World Schools motions

From WSDC Blog

On behalf of the host of this year's World Schools Debating Championships to be held in Washington DC in September 2008, I hereby advise you of the motions for the preliminary prepared rounds and final.

PRELIMINARY ROUND PREPARED MOTIONS
That this house supports military intervention to deliver emergency aid in humanitarian crises
That this house believes that governments have a duty to bail out failing financial institutions.
That this house would ban the use of unethically obtained data in scientific research
That this house would make the directors of multinational companies personally liable for environmental abuses committed by their companies in the developing world

GRAND FINAL MOTION:
That this house would expand the permanent membership of the UN Security Council

NOTE:All teams should arrive in Washington DC prepared to debate both the Proposition and Opposition sides for each of the four preliminary round prepared motions.

The draw (the document listing which teams will be debating each other in each round, which teams will be in proposition and opposition for each debate, and the order in which the prepared motions will be debated) will only be released shortly before the start of the Championship.

Whilst preparing for the debates, teams are strongly advised to read and be familiar with the WSDC Guidelines on Defining Motions & Constructing Cases.

OTHER ROUNDS
All teams involved in the championships will participate in eight preliminary round debates - four of which will be prepared debates on the motions listed above, and four of which will be impromptu debates for which the motions will be released only one hour in advance.

Please note that if the total number of participating teams is an odd number, one team will sit out each preliminary round and instead participate in a 'bye-round' so four teams will debate only three of the prepared motions if that is the case.

The octo-finals, quarter-finals and semi-finals will also be impromptu debates.

For impromptu debates, the team members will be kept in preparation rooms during the hour leading up to the debate. They will not be allowed to consult with their coaches during that hour.

Under the WSDC Rules, teams may not bring any published or handwritten materials into their preparation rooms for impromptu debates, except for one English Language dictionary, one bilingual dictionary, and one single-volume encyclopaedia or almanac. They are also not allowed to bring in any devices that are potentially capable of accessing information from outside the preparation room, such as mobile phones, laptop computers, pagers, PDAs, BlackBerries, and so on.

MOTIONS COMMITTEE
Motions for all rounds of the competition are selected by the Motions Selection Committee, which consists of five members elected by the World Schools Debating Council and two members selected by the host organising committee. For 2008, the members of the Motions Selection Committee are: Ria Nuri Dharmawan (Indonesia) Hayah Eichler, (Israel), Albert Fornis (Greece), Noel McGrath (Ireland), Aaron Maniam (Singapore), Ian Lising (USA) and Justin Rodriguez (USA).

If you have any questions regarding the rules or format for debates at the championships, please feel free to e-mail me for clarification.

Best wishes and good luck for your team's preparations for the competition.
Kind regards,

Claire Ryan
Secretary, World Schools Debating Council Executive Committee