A motion to expel a delegate is a rarely used disciplinary procedure in Model UN that requests the dais remove a delegate from the committee room, either temporarily or for the remainder of the conference. It is not part of the standard rules of procedure inherited from UN bodies — the actual United Nations General Assembly and Security Council have no analogous "expulsion" motion for individual representatives, though Rule 60 of the GA's Rules of Procedure addresses suspension of speaking rights, and the GA can suspend or expel member states under Articles 5 and 6 of the UN Charter.
In MUN practice, expulsion is treated as a chair's prerogative rather than a delegate-initiated motion at most conferences. Major circuits — including NMUN, WorldMUN, and Harvard's HNMUN — typically vest removal authority in the chair, secretariat, or director, not the floor. Where a motion to expel does appear in a conference's rules, it usually requires:
- A specific factual basis (harassment, plagiarism of position papers, repeated dilatory motions, bringing the conference into disrepute).
- A high voting threshold, often a two-thirds majority of the committee.
- Approval or ratification by the secretariat before taking effect.
Grounds commonly cited include violations of the conference code of conduct, breaches of diplomatic courtesy, disclosure of crisis backroom information, or behavior covered by the host institution's harassment policies. Expulsion is distinct from lesser sanctions such as a formal warning, loss of speaking rights, removal from the speakers list, or disqualification from awards.
Delegates should treat the motion as a serious instrument, not a rhetorical weapon. Frivolous motions to expel — used to silence a rival bloc leader, for example — are themselves typically grounds for a chair's warning. If a delegate believes another participant has genuinely violated conference rules, the appropriate channel is almost always a private note to the dais or a report to the secretariat rather than a public floor motion.
Example
At HNMUN 2019, several conferences updated their codes of conduct so that any motion to expel a delegate would be reviewed by the Secretariat before the chair acted on a committee vote.
Frequently asked questions
At most conferences, no — the chair or secretariat holds removal authority, and any floor motion is advisory. A few conferences allow a binding vote, usually requiring a two-thirds majority and secretariat approval.
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