis (JCC) have their own, separate Specialised Rules of
Procedure (SROP) documents delegates should abide by. The adapted rules will take precedence over
those outlined in this document.

3. Working Language: English is the official and working language of the Conference. All debate
conducted and documents in circulation must be in English, or with an attached English translation.

4. Delegations: Each member state will be represented by one delegate (two in the case of ICAO, FAO,
UNSC, Press, and the SCO which operates via a co-delegate system) and shall have one vote in each
Council. Representatives of observers (such as non-member states, non-governmental and
intergovernmental organisations) will have the same rights and responsibilities as those of full member
states. The only differences are that they may only indicate “Present” and not “Present and Voting”, and
may not vote on substantive issues (which primarily refers to resolutions and amendments). If a
Council features observers or observer states, it will be stated in its Study Guide.

5. Quorum: Quorum for all committees stands at one third of the members in the committee. The
committee shall commence when quorum is reached, or upon the discretion of the Council
Chairpersons.

6. Decorum: Delegates are to show courtesy and respect to all Conference staff and other delegates.
Derogatory and offensive remarks are not tolerated. Further rules regarding this are outlined in the
RMUN 2023 Code of Conduct.

7. The Dais: All committees are presided over by the Dais, which comprises a Head Chairperson and
several Deputy Chairpersons or Crisis Staff. The Dais will be responsible for monitoring debate within
the committee, and ensures that debate is carried out in an efficient and reductive manner. The Dais
also reserves the right to modify the Rules of Procedure, and exercise their discretion in the interest of
furthering council debate.

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8. Plagiarism: Plagiarism is not tolerated in any documents submitted to the Dais, including both
Working Papers and Draft Resolutions. Plagiarism includes (but is not limited to) texts that are lifted
off existing UN Resolutions (without acknowledging they exist in the preamble) and other delegates’
work without seeking prior permission. If any delegate is found guilty of plagiarism, they may be
stripped from consideration for any awards and/or face expulsion from the conference. Their actions
will also be conveyed to their respective school or institution.

9. Political Actors: RMUN 2023 has enlisted the help of political actors who can be called into the
Council by both delegates and Dais members to facilitate debate. Delegates are to send all requests for
political actors to their Dais members via email. The email should include details on the intended role
of the political actor and details of the content that the political actor will be intended to present to the
Council. The Dais have a right to reject or request delegates to amend their requests for political actors.

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 Section 2: Debate Procedure

1. Roll Call: At the start of every Council Session, the Dais will do a Roll Call. The Roll Call will be
taken in the alphabetical order of the names of the country delegations. When a delegation is called, the
delegate representing the country delegation will raise their country placard and call out either
“Present” or “Present and Voting”. A delegate indicating “Present and Voting” will not be allowed to
abstain from a substantive vote (on resolutions/amendments), while delegates indicating “Present”
cannot vote on substantive items. Observer states are required to indicate “Present” during Roll Call
and will be mandated to abstain in any and all substantive votes. Delegates cannot change their declared
status during committee sessions.
a. If a delegate or delegation is not present during Roll Call, the delegate or delegation is
considered absent for that Council Session and therefore has no voting and speaking powers.
b. If a delegate is late, they will only be considered present or present and voting when the
delegate sends a message to the Dais indicating that they are present, and after the Dais has
recognised the delegate.

2. Opening Speeches: Opening speeches will last for 1 minute per delegation. Yielding is not in order in
opening speeches.

3. General Speakers List: A General Speakers List (GSL) will be established for the entire duration of
debate, except when interrupted by procedural points or motions, caucuses, introduction of draft
resolutions and amendments. The default speaking time on the GSL will be 1 minute and 30 seconds
per speaker unless otherwise stated by members of the Dais or if amended by a Motion to Amend
Speaking Time. Speakers may speak generally on the Topic and may address any working paper or any
draft resolution currently on the floor. Delegates may request to be added to the list by (i) raising their
hand when the Dais calls for delegates to be added or (ii) sending a private message to the Dais via
notepaper.

4. Yields: At the end of a speech during the GSL, delegates must yield their time in one of the following
manners:
a. Yield to Another Delegate:
i. Any remaining time will be given to that delegate, who may not yield the remaining
time to another delegate (no yielding to the second degree).
ii. The delegate can choose to accept or reject the yield.
iii. A delegate may only be allowed to yield to another delegate when there is 20 seconds
or more of speaking time remaining.
b. Yield to Points of Information (POIs):
i. Delegates will be selected by the Dais and limited to only one question each.

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 ii. Follow-ups may be granted at the discretion of the Dais.
iii. A delegate may only be allowed to yield to points of information when there is more
than 15 seconds of speaking time remaining.
iv. The delegate’s speaking time will not be consumed by the asking of questions.
b. Yield to Dais (Chairs):
i. Such a yield should be made if the delegate has finished speaking and does not wish to
yield to another delegate or to points of information. The Dais will then move on to
the next speaker on the speakers list.
c. There will be no yielding during moderated caucuses and opening speeches.

5. Right to Reply: A delegate may request a Right to Reply when their personal integrity has been
attacked by another delegate, or when another delegate has insulted a protected class which they belong
to (gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc). This request is subject to approval by the Dais. The Dais
may then request the delegate to make a justification of no more than 30 seconds, after which an
apology will be required from the offending delegate. The Right to Reply cannot interrupt a delegate’s
speech and will only be entertained after the speech has elapsed.

6. Caucuses: There are two types of caucuses in RMUN 2023, moderated or unmoderated. They can be
motioned for during debate when the Dais calls for motions. The maximum possible duration of a
caucus is 20 minutes, inclusive of extensions. Multiple motions for caucuses can be entertained at once
and the motions will be voted upon in order of disruptiveness (see Section 5.3). Voting on a motion will
only commence if there are both seconds and objections to the motion and a simple majority is required
for the motion to pass.
a. Unmoderated Caucus: An unmoderated caucus temporarily suspends formal debate and
allows delegates to discuss ideas informally. It is considered more disruptive than moderated
caucuses of any length and the longer the unmoderated caucus, the more disruptive it is. When
the Dais opens the floor to motions, delegates may raise an unmoderated caucus through a
Motion for an Unmoderated Caucus, and must state the duration of the proposed caucus. After
the unmoderated caucus ends, the delegate who raised it must deliver a 1-minute speech
summarising the discussion.
i. The time for an unmoderated caucus may be extended during the caucus by a Motion
to extend Unmoderated Caucus or by the chairs’ discretion.
b. Moderated Caucus: A moderated caucus facilitates substantive debate at critical junctures in
the discussion. The moderated caucus takes the form of formal debate, with a separate closed
speakers list created to determine the order of speaking. When the Dais opens the floor for
motions, delegates may raise a moderated caucus through a Motion for a Moderated Caucus
and must state the total duration of the caucus, topic of discussion and speaking time per
delegate. Moderated caucuses should comprise at least 3 speakers, with a maximum of 2
minutes of speaking time for each delegate. The longer the moderated caucus, or the longer the

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 speaking time per delegate, the more disruptive the motion. The delegate raising the moderated
caucus is guaranteed a speaking position on it, with the option of speaking first or last.

7. Suspension of Debate: Whenever the floor is open, a Motion to Suspend Debate can be used by a
delegate to suspend council debate until the next Council Session. The Dais has discretion as to
whether this motion is in order, but will generally only declare it to be in order within the last 15
minutes of a Council Session. When in order, this motion will either be passed by chairs’ discretion, or
immediately be put to a vote. This motion requires a simple majority to pass.

8. Adjournment of Debate: Whenever the floor is open, the Motion to Adjourn Debate can be used by a
delegate to adjourn council debate as a whole. This means that debate for that specific council has been
fully concluded for the purposes of RMUN 2023. The Dais has discretion as to whether this motion is
in order, but will generally only declare it to be in order after a resolution has been passed by the
Council, or within the last 15 minutes of the final Council Session. When in order, this motion will
either be passed by chairs’ discretion, or be immediately put to a vote. This motion requires a simple
majority to pass.

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 Section 3: Points

1. Point of Personal Privilege (POPP): A Point of Personal Privilege is raised when a delegate feels
personal discomfort during Council sessions. For example, a delegate may request that the speaker raises
his/her volume.
a. Delegates are discouraged from exercising Points of Personal Privilege for frivolous requests.
b. A Point of Personal Privilege is the only point that can interrupt another delegate's speech.

2. Point of Parliamentary Inquiry (POPI): A Point of Parliamentary Inquiry is raised when a delegate
wishes to seek clarification on the Rules of Procedure with the Dais. It cannot be used to interrupt a
speech.

3. Point of Order: A Point of Order is raised when a delegate feels that a grievous error has been made
with regards to the Rules of Procedure by the Dais. Points of Order cannot be used to interrupt
speeches unless the speech itself is out of order. All Points of Order will be reported to the RMUN
2023 Secretariat. Delegates are strongly discouraged from exercising Points of Order needlessly.

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 Section 4: Rules Governing Substantive Matters

1. Working Papers: Working Papers are documents that serve as aids to Council discussions by providing
viewpoints and ideas suggested during debate. There are no fixed formats for Working Papers - they may
come in the form of a text, presentation or diagram. In order to introduce their Working Paper,
delegates must first submit the paper to the Dais for vetting.
a. No Working Paper may be distributed or mentioned in council without the permission of the
Dais.
b. Working Papers do not require signatories or sponsors, only the name of the submitter(s) of
the paper. There is no limit to the number of submitters of a Working Paper.
c. After they have been vetted by the Dais, Working Papers can be introduced in one of two ways:
i. Immediately before or during a delegate’s GSL or Moderated Caucus speech, the
delegate may personally request for the Dais to display the Working Paper. No extra
time will be provided for reading or presenting the Working Paper, though it will be
made available to the whole council for the remainder of the conference.

2. Resolutions: A Draft Resolution must be signed by at least 20% of the total number of present
countries in the Council. This number includes both sponsors and signatories. The maximum number
of sponsors per Resolution is five.
a. Sponsors of a Resolution are countries that fully support the Resolution and wish to see it
passed in its entirety. They will have contributed ideas or clauses to the Draft Resolution.
During voting procedures on the Draft Resolution, sponsors have to vote for the Draft
Resolution.
b. Signatories on a Resolution may not necessarily be supportive of the Resolution; they only
wish to see it debated on the Council floor. They may be either ‘For’ or ‘Against’ the
Resolution, or abstain from voting.
c. After including the names of all Sponsors and Signatories, the Sponsors are to email the Dais a
static copy of their Draft Resolution, revoking the editing rights of all other delegates. The Dais
must approve of the Draft Resolution before it can be introduced in Council through a
Motion to Introduce Draft Resolution by one of the Sponsors. This motion can only be made
when Debate is on the GSL. The motion requires a procedural vote and a simple majority to
pass.
d. More than one Draft Resolution may be on the floor at any one time, but only one resolution
may be passed per Topic.
e. Observer states are allowed to sponsor and sign Draft Resolutions even though they may not
vote on them.

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3. Resolution Debate: After the introduction of the Draft Resolution, the Council will move into a
5-minute Reading Time, during which the Dais may, at their discretion, call for the Sponsors to read
aloud all Operative Clauses of the Resolution. This reading time may be elapsed, following which the
Council will enter a 5-minute Question and Answer Session, where any delegates may ask the Sponsors
questions pertaining specifically to the wording of the Resolution. After the five minutes have elapsed,
the Council will then move into Closed Debate of 2 speakers for and 2 speakers against the resolution,
with a limit of 90 seconds per speech.
a. Delegates may thereafter refer to the Draft Resolution by its designated number during
speeches. All introduced Draft Resolutions will remain on the floor unless they have been
tabled by the Council, or a Resolution on that topic has been passed.
b. Delegates are allowed and encouraged to talk about the resolution in greater detail through the
use of moderated caucuses.
c. Delegates are also allowed to Motion to Table Draft Resolution, which will remove the Draft
Resolution from the floor. This requires a two-thirds majority to pass. Tabled Resolutions can
no longer be referenced, but they can be re-introduced as another Draft Resolution provided
that more than 50% of its content has been amended.
d. Once Closed Debate has elapsed, the council will move to Open Debate on the Draft
Resolution, which will take on the same rules as a General Speakers List (GSL).

4. Amendments: Amendments are proposed changes to specific clauses of the Draft Resolution.
Delegates may motion to introduce an Amendment to any Draft Resolution on the floor. There are
two types of Amendments - Friendly Amendments and Unfriendly Amendments. Delegates are to note
that a Resolution will be automatically tabled if more than 50% of its operative clauses have been
amended.
b. Friendly Amendments are changes to a Draft Resolution that have been agreed upon by all
Sponsors of the aforementioned Draft Resolution.
i. No signatories are required, and such amendments require the approval of the Dais
first. Sponsors should email the Dais with their amendments, CC’ing all other
Sponsors. Once the Dais has vetted the Friendly Amendment, the Council will be
notified of the changes the Friendly Amendment makes to the Draft Resolution,
which should be considered by delegates when deciding whether to vote for the
resolution. As the amendment is friendly, no voting is required to pass the
amendment. Instead, the amendment will directly be incorporated into the Draft
Resolution. Friendly Amendments can also be used to make linguistic corrections to a
clause, such as to correct a spelling or grammatical error.
c. Unfriendly Amendments are changes to a Draft Resolution that have not been agreed upon
by all Sponsors of the aforementioned Draft Resolution.
i. A Draft Unfriendly Amendment must have been signed by at least 20% of the
Council, and may include Sponsors and Signatories.

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 ii. The Unfriendly Amendment also has to be vetted by the Dais first. Sponsors of the
Unfriendly Amendment should email the Dais with their amendment, CC’ing all
other Sponsors. After approval has been given, a delegate may Motion to Introduce
Unfriendly Amendment. This can only be done in Open Debate. The motion requires
a procedural vote; hence a simple majority is required for the motion to pass. If the
motion passes, there will be up to 3 minutes of reading time, before the Council
moves into Closed Debate of 2 for and 2 against, 90 seconds per speaker, on the Draft
Unfriendly Amendment. There will not be any Open Debate on Unfriendly
Amendments.
iii. Immediately after the Closed Debate, the Council will automatically move into direct
voting procedure for the amendment. The vote is a substantive one, hence a
two-thirds majority is required for the Unfriendly Amendment to pass. If the
Unfriendly Amendment passes and is added to the Draft Resolution, a Sponsor may
choose to withdraw their support for the Draft Resolution by sending a note to the
Dais.

5. Direct Voting Procedure (DVP): Once delegates have debated upon the Draft Resolution(s)
sufficiently, they must Motion to move into Direct Voting Procedure to move into voting on the Draft
Resolution. This is a substantive vote and requires a two-third majority to pass. Draft Resolutions must
be voted on in order of introduction. Delegates may Motion to Reorder Draft Resolutions, subject to a
procedural vote.

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 Section 5: Voting Procedures

Section 5.1: Procedural and Substantive Voting

1. Procedural Voting: A vote on any matter other than those related to voting on Draft Resolutions and
Amendments is considered procedural. Every member of the Council, including observer states, must
vote on all procedural motions; no abstentions are allowed. A procedural vote requires a simple majority
of more than 50% of the council to pass.

2. Substantive Voting: A vote on any Draft Resolution or Amendment except a Motion to Reorder
Draft Resolutions is considered substantive. A substantive vote requires a two-thirds majority to pass.
Once the Council enters Direct Voting Procedure on the Resolution or Unfriendly Amendment, it will
move into substantive voting procedures. The Council venue will be sealed and note-passing will be
suspended. At this point, the only points and motions that are in order are Point of Personal Privilege,
Point of Order, Point of Parliamentary Inquiry, Motion to Reorder Draft Resolutions, Division of the
House, Division of the Question, and Motion for a Roll Call Vote.
a. For substantive voting, each delegate/delegation will have one vote. Each vote may be a ‘Yes’,
‘No’ or ‘Abstain’. Abstaining members are not considered in the tally of votes; therefore,
abstentions are not counted in the total number of votes. All matters will be voted upon by a
raising of placards unless a motion for a Roll Call Vote is accepted. Once a Resolution has
passed, Direct Voting Procedure ends as only one Resolution may be passed per Topic.

3. Overall Disruptiveness of Motions: The table in Section 5.3 illustrates the disruptiveness of motions
in decreasing order of disruptiveness. Whenever the Council is presented with multiple motions, the
more disruptive motion will be voted upon procedurally first before the less disruptive ones.

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 Summary of Voting on Motions

Substantive Motions: Procedural Motions:

Two-Thirds Majority Required Simple Majority Required

● Motion to Table the Resolution ● Motion for a Moderated Caucus

● Voting on Unfriendly Amendments ● Motion for an Unmoderated Caucuses
● Voting on a Resolution (be it during ‘Divide the ● Motion to Introduce Draft Resolution
Question’ or as a whole) ● Motion to Introduce Unfriendly Amendment
● Motion to Divide the Question ● Motion to Suspend Debate
● Motion to Adjourn Debate
● Motion to Divide the House
● Motion to Reorder Draft Resolutions

Section 5.2 Voting on Resolutions and Amendments

4. Motion to Divide the House (DVH): When a resolution presently has not does not have a two-third
majority required to pass in the initial round of substantive voting where delegates have abstained, a
delegate may Motion to Divide the House. This motion requires a procedural vote. Once passed,
abstentions are no longer in order and delegates can only vote “For” or “Against”.

5. Motion to Divide the Question (DVQ): A Motion to Divide the Question may only be called after a
resolution has failed despite a Motion to Divide the House. Division of the question means that a
specified set of operative clauses will be voted on separately from the rest. Preambulatory clauses will
not be included under this motion. The Dais will then entertain two speakers ‘for’ and two speakers
‘against’ the motion itself, following which the committee will proceed on a substantive vote on the
motion itself.
a. If the motion passes, a substantive vote must then be taken on each Article to determine
whether it is included in the final draft. If an Article fails, the Council will then move to vote
on each component clause. The Question cannot be divided into smaller units henceforth. A
two-thirds majority is required to include each part. After all the divided parts have been voted
on, they are then combined into the final Draft Resolution, which must be voted on in its
entirety. If and only if 50% or more of the operative clauses are struck out, then the resolution
in its entirety will be tabled by the Dais.

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6. Motion to Move Into Roll Call Vote (RCV): When the Council moves into Voting Procedure on a
resolution, a chair may, at their discretion, Motion to Move Into Roll Call Vote. Voting will then be done
in alphabetical order. Chairs may call for a Roll Call Vote if the votes do not tally.

7. Motion to Reorder Draft Resolutions: When Debate moves into Direct Voting Procedure on a
Draft Resolution, a delegate may Motion to Reorder Draft Resolutions, stating the exact way in which
they wish for the Draft Resolutions on the table to be reordered. This motion can only be proposed
when there are multiple Draft Resolutions on the same topic. This motion requires a procedural vote to
pass. Different delegations may propose different orders of Draft Resolutions. The Dais will take all
motions to reorder Draft Resolutions and then vote on them according to the order in which they were
proposed. Voting will continue until either a motion passes by receiving a simple majority or all of the
motions fail, in which case the Council will move into voting procedure with the Draft Resolutions in
their original order. The original order is the order in which the resolutions were introduced in
Council.

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 Section 5.3: The Order of Disruptiveness

Point/ Motion Remarks

Point of Personal Privilege Concerns the personal wellbeing of the delegate.

Point of Parliamentary Inquiry Concerns the course and procedure of council debate.

Concerns the professional behaviour of the Chais/ Dais. Use

Point of Order this judiciously because all instances of usage will be reported to
the Secretariat.

Right to Reply Concerns insults to the delegate’s personhood.

Motion to Adjourn Debate Only at the end of discussion on a topic

Motion to Suspend Debate Before breaks/ at the end of the day.

Changes GSL speech time from 90 seconds to another set

Motion to change GSL speaking time to ____
duration.

The Motion for an Unmoderated Caucus with a longer total

Motion for an Unmoderated Caucus (no topic required)
duration is more disruptive.

The Motion for a Moderated Caucus with a longer total

duration is more disruptive. If two moderated caucuses
Motion for a Moderated Caucus (topic required)
proposed have the same total duration, the motion with the
longer per speaker speaking time will be more disruptive.

Extends the Unmoderated Caucus beyond the initial duration

Motion to Extend Unmoderated Caucus
(raised during the caucus).

Motion to Table Draft Resolution The motion introduced first will be voted on first.

Motion to Table Amendment Only applicable for unfriendly amendments.

Motion to Introduce Draft Resolution The motion introduced first will be voted on first.

If two Unfriendly Amendments are raised at the same time, the

Motion to Introduce Unfriendly Amendment (UFA) amendment that proposes to change more operative clauses of
the draft resolution is more disruptive.

Motion to Move into Direct Voting Procedure (DVP) For Draft Resolutions only.

Only after the initial vote on a substantive item fails.

Motion to Divide the House (DVH)
Abstentions will no longer be in order. Council will then

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 conduct a revote on the substantive item on passing of this
motion.

Only after the vote conducted during Motion to Divide the

House has passed or has failed. This motion allows for a revote
Motion to Divide the Question (DVQ)
on every article, and subsequently operative clause, of the
Resolution.

Only in order immediately after a Motion to Move into DVP

Motion to Reorder Draft Resolutions
has been passed.

The motion is passed by Chairs’ discretion, and allows for the

Motion to Move into Roll Call Vote (RCV) Dais to count votes from delegates individually if the votes do
not tally.

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