1. The Committee
A Committee consists of delegates and members of the Dais.
2. Roles and Responsibilities of the Dais
A Committee is managed and directed by the Dais. The Dais consists of a Dais Head as well as several Dais Members who take on the roles of Director, Moderator and Rapporteur during the conference on a rotating basis. The Dais Head is responsible for the overall flow of the conference and usually assumes the role of the Director during the conference.
During the conference the Dais serves as three roles:
The Committee Director is in charge of overseeing the running of every Committee session. In most cases, there will be more than one Director, each having equal scope of power.
The Director is the only staff member who can approve and sign Working Papers, Draft Resolutions, Amendments and other documents. The Director has the right to reject document submissions, or to suggest appropriate changes before accepting them.
The Director is responsible for guiding the general direction of the debate within the Committee. In this regard, the Director may periodically comment on the direction of the debate and may make necessary suggestions during the course of the conference. Any questions on substantive issues should be raised with the Director. The Director retains the right to rule on procedural or substantive motions.
The Moderator chairs the Committee and guide the flow of discussion in a formal session. It is the Moderator’s responsibility to facilitate the smooth progress of the conference through managing the speaking time, making suggestions on moderated causes, and organizing voting based on the Rules of Procedure in this Handbook. As the Moderator is primarily concerned with all procedural issues, any questions on procedural issues should be raised with the Moderator. Under some situations, the Moderator may apply the Rules of Procedure flexibly according to his/her discretion to facilitate the discussion.
The Rapporteur is responsible for facilitating the flow of debate by taking Roll Call, maintaining the Speaker’s List, recording the order of points or motions on the floor, verifying vote counts and carrying out other administrative matters.
3. Delegations
In the Committee, each Member State and Observer Entity will be represented by one or more delegates, and each delegation has one vote.
4. Observer Entities
Observer Entities include Observer States, intergovernmental organizations, non-governmental organizations, etc. Observer Entities have the right to vote on all procedural issues (all votings having to do with the way the Committee is run, such as voting on motions, as opposed to the topic being discussed, is considered procedural), but are not allowed to vote on substantive issues (i.e. Draft Resolution, Unfriendly Amendment and Draft Directive).
Observer Entities are participants of the conference but not members of the Committee, they may sponsor Working Papers but not any Draft Resolutions or Amendments. Observe Entities may be signatories for Draft Resolutions or Amendments instead.
Observer Entities are distinct from Conference Observers, including guests, as well as faculty members and school advisers, who have no rights during the conference.
Below illustrates a summary of the rights of Delegations and Observer Entities in a Committee.
