Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Defence
"Omnia mutantur nos et mutamur in illis"BZD Communication Office
Laan 3
P.O. Box 90909
9009 MV HARTSTAD
http://www.BuZaDef.knFrom: His Excellency Lord Barent de Kock, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Defence for the Dutch Democratic Republic of Knootoss
To: Her Excellency Ms. Rozemijn Reuvelkamp, incoming World Assembly Ambassador
Subject: Repeal Targets
Security Classification: PublicYour Excellency,
Congratulations on your appointment to the position of World Assembly Ambassador by our Grand Pensionary, Jan Willem Daatman. Please know that you have the full confidence and support of the cabinet. While nobody can replace Mr. Koopman, we are sure that you are competent to succeed him. As usual, we expect you to push the policies supported by the Prime Minister and translate those into resolutions that embody 'Knootian Values'. We also hope that you will find the time to repeal some old resolutions.
The government of the Dutch Democratic Republic finds itself in accord with most of the resolutions that are still on the books. She finds herself opposed to resolutions #64, #66, #87, #95, #105, #148, #168, #182, #199, #224, #242, #263, #285, #288, #290, #291, #296, #299 and #315, but recognises that their repeal is no immediate priority. This leaves the following resolutions which are, in the words of your predecessor, "valid targets":
- #6 Humanitarian Transport: This resolution allows for 'humanitarian cargo' to be used as (human) shields for materials supporting combat operations, as well as permitting armed vessels to be classified as 'humanitarian transports', thus promoting the irresponsible combination of humanitarian and non-humanitarian cargo. (And complicating blockades that utilise submarines.)
- #17 WA General Fund: Donations to the World Assembly should be voluntary. The present resolution is misleading, seeing as it refers to 'donations' which in practice amount to taxation of World Assembly member states.
- #41 Access to Life-Saving Drugs: This resolution direct the World Health Authority’s budget towards buying and distributing high-cost medications and vaccines at minimal prices, subverting national health systems and distorting the market mechanism. The purchasing of medicine should be regulated at the national level.
- #52 Food Welfare Act: The surplus donation system in which national crop surpluses may be donated to the IFWO can stymie the development of agriculture in developing nations, whilst undercutting Knootian producers. Its repeal remains a priority.
- #80 A Promotion of Basic Education: This resolution provides funds at the request of any nation for the purposes of providing education. This should clearly be the remit of member states.
- #90 Drug Trafficking Act: This resolution demands that nations take action to suppress illegal drug trafficking. It is time to end the conscription of nations where drugs are legal into the 'War On Drugs'.
- #97 Quality in Health Services: Like resolution #41, this resolution direct the World Health Authority’s budget towards funding nations' healthcare budgets directly. This enormous redistribution is unnecessary.
- #112 Convention on Execution: The death penalty should be banned under international law and this resolution is an impediment to that goal.
- #233 Ban Profits on Workers' Deaths: The resolution makes it very difficult for businesses to take out insurance to make sure that they can easily replace critical staff. The 'Dead Peasant Policy' should rather be named the 'Dead Critical Engineer is dead and now our business ground to a halt Policy".
- #249 Stopping Suicide Seeds: The fear that "r genes inadvertently could escape into the general population of food crops" is unscientific and the resolution hurts the very people it purports to help, seeing how subsistence farmers can benefit the most from genetically modified crops.
- # 292 Nuclear Security Convention: Under a more broad interpretation than Knootian legal scholars would allow, this resolution would impede the transfer of nuclear arms technology, for example nuclear-powered submarines, to other nations. There is no reason, in principle or in practice, why this should be the case.
- # 298 Reducing Spills and Leaks: By directly demanding reimbursement standards for those affected by poorly defined "spills and leaks", and collecting "appropriately punitive penalties" the World Assembly takes a very direct interventionist role in matters that have no international or human rights component.
- # 308 Nuclear Arms Protocol: This resolution theoretically impedes Knootoss' first strike ability in the event of an invasion. While all-out nuclear war to defend the homeland would probably lead to bigger problems than a 'tut tut' by a World Assembly committee, the resolution ought to be repealed as a matter of principle.
We wish you the best of luck in this challenging new environment.
Yours faithfully,
Barent de Kock
This government communication has been printed on biodegradable paper. All carbon emissions associated with the creation of this government communication have been off-set with new plantings in Colombia, using the Pink Bunny Tree™ Carbon Offset Scheme, sponsored by the Pink Bunny Cola Corporation and the Global Hell Group. For more information about the Pink Bunny Tree™ Carbon Offset Scheme, consult http://www.futureproof.kn.
