[TWI-Only] [IC] Gael Four Commission

[Negarakita]

"What is the religious make up of Negarakita? Are there any other religious courts in your nation?"

"Catholics make up the next biggest group and can, If they choose, follow Christian laws but most opt to follow secular laws."

"A Negarakitan is free to leave Islam, religious freedom necessitates this. If one apostates, they are not subject to Islamic rulings. But Muslims are, as long as they are a muslim they will be so. This is not a matter of Negarakitan law, but the Qur'an. You cannot be muslim and disregard the rules of the faith, just as an Oster citizen cannot expect to be able to not follow Oster law that he is subject to. He can leave the faith if he wants."

"Of course you can. One can choose his faith and also choose not to abide by certain aspects of the 'rules' it implies. For example, one can choose to be Muslim in faith and be against the illegality of homosexual intercourse in Islam. One can be Muslim in faith and be against the permissibility of domestic violence in Islam. One can be Muslim in faith and be against the fact that in Islam, a woman's inheritance is less than a man's. Does your nation also execute people for adultery, defamation, drinking alcohol, and robbery?"

Mehnard sighed, glancing around at the other delegates. "I'm sorry, Mr. Susanto, but I cannot, and will not, vote for granting membership to your nation."

Susanto sighed deeply.
"No, we do not. Alcohol does not constitute death, nor robbery, while defamation is punished with the punishment the defamed person would take. And you cannot be convicted for sodomy or adultery without four witnesses. There has not been an arrest for either in many years. I can see that the delegate may dislike Islam, but I am disappointed that a lack of cultural understanding will stand between the nation of ostehaar and a mutually beneficial agreement."

[Ostehaar]

Alcohol does not constitute death, nor robbery, while defamation is punished with the punishment the defamed person would take. And you cannot be convicted for sodomy or adultery without four witnesses. There has not been an arrest for either in many years. I can see that the delegate may dislike Islam, but I am disappointed that a lack of cultural understanding will stand between the nation of ostehaar and a mutually beneficial agreement."

"I have no dislike towards Islam specifically," Mehnard replied, "and your accusation that this is 'a lack of cultural understanding' is disrespectful and insolent. It doesn't matter to me or to my government if in practice there haven't been any arrests in a while. What matters is the fact that your government views it as perfectly fine to have laws against things like adultery, defamation, sodomy, and other actions which are not the government's business. What matters to me is that a person's religion can be used against him. As I said, many Muslims do not want to live under strict Islamic law, but the only option your nation leaves them with, if that is the case, is to denounce their own faith... which is appalling."

[Verdon]

Vidal had not yet spoken up after having read through the dossier in front of him. His colleagues concerns about religious laws in Negarakita were significant, but the economic benefit of having the Tiger City in close partnership with the G4.

"Mr. Susanto, I can assure you that like so many in your nation, I am also a devout believer in God. I believe that God has a role in guiding all of our lives... but certainly not our governments. I echo the concerns of Mr. Pohesjer. Verdon is a nation founded on the tolerance of many christian sects, and that tolerance of different interpretations is integral to the freedom of our people. There is no one true way to be a Christian, and thus I must believe that there is no one true way to be a Muslim."

"I cannot vote in favor of a full membership for Negarakita, however I would propose a partial membership under Clauses I and IV."

( https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=835553 )

[Ainslie]

"We would only agree to a Part IV partial membership"

[Ostehaar]

"I was just going to say that we will only agree on a Part I membership," said Mehnard, "so I don't see how to proceed from here."

[Agadar]

"The kingdom would agree to a partial membership under the first and fourth clauses," Blackburn spoke, "provided workers and students hailing from outside the Tiger City are not subject to the city's strict, government-enforced religious laws."

The Agadarian delegate turned to his colleagues.

"That being said, observing the positions of my fellow delegates and the rule of a unanimous vote from the delegates being a requirement for joining the Gael Four, it seems Negarakita's entry is, at this time, an impossibility."

[Negarakita]

"The kingdom would agree to a partial membership under the first and fourth clauses," Blackburn spoke, "provided workers and students hailing from outside the Tiger City are not subject to the city's strict, government-enforced religious laws."

The Agadarian delegate turned to his colleagues.

"That being said, observing the positions of my fellow delegates and the rule of a unanimous vote from the delegates being a requirement for joining the Gael Four, it seems Negarakita's entry is, at this time, an impossibility."

"Of course, only Muslim citizens are subject to such laws."

[Ainslie]

Now with the Negarakitan matter, a question of membership which has now been rejected - her phone quickly buzzed.
"Carah Selen!" [What of the ground] she exclaimed as she read the content on the illuminated screen. It was a text from Andrew Kenzai's office, the PM. The severity was as high as its importance. She quickly began to speak

"I must ask the Samuderan delegate what their response to the allegations posed by the governments of Ostehaar, Dormill-Stiura and Ostehaar is. In addition to this, I welcome any further dialogue from the latter three nations pertaining to what are serious allegations - especially regarding this commission."

[Ostehaar]

"Before we continue the discussion," said Mehnard, "please take a moment to go over the material, so you could judge for yourself."
He proceeded to hand over a file of documents containing pictures and intelligence reports to members of the commission, skipping the Samuderan delegate.

[Dormill and Stiura]

Breathless, Ambassador Clément rushed through the barely opened door left by the departing Negarakitan visitor.

"Apologies, getting info from le bureau is not easy. I'm glad to have this now.", she breathes out as she stacks her sets of intelligence reports alongside the Oster counterparts.

[Michigonia]

Returning from a briefing on the situation, Dr. Prosje took his seat and thumbed through the report to review details. His jaw clenched and heartbeat quickened as the tension in the room began to boil.

His conference call with the government in Alland earlier in the day revealed plans of action against the accused parties. But first, he awaited answers.

[Verdon]

When the civil war had broken out, Verdon had quietly closed its borders to Orsandian nationals and stayed completely unattached to the conflict, allowing its neighbors more capable of intervening to do so. But now, what seemed to be a domestic issue has nearly been confirmed as international - and the potential embargo proposed by Dorias could prove to be a lucrative scenario.

[Dormill and Stiura]

"Now that you've all had the time to review this information, I would like to ask that the Commission consider levying a Gael-wide embargo against all of the products Thuzbekistan relies on to maintain its export focused economy. This has the power of completely crippling their capabilities both domestically and abroad. Now I personally would like to recommend a military action, but I have orders personally from President Dyson to not suggest that here so we will leave that there."

[Ostehaar]

"I would like to add that in the case of Thuzbekistan, Ostehaar will also be imposing secondary sanctions. This means that we will not only embargo their products, as we have done anyway for some time now, but we will not trade or cooperate with entities that work with Thuzbekistanian banks and companies. So if, for example, there is a company that sells cars or other items to Thuzbekistan - it will not be allowed to work with Oster companies. I call on all Gael Four nations to do the same, so it would have a much stronger impact."

"We will not be imposing secondary sanctions on Samudera at this time."

[Ainslie]

"We would like to know if these sanctions extend to non-governmental organisations working with non-military, non-intelligence related departments of the Thuzbek government."

[Ostehaar]

"Yes, delegate Downey," Mehnard stressed. "A complete embargo. These sanctions should be a significant force that the Thuzbek government would not be able to ignore. There's no point doing it otherwise. Funds can always be re-routed through 'non-military' entities, after all."

[Samudera]

Rataria just returned from his briefing, barely made it into this meeting. As a partial member of G4, Samudera, and he as the representative of Samudera, were rarely given a chance to talk in this very chamber. But now the situation has changed.

He listened intently to the ongoing talks about the secondary sanctions that were going to be imposed on Thuzbekistan, carefully predicting what kind of motions that the Gael Four as a whole going to impose on Samudera.

[Ostehaar]

"I would like to add that presenting a united Gael front on the matter would greatly assist the efforts in the League."

[Michigonia]

"Michigonia supports the embargo proposed by Ambassador Clément, and we give our recommendation to the voting members to pass the measure. Additionally, our government will be joining Ostehaar in placing secondary sanctions on a wide-range of entities doing business in Thuzbekistan, as far as legally possible."

[Ainslie]

"I would like to formally state that this impedes on the activities of the International Parks and Nature Organisation, whom the Oster delegate would be quite familiar with and especially knowledgable of the good work they do around the Isles. I ask the commission to consider that NGOs who have consistently acted on the right side of the law are now being punished for the works of governments. Can I request that whoever does implement the sanctions view the NGOs on a case by case basis? I shall relay what has been discussed here back to the Ahnslen Government and we will act on this information."

[Agadar]

Remington Blackburn, the Agadarian delegate, now spoke up for the first time:

"In the face of the provided evidence, the kingdom of Agadar will most likely agree to an embargo against Thuzbekistan," he said. "However, I share the honorable Downey's concerns regarding a 'complete' embargo as proposed by the honorable Mehnard. There are several of such international organizations that have no direct ties to the Thuzbekistani government, nor contribute to or have a stake in the Thuzbekistani economy. We should consider not having such organizations suffer from the embargo."

Blackburn's eyes then moved to Rataria, who so far had remained silent, perhaps wisely so.

"On another note," the Agadarian delegate said, "the honorable Mehnard did not propose an embargo against Samudera, despite its proven involvement in the Orsandian conflict. Or was he getting to that?"

[Ostehaar]

"Ostehaar will sanction Samudera and move to revoke its G4 membership. No secondary sanctions, however."

[Ainslie]

“We do support primary and secondary sanctions against Thuzbekistan but would move to support the lifting on sanctions affecting NGOs on a case by case basis after examining the facts. As for one of the responsible nations that is actually here, it is unfortunate that the issue in Samudera has come to this, but it is what needs to be done. We will also support direct sanctions against the Samuderans and would support the reducing or suspension of their G4 membership.

I believe we also must consider Gresswell Island, as there is a high chance they will breach the treaties Ainslie signed with them to ensure peace on the island in retaliation or through a show of force. By doing so, they may invade Gresswell Island and/or pose a significant threat to the scientific research that many of the nations here are engaged with there. Sanctions will also prevent the exchanging of goods with the nation, meaning that there may be a shortage of vital goods and services on the island.”

[Dormill and Stiura]

"Although I do not sit on this Commission, I believe that the opinions of the United Republics should be heard here." Clément began, "How each individual member sanctions these two countries is up to them, but we must agree as a whole that we do not tolerate this. As for Gresswell Island in particular, I will see if my government can dedicate resources to keeping the territory supplied with the goods and services it needs to function. One last thing, and this is something that I haven't seen addressed yet, the status of Samuderan and Thuzbek expats living withing our borders, I fear that they might become a threat as the situation deteriorates at home. They could also be encouraged to attack us in retaliation for our actions. Something must be done about them before they pose a serious risk to all of us."

[Ainslie]

"We shall discuss the technicalities of Gresswell further soon. On the point of expats, our domestic and international obligations prevent us from ejecting the Samuderan expats from our nation and the sheer scale of the population living in Ainslie from this nation would lead to a large expense and effort for our nation. As for the Thuzbeks, I will relay the recommendation to our Ministry for Immigration."