What+can+a+UN+resolution+include?

__LESSON FOURTEEN:__
What can a UN resolution include?

__DESCRIPTION:__
Students learn about the actions that UN delegates can (and can’t) consider when they discuss potential solutions to a world problem.

__TEACHER BACKGROUND:__
One common misconception is that the UN is the world’s government. This is not true. One of the key components of the UN charter is that countries maintain their national sovereignty. This means that countries have complete control over what happens within their borders. Nothing – including a UN resolution passed in the General Assembly – can infringe upon that. The majority of the resolutions passed in the UN are non-binding. So unlike a government, the UN cannot force countries to follow through on the resolutions to which they commit.

At the same time, the UN is an international stage and carries a lot of moral weight (in explaining this to students, it might be helpful to compare this to “peer pressure”). The only resolutions that are binding – meaning that there are military and economic consequences for non-compliance – are those passed by the Security Council.

Also, students often mistakenly believe that MUN resolutions are supposed to specifically address the issue in the country that a student represents. This can lead to unnecessary stress if the country that a student is representing does not have this issue (‘but there are no conflict diamonds in Mexico!’) or misguided draft resolutions that are specific to the issues in only one country. Instead, resolutions should address problems at a regional or global level. For example, a resolution might ‘set up a commission to study the rate of HIV in indigenous communities in South America’ but not a commission for Peru specifically. In order to pass a resolution, students need to identify and address trends across regions.

__PREPARATION:__
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__STEP BY STEP PLAN__
//Anticipate//: Students should complete the __Can the UN Do That?__ Worksheet.

//Inform//: Teacher should use the __Can the UN Do That?__ Answer Key to go over answer and help students learn more about what the UN can and cannot do.

//Connect//: Explain to student that in the upcoming MUN simulation, they will be responsible for coming up with actions to solve an important international problem using actions that the UN can do. Give students the __Make It Happen__ handout. Explain that these are the types of actions delegates at the UN consider when they write resolutions (and these are the types of actions they should consider when writing their own MUN resolutions) Ask students to read it silently and answer any clarifying questions.

//Practice (Apply)//: Students should pick one of the millennium development goals, using this handout created by UNICEF. Using this handout as well as the __Make It Happen__ Worksheet, students should write 5-10 actions that the UN can take to reach one of the MDGs.

//Checks for Understanding//: Consider one or more of these culminating activities for exit tickets, homework assignments, or formative assessments.

//Divide//: Ask students to read aloud a few of the statements they listed during the practice activity. Discuss as a class whether or not these are actions that the UN can take.

//Evaluate//: Ask students to pick which two UN actions listed on the __Make it Happen__ Worksheet are most effective and defend their choice.

//**Skill Building Extension:**//
//Consider activities in the Developing, Writing, and Refining Solutions and Voting sections on pages19-23 of __Preparing Students for Model United Nations Conferences – Mini-Activities that Build 21st Century Skills__//

//Content Extension (UN): Ask students to consider the actions that UN has taken. They could turn the biggest accomplishments into a poster or their own “TOP TEN UN ACTIONS” list. Use the content from this the UN website to complete this activity: .//

//Content Extension (UN): consider the additional challenge of interpretation in the creation of resolutions in the General Assembly. There is an excellent and short clip showing a ‘day in the life’ of an UN interpreter in the ‘extras’ section of the 2005 feature film, __The Interpreter__// (//produced by Paramount Pictures).//

//In addition, the Languages section of the UN website (//[|//http://www.unlanguage.org/Interpreters.aspx//] //) features the biographies of current UN interpreters. Ask students to describe the job of an interpreter and consider what role they play in the creation of resolutions.//