How to write a position paper?

A crucial part in the preparation for the upcoming MAU conference will be the writing of your Position Paper (PP). It will present your country’s stance towards the topics before the committee to the chairs and fellow delegates in your committee. After being checked by the Chairs all delegates will receive the PP of all present delegations. You are advised to make yourself familiar with the different positions to find possible allies for later discussions.

You should thus aim to make the statement of you country’s position as clear as possible and suggest feasible solutions for the problems at hand. To support your suggestions, refer to resolutions, reports, documents from reliable and relevant sources, aiming to make your ideas as attractive as possible for others to support. However, you are to stay in character at all times, which means you have to represent the official position of the government.

Your PP is to be a continuous text; however, you can address the following questions to structure it:

Introduction: Why is the topic of importance to the African continent and your country? Here you may include many facts and figures that show how the issue affects the African continent, the people, the environment… Always make sure to connect these to the topic that is to be discussed and do not solely copy information from your sources. Quotations are very rarely used, unless they are of utmost importance to the topic and by a well-known person.

 

Brief statement of your country’s position

Brief background, Facts and figures

Which measures have been taken by the AU, your government or other international Organisations (however the focus should be on initiatives by the AU and its organs)? Here you can mention international treaties, institutions and programmes that aim to address the issue being discussed. Focus on the most relevant/ successful/ recent ones and sketch the process they have made. If you were the initiator of one such programme, mention it.

 

Who are your allies? Which further facets of the problem need to be considered? Mention regions that successfully face similar problems as your country does or have implemented measures that you support. Be careful, however, of the international relations of your country. This need not be included but you may take current trends that alter the problem into consideration.

 

Conclusion

What further steps are necessary and how can they be implemented? Especially at this point, you need to make sure that your suggestions reflect your country’s position. Typically, you would make proposals for the aspects of the problem that are relevant in your country or region, but you are encouraged to also provide solutions for other areas or the African continent as a whole. Although you need not write it down explicitly, consider the funding of your suggested measures.

 

 

A meaningful last sentence

There are some formal rules to consider when writing you PP. First and foremost, you are never to refer to yourself as “I” or “me” but rather as “the delegation of…” and “we” or your country name. When you name resolutions, write their full name and code in brackets. The codes may be hard to find for some AU resolutions, please try your best but if you cannot find them don’t worry too much. As for the format please use font size 12, justification and put the titles (=topics) of the two sections bold. If you use abbreviations please use the full name followed by the abbreviation in bracts when using it for the first time; later only use the abbreviation. The total length should not exceed two pages.

Please stay in diplomatic conduct, meaning a respectful tone towards all other countries and institutions, don’t point fingers and use formal language. Have a look at the example down below to visualise the formal requirements as well as to get an idea of the structure and content of a PP.