New West Indies Embassy

[NWI Foreign Affairs]

❂ Embassy of the New West Indies ❂

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The New West Indies is a democratic, community-minded region emphasizing a balance between casual and complex activities. Such activities include a post-modern tech roleplay, detailed lawmaking in the region's General Assembly (with some of the best legislative minds out there), and social interaction on our discord. Our region offers a unique blend of simple and complex experiences, resulting in a community that's easy in which to integrate at first but enriching with time.

Major updates will be posted below, including our regional Monthly Update series. Discussion is welcome, but it should pertain to New West Indies or anything related to our affairs.

Secretariat

Secretary-General (SecGen): Karteria

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Secretary of Internal Affairs (SIA): Cymiopolis
Secretary of Foreign Affairs (SFA): Ventus Prime
Secretary of Defense and Information (SDI): The Sakura Nippon
Secretary of Administration (SA): New United Carolinas

NWI.gov

General Assembly

President: Reno Sheriffs Department

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Members: All Citizens

GA Law Registry

Updates

[11-4] Today in the GA: Judicial Resolution Prompts Thorough Debate

Other Links

Citizenship Application
Constitution
Embassy Policy
Master Dispatch
Roleplay Information

[NWI Foreign Affairs]

Reserved for any possible expansion.

[NWI Foreign Affairs]

Today in the GA: Judicial Resolution Prompts Thorough Debate

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The General Assembly of the New West Indies, its all-citizen democratic legislature, has been formally debating the resolution that would create the region's first-ever judiciary. GAR21: "Establishment of the Judicial System" was initially drafted by Twelve Titans in early July and has undergone numerous edits. Following months of drafting, the document spans 4625 words (not including the table of contents and appendices), easily resulting in the longest piece of the GA legislation to date.

It is therefore apropos that the GA President approved the legal-maximum of seven days for the resolution's formal debate. While the central idea of the resolution garners popularity across party lines, Karteria has proposed concerns over a clause requiring the Department of Administration to publish annual judicial statistics. He emphatically argues that such a clause, while seemingly trivial, is wholly unnecessary, and the Department should not concern itself with a document that would "not provide any critical information for the court or the public." He continues by saying, while slight, the GA should not make it unnecessarily more difficult for the Secretariat to enforce the law, considering the scarcity of subordinate employees and disinterest in menial tasks.¹

Twelve Titans countered by emphasizing the significant value of such statistics and its lack of burden, wondering if "the Department of Administration [is] so overburdened that it cannot spare a few hours a year"² to create basic data analysis. Moreover, he contends that the GA would be overly-restricted under Karteria's framework, wondering further if "there [is] ever a time when non-essential but useful items should see the light of day."³

Certainly there is some subtext in this discussion from a previous debate between the two prominent legislators. While amicable, the two have politically butted heads before over the balance between executive and legislative flexibility. For now, Karteria has stated his overall support for this judicial resolution, but it is only a matter of time before the two sides will become divided in the voting booth.

Sources
¹Karteria, 10-31-19.
²Twelve Titans, 10-31-19.
³Twelve Titans, 11-2-19.

[NWI Foreign Affairs]

The following (out-of-character) excerpt is from the October Monthly Update published by Celestiam. The full update can be viewed here.

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Roleplay Events in October

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The widespread and uncontroversial war against the 2nd Ottoman Sultanate has made the headlines for much of the month of October, with Cymiopolis, PotaTown, and Libertana forces among others fighting on the Sultanate territory, and parts of Western The Greater Iran, who had authorised camps to be set up. Libertana set up Turkia Aljadida, a libertarian and pro coalition state controlled by Libertana to occupy parts of the fallen Sultanate. A few days later the Second Sultanate collapsed due to internal pressure, leading the Coalition to administer Turkey until a new state can rise from the ashes of the Sultanate and rule over the Anatolian peninsula. Despite coalition “control”, Idiocarasian raiders have been spotted on the peninsula. New Sistonia responded by establishing compulsory ID and curfew laws.

Government reforms in Idiocarasia led to the execution of former Council members by way of combined throwing off a cliff and immolation.

In New United Carolinas a destructive hurricane dubbed Eleanor was announced, prompting Carolinan allies Luraqau and North Italian Union to send foreign aid. The hurricane was exceptionally destructive, though the Carolinan Government was able to provide a coordinated and organised response to this natural disaster.

A conspiracy to assassinate the President of PotaTown failed during a peace conference over the Ottoman fate in Joshenia, with the President miraculously surviving even after a cardiac arrest.

The fire of rebellion is growing in The Anarchist Communist deeply worrying Head of State Alexander Wagenknecht, who called for international help to fend off his revolting people.

The ENS Space Agency from New Sistonia successfully tested its Alcubierre Warp Drive starships by accomplishing an unmanned journey to the Alpha Centauri system. The ENS Institute of Celestial Science announced a few days later that two planets around the Alpha Centauri star were suitable for life. This led the Empire to order a manned mission, inviting other international scientists on the way. The landing was successful and the humans have built the first extra-solar space colony.

In revelations at least as important, Deugaw became the first country to legally mandate that pizzas be delivered in circular rather than square-shaped boxes.

The Ventuan Government issued a warning concerning Idiocarasian space corsairs attacking cargo spaceships off the moons of Jupiter, Io in particular.

The Government of Unity Islands announced its intent to start a space program, adding one more power to the now enlarged human presence in space.

The Government of Portinabia announced the reopening of its borders, and the imposition of harsh prison sentences on anyone “polluting”.

The Cymiopolitan and New Sistonian government have come to an agreement, where Cymiopolis provides metals to New Sistonia and can mine the newly discovered Sistonian planets. New Sistonia also provided some Faster than Light technology to Cymiopolis.

Finally, the Update extends its congratulations to Mr Yagman Bolevich, winner of the New Anarchist Communist national cigar-smoking competition, who called for other smokers of the world to unite and break their chai… sorry to participate in a worldwide smoking competition.

[Conquerus]

Good luck with this region. I have high hopes for you guys!

[NWI Foreign Affairs]

Here

Today in the GA: Judicial System Poised to Pass

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After some meaningful debate, GAR21 has finally come to a full vote. Per most people's expectations, the resolution – drafted and discussed over the course of multiple months – has received unanimous support from voters so far. Most prominent citizens, including all members of government and every political party leader, have already voted in favor. Barring a last-minute, unlikely shift, the legislation is set to pass by a wide margin.

In short, the resolution would create a new branch of government for a Judicial System through a major amendment to the Constitution and additional provisions. The "High Court" would be lead by the Chief Justice (CJ), who would be elected by the General Assembly every 6 months. The CJ would hear cases within three court divisions: the Criminal Court, Civil Court, and State Court. Each division represents a separate class of cases: crimes would involve infractions affecting the region overall; civil cases would involve non-criminal disputes between two or more nations; and state cases would involve infractions made by the regional government.

To effectively handle this responsibility, judicial rights would be established for individuals – similar to the Miranda Rights of the United States. Additionally, a "Regional Attorney" and "Public Attorney" would be promptly appointed upon establishment of the High Court to prosecute and defend individuals, respectively, in the criminal court. While it remains to be seen who exactly would be appointed, there are multiple high-profile candidates who could serve the jobs well.

The next step for the GA is to establish "codes" for each court division, which remains a complicated task. The Criminal Code has been finalized and submitted to the GA President, but it must still undergo what should be another thorough debate stage. The State Code, while mostly fleshed out, is still in drafting. The Civil Code has not expanded beyond brainstorming, according to the best legislative sources.

It seems that the legislature will have quite the busy rest of the year.

[NWI Foreign Affairs]

Welcome to NWI.gov!

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In a complete overhaul, Celestiam has graciously helped the Executive Government revamp its dispatch design. Now, new banners, colors, and descriptions offer a look into the best the New West Indies has to offer.

NWI.gov:

Office of the Secretary-General:

Department of Internal Affairs:

Department of Foreign Affairs:

Department of Administration:

Department of Defense & Information:

[NWI Foreign Affairs]

Scales tipped in favour of Regional Judiciary

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By Celestiam
November 2, 2019

We've been discussing, debating, speculating and spilling oceans of ink (or should we say pixels) over the question of a Judiciary over the past four months. Ever since Twelve Titans first proposed to establish real Courts best described by Cymiopolis as "a step above Hammurabi's "an eye for an eye"", the region has been waiting for it.

November is the month everything happened. After final amendments were made, GAR#21 "Establishment of a Judicial System", that had been nicknamed "The Judicial Proposal" by many General Assembly insiders, was put to vote. The months of consensus building and edits were well worth it, as after four final amendments the Proposal was adopted with 18 votes yea and 0 votes nay. The crushing 100% approval of the resolution reflects how all major parties were in support, and the bill had attracted a few major co-sponsors. More than being Twelve Titans' second proposal to be passed into law, GAR#21 ordered the Secretary-General to call for a special election to fill the unoccupied seat of Chief Justice.

Immediately after the passage of GAR#21, the Criminal Code Proposal that was numbered GAR#22 was introduced. Aiming to give the Court the teeth it needs to apply the Law on offenders, the Code was unanimously adopted with 15 votes yea to no nay votes. A few weeks and much discussion in the #judiciary channel of the Discord server, as well as official debating in the NWI General Assembly was necessary for Celestiam's first proposal to make it to law.

Meanwhile, candidates for Chief Justice prepared their platforms and campaigns. North Italian Union first considered a run but later stepped down, while Blankenheim, Twelve Titans, and Volirum all published platforms and tried their luck.

Two of them answered questions for the Press Corps and all three published platforms. You can see it all here.

After 72 hours of voting, Twelve Titans arrived on top with 14 votes to Volirum's 6 and Blankenheim's 1. Twelve Titans is, therefore, the Chief Justice of the New West Indies.

The Secretary of Internal Affairs should soon announce appointments for the vacant offices of Regional Attorney and Public Attorney.

This article is an excerpt of the New West Indies Monthly Update for November

[NWI Foreign Affairs]

There haven't been many updates here recently, but that doesn't mean the New West Indies has been quiet.

We recently established our brand new forum, where legislative drafting, alternative roleplays, and private business can be conducted. Huzzah!

And don't forgot to check out the latest version of our Monthly Update series, showcasing the best happenings of December and January.

[NWI Foreign Affairs]

The Secretary-General's statement on the closure of the Thaecian embassy:

The New West Indies has begun the closure of its embassy with Thaecia due to poor individual conduct by some of their officials and a government-sponsored, WA-wide recruitment program that the New West Indies cannot in good conscience support.

The individual conduct was done on a gameplay recruitment thread created for Thaecia by a former diplomat. A moderator of Thaecia's discord, Cerdenia, as well as current diplomat Saint Ryvern both insulted other gameplayers responding on the thread. The thread's original poster also displayed an unfortunate callousness toward the other nations. This conduct was correspondingly admonished by forum administrator Reploid Productions.

Furthermore, the recruitment initiative extended to WA members is detrimental to user-created regions at-large, and, thus, the game itself. NationStates' lifeblood is new communities that do their best to grow and flourish. The effort required to pursue constant recruitment is already strenuous; and yet, the government of Thaecia seems more intent on benefiting themselves at the expense of others rather than utilizing the many acceptable means of recruiting newly-created nations.

While every community is competing in some fashion with each other to grow, most do so with an understanding of shared success for the game. Thaecia, unfortunately, does not.

We hope that the concerns proposed by us and other regions result in them coming to this shared understanding one day.

Dispatch version: https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=1331511

[Kuriko]

Thank you for taking such a stance on their actions, very good response here.

[Karteria]

Thank you for taking such a stance on their actions, very good response here.

You're welcome! And thank you for the kind words.

It’s the least we could do (and it was necessary).

[NWI Foreign Affairs]

The Secretary-General's statement on the termination of the treaty and closure of the embassy with the New Western Empire.

The New West Indies has begun the closure of its embassy with New Western Empire as well as the termination of our Friendship Treaty due to the NWE's infringement of the sovereignty of the New West Indies, anti-democratic principles, and their promoted callous environment.

It has come to the attention of New West Indies officials that the Prime Minister for the New Western Empire made several demands to Thaecia following supposed insults and diplomatic ire. Some of these demands were made in an ultimatum posted on the Thaecian discord server and others were made privately (confirmed by Thaecian officials in a press release and a RMB post).

While the New West Indies has had no love for Thaecia recently, we cannot deny the dangerous missteps made in these demands. Overall, the ultimatum presented an attempt by the NWE to strong-arm another region into accepting wishes lest they receive multiple punishments. First among these were the removal of "all members from Thaecia, including any duplicate citizens, banning them from roleplay, politics, and kicking them from the Discord or Region." This anti-democratic threat is a violation of the New West Indies' embassy policy and does not represent values with which our region wants to associate. Moreover, according to the Thaecian government's press release, the NWE privately demanded that Thaecia establish embassies of them, which the New West Indies also cannot accept.

Furthermore, the New Western Empire now presents a threat to New West Indies sovereignty directly. Should Thaecia accept the ultimatum (they have already declared otherwise), the NWE would "work with [them] to gain back their embassy with New Western Indes." Offensive spelling aside, the NWE did not cooperate with or even contact the New West Indies on this matter. We are not fond of other regions attempting to influence our foreign affairs against our will, especially considering that the previous press release clearly indicated that Thaecia and our region will no longer be engaging diplomatically. This demand contradicted promises made by the friendship treaty, including 1) recognition of sovereignty at all times, and 2) sharing all information pertaining to the other region's well-being.

In addition to the unfortunate political decisions, the New Western Empire has been lax regarding the punishment of doxxing and harassment within its borders. The New West Indies was somewhat aware of this history, but it was hopeful that the new administration would change its ways. However, new explicit details of the aforementioned offenses came to light, and the Founder was publicly dismissive of the history when confronted. Furthermore, one of the perpetrators remains in the NWE with a prominent position and influence.

The New West Indies can no longer in good conscience ignore these realities, and thus, we will no longer maintain relations with the New Western Empire.

Dispatch version: https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=1333201

[NWI Foreign Affairs]

The Secretary-General's State of the Region Address for the first half of the January-June 2020 term:

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

While extrapolated from its original context, Charles Dickens’ words can aptly describe the situation of the last three months. The world around us seems to be burning; threats of conflict, political doubts, and a world-wide pandemic plague our psyches. And yet, the New West Indies, a small island in a sea of hopelessness, has never been better.

Recruitment of experienced nations has gained significant steam as of recently. While it is regrettably clear that recruitment stamps did not yield sought-after activity – internal reports show few notable nations from the prolonged campaign – investment in our infrastructure and quality brought new faces, nonetheless. These new entrants have showcased their abilities and spirit, such as Amabillis, Mongie (Hunnic Tribes), Kadiya, and New Spiedska.

In this vein, the community at-large has experienced a great cultural renaissance alongside developing its own identity. While the government certainly played the part as a catalyst, individual determination has never been so on display. Discord stations have grown immensely popular, featuring (among other topics) political analysis, archeological discovery, ethnic representation, lighthearted pet displays, and artistic majesty. Flag-making and logo designs are a common passion. Based on anecdotal observation, interest in roleplay has taken off, with many dozens of posts per week. The creation of the popular Roleplay Committee has begun a new era of citizen-driven world-building. The Department of Internal Affairs under the Honorable Cymiopolis has conducted monthly events since January, showcasing our best and brightest. Instances of toxicity are few and far between, a marked departure from before January.

The New West Indies has also made its place known on the interregional stage. Following scandals in embassy regions, our region took a firm stance against WA-wide recruitment in user-created regions and moderation malpractice – core violations of our fundamental values – by ending those relations. Despite these dissolutions, our foreign relations have expanded and developed elsewhere, such as a consulate in Osiris, an embassy in Meihua, and a potential merger with Evergreen Conifer (in debate at the time of writing). Along the way, the New West Indies has established itself as a promoter of democracy and inclusivity across NationStates.

In the coming months, there are no plans for huge recruitment campaigns, new forums, or new bureaus. Over the span of my first and second terms thus far, I have learned, more than anything, what is most important. Allowing our deeply rooted culture and creativity to prosper, honing a true sense of kinship, is essential.

There is no doubt that the world we live in on the outside is in peril. Nevertheless, it is telling that this blissful oasis has never been more united in its spirit.

Dispatch Version: https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=1340954

[Tinhampton]

a potential merger with Evergreen Conifer (in debate at the time of writing)

Will the Evergreen Conifer people move into NWI, or will the NWI people move into Evergreen Conifer?

[Karteria]

a potential merger with Evergreen Conifer (in debate at the time of writing)

Will the Evergreen Conifer people move into NWI, or will the NWI people move into Evergreen Conifer?

Former. Since you seem interested, here is the treaty.

Conifer has ratified it; we are about to officially consider it, though there is already wide support.

[NWI Foreign Affairs]

Former. Since you seem interested, here is the treaty.

Conifer has ratified it; we are about to officially consider it, though there is already wide support.

Said treaty has been ratified by the New West Indies General Assembly (without a hitch) and is now in force. Evergreen Conifer is now a part of the New West Indies.