NationStates

"Look if you have nothing Constructive to say dont say it"

Jeniferia wrote:"Look if you have nothing Constructive to say dont say it"

"Take your own advice.

"Everything I've said here has been constructive. If you all choose to tear it down, that's not my problem. At least it's been said.

"Most of you have insulted me personally - some have even stooped so low as to misuse my name. But I've stayed calm, even though you treat me as an enemy.

"I haven't suggested anything that civilized nations haven't been doing for decades. You're trying to catch up. Fine. But if you'd rather preserve the status quo instead of moving forward, don't take it out on me."

Susan chuckles. "Well, I do think that was about as close to an agreement as we are likely to get from General Castro-Stalina. " She looks at the General with a smile.

"Quite right Susan i actually read my nations Intelligance Files on your nations and intel we have on you so I know all your names"

"Religion has been banned in the empire for almost two-hundred years, permitting prisoners to publicly practise it may be a little hard."

DeusII wrote:"Religion has been banned in the empire for almost two-hundred years, permitting prisoners to publicly practise it may be a little hard."

"Well," the general said, "that's a sticking point that I hadn't anticipated."

She paused. "The right to practice religion doesn't mean much to me, but that's all the more reason to stand up for somebody else's rights."

She paused again. "Exactly how illegal is religion in your nation? Do you put people in prison or fine them, or what?"

Susan looks at the Deus representative "Well, it really wouldn't be public since it would be in a POW prison, now would it? What do you do to someone who I don't know, prays in public?"

How do you treat religious foreign nationals, say in their embassies?

"As religion was forbidden so long ago there are very few people who have even heard of it or think it's a worthy thing to do; so I would not be sure of the exact punishment for it. As for the embassies, permission to break/be over any laws must be given from the central command itself and in the case of embassies this is usually allowed, thus why the letterhead for our embassy correspondence and invitations is always from the Office of the Head Minister, as opposed to the Office of Diplomatic Relations.

"Contact will be made with the Central Command" he said, signalling to a woman behind him, who took out her phone and left the room, "but that may take a few days - it is best we continue with the current topics until I receive further information. As for the other items regarding post and so forth we have no problems with those. "

"Well, it isn't just about you," the general said. We have to wonder about other nations too. You might look the other way if POWs practiced their religion but what about the nations that don't?

"I'm tempted to say we should just let each nation decide its own rules regarding religion, as long as nobody is mistreated because of their religion. If religious practices are allowed, okay. If not, that's okay too.

"I'm not happy with that, but I don't know of a better solution."

"If a nation forbid smoke and drink - would it be provided to prisoners? Perhaps a little more trivial but a similar situation."

"Yes, I guess it is similar.

"I think we have to face the fact that nobody is going to uphold this agreement if it means letting POWs go against their nations' laws.

"That's what I was getting at earlier when I said that they're only going to do what they've already decided to do. Treaties don't change their minds. They change their own minds.

"That's why we can't be all nicey-compromisey all the time. There are going to be compromises that you think are perfectly reasonable but somebody else resists, like freedom of religion or the freedom to drink or smoke. We have to draw the line somewhere and I'd rather set the bar higher instead of lower."

Well, looks I'm going to be taking the annoying, disagreeing route, but I think that people's religious freedom should be paramount. While I think we can accept that a far poition of atheist and secular countries will probably look the other way when it comes to religion, seeing it as more of a novelty or a silly superstition. What we need to be worried about are fanatical religious people. I disagree with General Castro-Stalina that rational nations won't compromise, but when it comes to theocracies, I think all bets are off and we should set the bar as high as possible with regards to personal customs of POWs.

"Religion is not strictly banned in my nation but if you practice it your looked down upon"

"I understand the concerns of DeusII and the other delegates. I am also presently pleased that the DeusII delegate is making such an effort at this conference. In the end it will be a choice that your nation will need to make."

"I don't really agree with the smoking and drinking statement due to our own view of those things as rights attached to the right of liberty. However, I do understand that many nations don't see those things the same way and respect your view. Religion I think is a bit more personal to many people and nations. In LG our third largest "religion" after Christianity and Islam is Athiesm. I know its not a religion." She grins "Eventhough, I think such an allowance will add to the comfort of those imprisoned considerably that due profess a religious belief. "

"We are still awaiting word form Central Command regarding this matter and it may take several days dependant upon if it goes to vote; our authority only extends so far and unfortunately from here we can not speed up the process. If all other nations would, however, permit religion then I suggest we move forth into our next topic."

"Our nation will allow Religion i suppose"

I think we should realise that POWs are not part of our populations, that they have a seperate status. I would like to commend the delagates who are trying to compromise, but I would like to put forth another point in favor of allowing religion, smoking, and drinking. If a soldier has these comforts, both profound and simple, they will be more compliant in captivity.

"Going back to earlier points on interrogation, perhaps these things could be the incentives we discussed for extracting infomation?"

"That could work"

I would be in favor of providing recreational incentives to cooperative POWs, but I don't think that care packages and such containing recreational items, personal items, and religious items should be confiscated from prisoners who haven't violated the rules. We need to be mindful that POWs are not criminals to have their rights punitively restricted. In an ideal world, from our perspective, POWs would be housed in 5 star resorts for the duration. Of course that isn't possible, but if their family wants to send a football for them to play with to help pass the time, then the capturing party should not interfere with that.

"Where are we with the current proposal? What's next on the agenda?"

"The Central Command has taken the religious matter to the Second Chambers so we shall find out more later. The next topic is what?"