How & What to Research?

1. You need to start with the basic facts figures, location, history etc. Google, Yahoo, Wikipedia are good
sources of such information.

2. You can read newspapers, magazines and books for further information. The library is a good resource.

3. You can also contact the country’s local embassy or UN Body Offices to find out more about the
country’s recent UN Activities.

4. Two great websites for research are www.thimun.org/research/, http://cyberschoolbus.un.org/

5. Apart from gathering the general information about the country of your choice listed above, you
will seek specific information on the issues that will be discussed during the 4th SIMUN
conference which are listed on the next page.
 Issues Discussed During this SIMUN Conference
ECOSOC
Sub-Committee 1
1. The Question of International Quality Control
2. Bridging the Digital Divide
3. the Question of the role of Organic Farming in Future Food Production
Sub-Committee 2
1. The Question of the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons
2. The Question of the Impact and Sustainability of International Financial Aid
3. Global Partnership to Combat the spread of Diseases caused by climate stress

POLITICAL
1. The question of the Arctic Sovereignty
2. The Question of Iraq
3. The Question of Zimbabwe and its impact on regional stability

ENVIRONMENT
1. The question of Illegal Wildlife Trade
2. The question of the Loss of Habitat of Endangered Species
3. Drafting a Comprehensive Treaty on Carbon Emission to succeed the Kyoto Protocol

HUMAN RIGHTS
1. Drafting an International Charter of Migrant Workers' Rights
2. The Question of Iraqi refugees
3. The Question of Child Domestic Workers
HOW TO GO ABOUT DOING THE NECESSARY RESEARCH?

1. Each team has a team leader. To avoid complications the Ambassador will act as the team leader. In
case of the Bhutan Delegation, Huiwen will be the Assistant Team Leader and Andril will do the same
job for the Malaysian Delegation. The ambassadorship is provisional at the present moment, final
decision will be made at a latter date.

(In the Bhutanese delegation, you have an extra volunteer Zhen Guang helping you do research work.
In the Malaysian Delegation, we have an extra delegate too. We need a few extra delegates in case
unforeseen circumstances/situations arise. If all of you can make it to the conference, one of the nine
will either be sent for the chair training or chosen for another suitable position.)

2. The next thing to take care of is to make sure each member has a portfolio (different). If you read the
delegation list, you will note that some have chosen the same portfolios. We have four committees:
Economics/Social, Human Rights/ Environment/ Political. Economic/Social Committee has two sub-
committees. So we need five people doing research on issues that will be raised during discussions held
during the meetings of each of these committees.

3. The team leader’s first job is to make sure that we have five people doing research on the issues related
to these committees /sub-committees. So within the next three days by 13 th this should be decided and
research should begin in full swing.

4. The team leader will inform me about the division of duties and update me regularly about the team’s
progress. I need to have your research report ready by 27th December, 2007 in softcopies.

5. REMEMBER! YOUR RESEARCH SHOULD BE ABOUT YOUR “CHOSEN” COUNTRY’S

POSITION ON THESE ISSUES IN THE UNITED NATIONS AND THE NECESSARY
BACKGROUND INFORMATION ABOUT THE ISSUE RAISED.

6. I haven’t asked anyone to specifically do background research on the “chosen” country itself because
all of you are expected to do it individually. You have to be very familiar with the country to represent
it.

7. Make sure you reference important facts cited in your report. Meaning, you need to identify the source
of your information so that others know where the information is taken from, quote, read further or
verify the information if necessary.

Example: Population of Bhutan is 2.3 million

(http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761568123/Bhutan.html#s4) .