Researching+Committee+Issues

__**Questions to Guide You in your Committee Issue Research:**__

 * What is the problem? How does it affect your country?
 * What has your country done to combat the problem?
 * What are the various “sides” in the debate?
 * Which aspects of the issue are most important to your country?
 * If your country is not involved with the issue, how can it become involved?
 * How will your country shape the debate at the conference?
 * What arguments will other countries make?
 * How do the positions of other countries affect your country’s position?
 * Is there evidence or statistics that might help to back up your country’s position?

**(it is usually not possible to answer ALL of these questions but try to do the best that you can)**

 * A brief introduction to your country and its history concerning the topic and committee;
 * How the issue affects your country;
 * Your country’s policies with respect to the issue and your country’s justification for these policies;
 * Quotes from your country’s leaders about the issue;
 * Statistics to back up your country’s position on the issue;
 * Actions taken by your government with regard to the issue;
 * Conventions and resolutions that your country has signed or ratified;
 * UN actions that your country supported or opposed;
 * What your country believes should be done to address the issue;
 * What your country would like to accomplish in the committee’s resolution; and
 * How the positions of other countries affect your country’s position

__**Excellent Sources for Research:**__

There are sections on each region of the world (Europe, Africa, Middle East, etc.) government perspectives (recent editions have had editorials by Merkel, Sirleaf, Netanyahu, Ahmadinehad, and even Ban Ki-Moon!), international media (articles from the BBC, Al Jazeera, etc.) and policy experts. international editions (Russia), regions, and special topics search by topic or region/country [] News from around the World! [] Deutsche-Welle English News
 * nytimes.com - you can check out the U.S. or Global edition on-line.
 * worldaffairsjournal.org - an awesome site that includes a section on
 * foreignaffairs.com – an online version of the magazine, with links to
 * allafrica.com - an agglomeration of African news sources. You can
 * euobserver.com - news from/about EU nations
 * theaustralian.com.au - Australian newspaper online
 * english.aljazeera.net - seminal Arabic news source, in English
 * rt.com - Russia Today in English
 * themoscowtimes.com - The Moscow Times in English
 * latindispatch.com - News from/about Latin America