Position Descriptions (Committee)

Committee President / Director: Substantive Officer of their Committee. Responsible for authoring the majority of the Committee Background Guide; the portions the President/Director is responsible for are the topic summaries (on each topic the committee will be discussing) and the introductory letter, introducing themselves, their Vice President / Chair and the conference to delegates.

At the conference, the President / Director is primarily responsible for editing working papers as delegates submit them to the dais, and eventually approving them and giving them a document code, making them a draft resolution. The President / Director is also responsible for ensuring the substantive quality of the committee, which includes ensuring (with the help of the Director of Home Government) that delegates are representing a policy as similar to their countries’ true policy as possible.

Committee Vice President / Chair: Procedural Officer of their Committee. Responsible for authoring the remaining portion of the Background Guide, which includes the Committee Background and any additional topics the Secretariat believes delegates should be kept abreast of (even if they may not be on the agenda of the committee).

At the conference, the Vice President / Chairperson chairs the meetings, and is responsible for ensuring the procedural integrity of the proceedings. The Chairperson leads the committee without directing them, and is responsible for the integrity of the process, rather than the quality of the outcome, of the committee.

In the Security Council, the Vice Presidency will rotate among the membership; this process will be coordinated by the President, who will aid the holder of the rotating Chairmanship in the discharge of their duties.

Note: In the Security Council, Economic and Social Council and General Assembly, the terminology “President” and “Vice President” are used. In the Human Rights Council, the terms “Director” and “Chairperson” are used. This does not have any impact on the duties of the position; the different terminology is used solely to reflect the real United Nations, where primary organs of the United Nations have Presidents and Vice Presidents, and subsidiary bodies of the United Nations do not. (The Security Council, Economic and Social Council and General Assembly are all primary organs, whereas the Human Rights Council reports to the General Assembly and is therefore a subsidiary body.)