Amsterdam 2015 Lobby Night What it is What is the Lobby Night? The Lobby Night will be organised the evening before GA I. The aim of the evening is for everyone to take a look at all resolutions so as to be prepared for GA I and to propose amendments. Per resolution, two of the proposed amendments will be discussed and voted on during GA I. The process promotes dialogue about topics and ideas, and enhances the quality of both resolutions and discussions in General Assembly. Talking with fellow delegates about topics, resolutions and amendments should give you a better insight into all the resolutions. The higher purpose is to better simulate the political decision-making process, where it is normal procedure to propose an idea, and then ask for input from other stakeholders, revise the idea before discussing and voting on it during the final general assembly.
What is an amendment? An amendment is a suggestion to change, add, or delete a clause in a resolution. You submit an amendment to a resolution when you agree in principal with the resolution, but would like to see one idea changed, added or deleted. The voting on amendments during GA I will be binding in the sense that the idea behind accepted amendments need to be included, and those ideas behind rejected amendments cannot be incorporated in the final resolution. When you disagree with the overarching idea of a resolution, you do not write an amendment. Instead, you express your opinion during the later part of GA I.
What do I do? The lobbying event is an open space environment, which allows you to experience the political process of exchanging and gathering support for your ideas. There will be a table for each committee, at which you will find the resolution, the committee’s chairperson and later the proposed amendments for that resolution. During the event you can walk around freely, read through resolutions and talk to other delegates about the resolutions. Your main objective should be to submit, support or gather support for amendments.
The procedure How do I submit a proposal for an amendment? Assuming that you find something you want to change in a resolution which you generally support, here is the procedure: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
Read and understand the resolution. Discuss your idea with fellow delegates and a member of the proposing committee: In this phase; consensus is not necessary. Collect and fill in an Amendment Submission Form. Submit the Amendment Submission Form to the proposing committee’s chairperson. The chairperson will check whether your proposal meets the formal criteria. Once all formal criteria are met, your amendment will be open for support. Gather support for your amendment. 1 /4
Formal criteria for proposed amendments For the sake of consistency and transparency, there are several formal criteria proposed amendments need to meet. Only proposals meeting the formal criteria will be open for signatures. ● ● ● ● ●
The Amendment Submission Form must be filled out completely (your name, your country, affected resolution, affected clause, details about the proposed amendment, brief rationale, your signature). Your proposal needs to have substance beyond just rephrasing a clause. Your proposal needs to be about one concrete clause, as opposed to the whole resolution. Your proposal may not be similar to another existing proposal. Your proposal must be legible, clear and understandable.
Gathering support Once your proposal for amendment has been officially opened for signatures it will be added to the list of amendments projected for everyone to see. Meanwhile you are responsible to gather support for the proposal. Talk to other delegates and see if they share your opinion. If they support your proposal they can go to the affected resolution’s table and officially declare their support with their signature.
Proposals discussed in GA Ⅰ Before a proposal for amendment has the chance to be discussed in GA Ⅰ, the amount of signatures must pass the following threshold: ● ● ●
At least 15 signatures From delegates from at least three different committees From at least five countries.
Proposals for amendments with a sufficient amount of signatures will be considered for discussion in GA Ⅰ. As time is limited and not all amendments that meet the threshold can be discussed, the decision concerning which amendments will be addressed in GA Ⅰ are at the discretion of the board. All the proposed amendments, however, will be handed to the home committee on revision day.
Outlook: GA Ⅰ In GA Ⅰ, for each resolution, two amendments will be discussed, followed by an open debate. During the open debate you have a chance to talk about further aspects of the resolution, as well as discuss broader disagreements.
Further tips ● ● ● ●
The dress code for the Lobbying event is smart casual (same as Committee Work). The optional dress code is cocktail. Talk to members of proposing committees to better understand their resolutions. Safeguard both your personal dignity and integrity by supporting only proposals that you honestly agree with. Have fun and get a mocktail!
2 /4
Lobby night: Instructions for chairs The Lobi event will take place in the lobby and dining hall of the hostel. Every committee will have their own table. During the event, you are supposed to stay at your table with your laptop, where delegates will approach you with proposals for amendments. All of us will use a GoogleDoc where we will share the amendments (Task Forces → Lobi is my Hobby → Final → Amendment overview).
As chair, you are in charge of coordinating the work at your table, checking amendments and typing the amendments in the GoogleDoc when the criteria are met. This will go as follows:
-
-
-
-
Delegates submit amendment proposals to you. You check the proposal for (as if you would check a clause during typing): o Correct resolution o Form filled out correctly o Check for content (e.g. amendments should not just rephrase). Amendments can add a clause, modify or eliminate one. o Make sure that amendment tackles one clause only. o Also check that amendment does not go against core vision of the resolution, as resolutions must still be coherent resolutions following the implementation of the amendment. o Check if the amendment is written in a clear and understandable manner. If the criteria are not met, you have to reject the proposal. If the proposal holds the potential of becoming a good amendment, you can advise the submitter about how to improve the proposal. If the criteria are met, you open the proposal for signatures by inserting it in the overview sheet on our google drive. You can inform the submitter that the amendment is open for signatures and that support can be gathered. When opening an amendment for signatures, do not forget to fill out the amendment code, i.e. your committee followed by the number of the amendment (e.g. AFET-01 for the first amendment on AFET’s resolution). You will keep all amendments at the table, as delegates will have to register their signature there. Try to keep an eye on the signing of proposals for amendments. Once an amendment has gathered at least 15 signatures, by delegates coming from at least 5 different countries and 3 different committees, the board will consider the proposal for amendment for GA I. When this happens you indicate in the online spreadsheet that the threshold has been met and hand the amendment submission form and signatories to the board. Make sure to keep the other amendment submission forms with you as you need them on revision day.
To give you an idea, we aim to discuss 2 amendments per committee during GA I the following day, meaning that ideally, the Board will receive during the Lobbying event between 2 and 5 amendments for each committee in order to select the most interesting ones. Also make sure that delegates know that a final selection will be made by the board.
3 /4
A key point for the Lobbying event is that delegates should be in the right mood for it. They have been working on their Resolution for two whole days, and they will be looking forward to an interesting evening programme. Make sure that you schedule 15 mins of Committee Work to go over the basic instructions and set the right atmosphere so that delegates will make an effort to go through the resolutions before running for a couple of mocktails. Explain how all this fits in the academic concept for the session: why we have two GAs, why constructive feedback is important, how we are aiming for the whole assembly to voice their opinions and have an influence in the final resolutions. To address the latter, explain that the vote in GA I will be binding, and so their proposed amendment could end up being a clause of the resolution.
Check-list:
-
-
Ensure that the amendment concerns your committee’s resolution. Amendment template contains changes to be made and rationale. Amendment has substance and is not just a rephrasing. Amendment is not fundamentally against the whole resolution. Amendment adds/ eliminates/ modifies ONE clause, i.e.: tackles ONE idea. Amendment has not been proposed before. If it has, or is similar to another, have the two submitters discuss and reach an agreement for a merged proposal. In this process you should play a mediating role. Existing signatures will remain valid. If ok, type amendment in the spreadsheet.
4 /4