An amendment is a change to the text the house is debating. A delegate who agrees with most of a resolution, but not all of it, moves an amendment instead of voting against the whole thing.
An amendment can add words, remove words, or replace them. It can add a whole new clause.
In MEDIMUN, amendments are submitted in MediBook. See Amendments in MediBook.
There are two degrees of amendment.
An amendment of the first degree changes the resolution being debated. See Amendment of the first degree.
An amendment of the second degree changes a first degree amendment. See Amendment of the second degree.
A third degree amendment is out of order. There is no way to amend an amendment to an amendment.
Second degree amendments used to be allowed only in the Security Council at MEDIMUN. They are now allowed in every committee. A chair who has done this before may remember the old rule.
A first degree amendment may only be submitted during open debate time on the resolution.
A second degree amendment may only be submitted during time against the first degree amendment.
If you are unsure. Ask what text the amendment changes. If it changes the resolution, it is a first degree amendment. If it changes a first degree amendment that is already on the floor, it is a second degree amendment.
One amendment covers one clause at most.
If the change has to be made in several places. An amendment may cover more than one clause. Renaming a body that appears in four clauses is the standard example.
Closed debate is the norm for amendments. The chair announces the entry into closed debate and sets the time. Closed debate splits into time in favour and time against.
See Debate modes and Time for and time against.
Not every amendment is debated. The chair decides which ones reach the floor. See Which amendments a chair entertains.
Every amendment is put to a vote. That includes a one word change.
On a first degree amendment, delegates vote in favour or against. There is no division of the house on an amendment.
Abstentions are in order on a second degree amendment. They are not in order on a first degree amendment.
Clapping is only in order when a resolution as a whole passes. It is not in order after an amendment, whether the amendment passed or failed.
An amendment about spelling or grammar is not debated. The chair makes the change directly and tells the house what was changed.
The Security Council debates clause by clause. A first degree amendment is taken against the clause being debated, and only that clause.
Once every operative clause has been debated and voted on, further clauses may be added as amendments.
See Security Council procedure.
Amendments to clauses in the Security Council pass on a simple majority. The threshold is lower than the one for the resolution as a whole. That is deliberate. It keeps mistaken vetoes and veto threats away from amendments.