NationStates

THE WORLD ASSEMBLY:

UNDERSTANDS that all individuals who are accused of a crime should be accorded certain rights and protections under international law;

REALIZES that the current resolution on the subject contains a number of flaws that make it ineffective, at best, and detrimental to WA member nations and their citizens, at worst;

REGRETS that clauses within this resolution’s text allow for the abuse of these rights under the guise of upholding them;

NOTES that Clause 1a proclaims that all who are detained are “considered the accused until proven guilty;” yet the resolution does not make any attempt to ensure that innocence is presumed of all accused until proven otherwise. As such, any accusation, no matter how spurious, may follow individuals throughout the rest of their lives, even if they are never convicted of the crimes in question;

QUESTIONS the details of Clause 1c, as “outside and inside threats” are referenced but not given any further elaboration. Such a lack of clarity may be exploited by nations wishing to evade compliance with this clause's intent;

HIGHLIGHTS an additional shortcoming of the resolution's text, in that WA member states are not required to protect convicts from outside threats as Clause 2d only ensures protection for the convicted “from inside threats”, which fails to protect the convicted from the following:

• Natural disasters and other potentially hazardous weather conditions, such as extreme temperatures, and
• Civil unrest that threatens the lives and well-being of convicts;

BELIEVES that misconduct, as detailed in Clause 2g(i), should also have the potential to result in the temporary loss or reduction of exercise time, which is not permitted under the terms of this flawed resolution;

ENCOURAGES the drafting of further proposals on this subject to ensure the protection of all who are accused, charged, and convicted of crimes within WA member nations;

REPEALS GA#62, “For the Detained and Convicted.”

Monikian WA Mission wrote:"Monkiah supports this repeal. Of course we would support the repeal if it contained only ABBA lyrics."

Grays Harbor wrote:

Monikian WA Mission wrote:"Monkiah supports this repeal. Of course we would support the repeal if it contained only ABBA lyrics."

As mush as we dislike ABBA, we have to agree with this sentiment.

Darenjo wrote:I stand in support. I just have two questions though:
1. What do you mean by "exercise time"? Actual physical exercise, or something else? To me it reads as actual physical exercise.

f. (i) shall be permitted at least one hour of outside exercise daily;
(ii) shall be permitted exercise time inside as requested for any reason, weather or otherwise;

g. (i) if misbehaved, may be punished and temporarily lose rights listed as (c) and (g) for an adequate time as given by a prison board or equivalent;

Darenjo wrote:2. You're allowed to mention other WA resolutions in repeals?

Mousebumples wrote:GA#67, Habeas Corpus

Glen-Rhodes wrote:Glen-Rhodes would support the repeal as-is. The original resolution is poorly written and should have been repealed a long time ago.

- Dr. B. Castro

Mousebumples wrote:GA#67, Habeas Corpus

Would prefer WAR#67. That acronym is waaay better.

Rosetania wrote:We support the appeal and would like it also to address the issue of civil death as neither GA#67 nor GA#62 address this.
Should convicts re-obtian their civil rights having served their prison time?
We believe so.
Should a convict's fundemental human rights (as enumerated under GA#7, 9, 23, 29, 35, 41, 54) be upheld when in prison? Absolutely, however neither of these resolutions express this and we believe they should - for the sake of claritiy. Unless it can be argued that these rights are unenumerated or are left to national discretion.

QUESTIONS the details of Clause 1c, as “outside and inside threats” are referenced but not given any further elaboration; such a lack of clarity creates a loophole that could be exploited by nations wishing to evade compliance with this clause;

BELIEVES that misconduct, as detailed in Clause 2g(i), should also have the potential to result in the loss of exercise time, which is not allowed under the terms of this resolution;

Sionis Prioratus wrote:Please submit this already!

Mousebumples wrote:

REPEAL GA#62 - “For the Detained and Convicted”

THE WORLD ASSEMBLY:

UNDERSTANDS that all individuals who are accused of a crime should be accorded certain rights and protections under international law;

REALIZES that the present resolution on the subject has a number of flaws that make it ineffective, at best, and detrimental to WA member nations and their citizens, at worst;

MOURNS that some of the clauses in the resolution’s text allow for the abuse of these rights under the guise of upholding them;

NOTES that Clause 1a proclaims that all who are detained are “considered the accused until proven guilty,” yet it makes no attempt to ensure that innocence is presumed of all accused until proven otherwise in a court of law. As such, an accusation, no matter how spurious, may follow an individual throughout the rest of their life, even if they are not convicted of the crime in question;

QUESTIONS the details of Clause 1c, as “outside and inside threats” are referenced but not given any further elaboration; such a lack of clarity creates a loophole that could be exploited by nations wishing to evade compliance with this clause;

BELIEVES that misconduct, as detailed in Clause 2g(i), should also have the potential to result in the loss of exercise time, which is not allowed under the terms of this resolution;

ACKNOWLEDGES that while some short-comings of this resolution are covered under GA#67, Habeas Corpus, inhabitants of World Assembly member nations would be better protected from the abuses outlined above if this resolution were repealed;

ENCOURAGES the drafting of further proposals on this subject to ensure the protection of all who are accused, charged, and convicted of crimes within WA member nations;

REPEALS GA#62, “For the Detained and Convicted.”

Mousebumples wrote:And, for the record, while I would likely support a well-written replacement, I will not be writing that one myself. In my opinion, this is a dangerous resolution AS IS and even if a replacement is slow to come, we're better off without it on the books.

Moronist Decisions wrote:As you can imagine, we believe that a replacement IS necessary in this specific case but we don't hold it against you.

THE WORLD ASSEMBLY:

UNDERSTANDS that all individuals who are accused of a crime should be accorded certain rights and protections under international law;

REALIZES that the relevant resolution on the subject contains a number of flaws that make it ineffective, at best, and detrimental to WA member nations and their citizens, at worst;

MOURNS that clauses within the resolution’s text allow for the abuse of these rights under the guise of upholding them;

NOTES that Clause 1a proclaims that all who are detained are “considered the accused until proven guilty;” yet the resolution makes no attempt to ensure that innocence is presumed of all accused until proven otherwise in a court of law. As such, an accusation, no matter how spurious, may follow an individual throughout the rest of their life, even if they are never convicted of the crime in question;

QUESTIONS the details of Clause 1c, as “outside and inside threats” are referenced but not given any further elaboration; such a lack of clarity can be exploited by nations wishing to evade compliance with this clause;

REGRETS that WA member states are not required to protect convicts from outside threads as Clause 2d only provides protection for the convicted “from inside threats”;

BELIEVES that misconduct, as detailed in Clause 2g(i), should also have the potential to result in the loss or reduction of exercise time, which is not allowed under the terms of this resolution;

ACKNOWLEDGES that while some short-comings of this resolution are covered under GA#67, Habeas Corpus, inhabitants of World Assembly member nations would be better protected from the abuses outlined above if this resolution were repealed;

ENCOURAGES the drafting of further proposals on this subject to ensure the protection of all who are accused, charged, and convicted of crimes within WA member nations;

REPEALS GA#62, “For the Detained and Convicted.”