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A working group is a temporary or semi-permanent subsidiary body created by a larger committee, conference, or organization to handle a narrowly defined task — typically drafting treaty language, producing a technical report, or negotiating a contested cluster of issues. Working groups exist across diplomatic, parliamentary, and professional settings, and the term carries roughly the same meaning in each: a smaller, more agile forum where substantive work can happen before results are brought back to the plenary for formal action.
In the UN system, working groups appear at every level. The General Assembly has long-running examples such as the Open-ended Working Group on Security Council reform, established in 1993, and the Human Rights Council uses Universal Periodic Review Working Groups composed of all 47 member states. The International Law Commission routinely forms working groups to advance draft articles on specific topics before they are debated by the full Commission.
In Model UN, working groups are an informal caucus format. Delegates with shared positions break off to draft clauses of a resolution or amendment, then return to merge text with other groups. Chairs may explicitly authorize them during unmoderated caucus or suspension of the meeting.
Key features typically include:
Working groups are valued because they allow technical experts and interested states to do detailed drafting without consuming plenary time, and they can lower the political temperature of negotiations by moving them out of formal sessions. Their outputs, however, are only as strong as the parent body's willingness to endorse them.
A committee is usually a standing body with a broad mandate and formal decision-making authority; a working group is narrower, often temporary, and typically reports recommendations back to a parent committee rather than acting on its own.
Generally no. Working groups produce draft texts, reports, or recommendations that must be adopted by the parent body to carry legal or political weight.
An open-ended working group is one in which any member of the parent organization may participate, as opposed to a restricted group with a fixed membership list.