[DRAFT] Convention on Sexual Violence

[Grand Europic States]

The Grand Europic States submits for your consideration a draft of a proposed Convention on Sexual Violence Resolution. NB. Despite the title, it also deals with domestic abuse but I couldn't think of a 30-character-max name that would include both elements.

Current draft:

The World Assembly,

RECOGNISING the pain, both emotional and physical, caused by domestic abuse and sexual violence;

ACKNOWLEDGING the cost of domestic abuse and sexual violence, in terms of lost productivity, damage to property, costs of investigation and prosecution;

BELIEVING that all nations have an obligation to prevent domestic abuse and sexual violence, to educate their population about it, and to prosecute those who commit it;

HEREBY implements the following articles;

Article 1

1) Domestic abuse and sexual violence, as defined in this resolution, will be hence forth illegal in all WA member nations if they are not already under national laws;

2) Responsibility to police, prosecute and convict any violations remains with national government, legislature and judiciary;

Article 2

1) Defines, for the purposes of this resolution, domestic abuse as when a family member, partner or ex-partner attempts to exercise undue, unwarranted, unlawful, and/or non-consensual physical or psychological influence over another;

2) Defines, for the purposes of this resolution, sexual violence as any sexual act, any attempt to obtain a sexual act, or any attempt to traffic for the purpose of non-consensual sexual exploitation, using force, deception, or intoxication by any person regardless of their relationship to the victim, in any setting;

3) Definitions shall include the following actions/behavior:
(i) Rape by strangers;
(ii) Rape within marriage or dating relationships, including civil unions;
(iii) Systematic "war rape" during armed conflict;
(iv) Unwanted sexual advances or sexual harassment, including demanding sex in return for favors;
(v) Denial of the right to use contraception or to adopt other measures to protect against sexually transmitted diseases;
(vi) Forced abortion;
(vii) Violent acts against sexual integrity, including genital mutilation and obligatory inspections for virginity;

4) Definitions shall exclude the following actions:
(i) The consensual use of non-lethal sexual violence between partners over the age of consent, as set by national law;
(ii) Consensual acts provided as a service in exchange for payment or other goods or services;

Article 3

1) Requires every nation to establish a national agency, all national agencies will collectively be called Offices for Sexually Motivated Violence (OSMV), to coordinate domestic and sexual violence intervention efforts between the following groups:
(i) Law enforcement services;
(ii) Medical service providers;
(iii) Probation services;
(iv) Refuge shelters;
(v) Counselling service providers;
(vi) Legal aid providers;
(vii) Victim support groups
(viii) Community outreach groups
(ix) Other relevant charities or non-governmental organisations

2) Require all OSMV to combat domestic abuse and sexual violence using the following methods:
(i) Collating current and commissioning new suitable, peer reviewed research to find the best solutions for domestic and sexual violence intervention;
(ii) Creating education and information campaigns to inform about the prevalence of domestic abuse and sexual violence, how to spot signs that someone may be suffering from it and the best ways to prevent and stop it
(iii) Collating current and commissioning new suitable, peer reviewed research to attempt to understand the psychological conditions of those who perpetrate domestic and sexual violence;

3) In addition, all OSMV are required to offer support services for those who have been victims of domestic abuse and/or sexual violence, those who have been convicted of perpetrating it, those who admit to perpetrating it but have not been convicted and those who fear they may commit it.

Original draft:

The World Assembly,

RECOGNISING the pain, both emotional and physical, caused by domestic abuse and sexual violence;

ACKNOWLEDGING the cost of domestic abuse and sexual violence, in terms of lost productivity, damage to property, costs of investigation and prosecution;

BELIEVING that all nations have an obligation to prevent domestic abuse and sexual violence, to educate their population about it, and to prosecute those who commit it;

HEREBY implements the following articles;

Article 1

1) Defines, for the purposes of this resolution, domestic abuse as when a family member, partner or ex-partner attempts to physically or psychologically dominate another;

2) Defines, for the purposes of this resolution, sexual violence as any sexual act, attempt to obtain a sexual act, unwanted sexual comments or advances, or acts to traffic, or otherwise directed, against a person’s sexuality using coercion, by any person regardless of their relationship to the victim, in any setting;

3) Definitions shall include the following actions/behavior:
(i) Rape by strangers;
(ii) Rape within marriage or dating relationships;
(iii) Systematic "war rape" during armed conflict;
(iv) Unwanted sexual advances or sexual harassment, including demanding sex in return for favors;
(v) Sexual abuse of mentally or physically disabled people;
(vi) Sexual abuse of children;
(vii) Forced marriage or cohabitation, including the marriage of children;
(viii) Denial of the right to use contraception or to adopt other measures to protect against sexually transmitted diseases;
(ix) Forced abortion;
(x) Violent acts against sexual integrity, including genital mutilation and obligatory inspections for virginity;
(xi) Forced prostitution and trafficking of people for the purpose of sexual exploitation;

4) Definitions shall exclude the following actions:
(i) The consensual use of non-lethal sexual violence between partners over the age of consent, as set by national law;

5) Definitions do not depend on the gender, race, religion or sexual orientation of either the perpetrator(s) or victim(s);

Article 2

1) Requires all nations to establish local agencies, which will collectively be called Offices for Sexually Motivated Violence (OSMV), to coordinate domestic and sexual violence intervention efforts between the following groups:
(i) Police services;
(ii) Medical service providers;
(iii) Probation services;
(iv) Refuge shelters;
(v) Counselling service providers;
(vi) Legal aid providers;

2) Require all OSMV to combat domestic abuse and sexual violence using the following methods:
(a) Consolidating and commissioning suitable, peer reviewed research to find the best solutions for domestic and sexual violence intervention;
(b) Creating education and information campaigns
(c) Consolidating and commissioning suitable, peer reviewed research to attempt to understand the psychological conditions of those who perpetrate domestic and sexual violence;

3) In addition, all OSMV are required to offer support services for those who have been victims of domestic abuse and/or sexual violence, those who have been convicted of perpetrating it, those who admit to perpetrating it but have not been convicted and those who fear they may commit it.

[Grand Europic States]

Its a very early draft so the wording is very confusing at the moment but I do hope to clean it up a bit in time. As always, I'd be grateful to hear your thoughts on it! Also, I am aware that several resolutions do address some of the issues in this proposal, but overall legislation on this is issue is at best patchy at the moment.

[Quintessence of Dust]

Far be it for me to oppose legislation on such a topic, but this proposal is so badly written it hurts. To clarify, we would strongly support adequate legislation on this topic (in fact, we have an unfinished draft of our own in a dusty drawer somewhere) but could not support this and would be forced to lobby against it were it to progress.

1) Defines, for the purposes of this resolution, domestic abuse as when a family member, partner or ex-partner attempts to physically or psychologically dominate another;

Your subsequent clause seems to exempt the BDSM community. But the language here is still overly broad. An attempt at domination is, to my mind, inherently distasteful, but not inherently abusive; how you would go about demonstrating an "attempt...to dominate" in a court of law eludes me.

2) Defines, for the purposes of this resolution, sexual violence as any sexual act, attempt to obtain a sexual act, unwanted sexual comments or advances, or acts to traffic, or otherwise directed, against a person’s sexuality using coercion, by any person regardless of their relationship to the victim, in any setting;

Again, I know some will see this as rich coming from me given all the stick from Sheikh Nadnerb over Extraordinary Rendition, but you're classifying an "unwanted sexual comment" as "sexual violence"? You haven't even included any requirement the victim be aware of such comments! The latter portion of your clause appears to devolve into nonsense: you have either missed out a section, or lost the train of thought of which it began. Is "acts" here a verb or a noun? How did trafficking get involved? Or, for that matter, sexuality?

And you have so many dangling subclauses I question whether "using coercion" (not, I note, deception, intoxication, or other possibilities, such as discussed in the aforementioned SPA) even modifies "obtain", though I will defer to a better grammarian on this.

3) Definitions shall include the following actions/behavior:
(i) Rape by strangers;
(ii) Rape within marriage or dating relationships;

I'm gratified you've mentioned spousal rape as it is of course a major problem. But you've done very little to actually deal with it, because by identifying it in the way you have you are excluding its most common form: rape not recognised as such by the laws of the nation. That is, nations that have marriage confer presumed consent. I believe, though I'd be open to debate, such laws would be legal under the terms of FoMA/SPA.

(iii) Systematic "war rape" during armed conflict;

Surely any war rape is to be opposed.

(iv) Unwanted sexual advances or sexual harassment, including demanding sex in return for favors;

The use of "demanding" creates loopholes: most workplace harassment (to which I presume the clause refers) probably involves suggestions, not demands. I also question this clause's effect on prostitution (legal under SPA).

(v) Sexual abuse of mentally or physically disabled people;
(vi) Sexual abuse of children;

Well, what is "sexual abuse"? You've defined domestic abuse and sexual violence, and now you're saying sexual abuse is included in the definition of those. Urh, that's awfully convoluted. And the latter is illegal under the Child Protection Act anyway.

(vii) Forced marriage or cohabitation, including the marriage of children;

Already illegal under FoMA.

(viii) Denial of the right to use contraception or to adopt other measures to protect against sexually transmitted diseases;

Hey, we've argued in favour of this before, but to say that it amounts to sexual violence and should be treated on an equal level with war rape? And how does this affect, say, a physician conscience rule? or parental consent? or withdrawing defective or harmful contraceptives? or medical decisions?

(ix) Forced abortion;

As I have argued before, to prohibit forced abortions while not legalising voluntary abortions is an act of hypocrisy. I also question whether the violence is in this case sexual in nature.

(x) Violent acts against sexual integrity, including genital mutilation and obligatory inspections for virginity;

Does this include male circumcision? (Yeah Bob, I went there.) Does this include a medical pelvic exam? You seem to have gone from thinking up examples of abusive situations to thinking up examples of situations that could be abusive.

(xi) Forced prostitution and trafficking of people for the purpose of sexual exploitation;

I fail to see how this is not illegal under the Ban on Slavery and Trafficking.

4) Definitions shall exclude the following actions:
(i) The consensual use of non-lethal sexual violence between partners over the age of consent, as set by national law;

Not sure you can grant nations exclusive prerogatives here, as their laws are already subject to the SPA.

5) Definitions do not depend on the gender, race, religion or sexual orientation of either the perpetrator(s) or victim(s);

No, they don't. So there's no need to even mention this.

1) Requires all nations to establish local agencies, which will collectively be called Offices for Sexually Motivated Violence (OSMV’s), to coordinate domestic and sexual violence intervention efforts between the following groups:
(i) Police services;
(ii) Medical service providers;
(iii) Probation services;
(iv) Refuge shelters;
(v) Counselling service providers;
(vi) Legal aid providers;

For the record I think this is an excellent idea. By the way, there is no apostrophe when pluralising an acronym. But what is a "local agenc[y]"? Or rather, how local?

There are also some other groups you might consider, such as victim support groups, community outreach groups, and perhaps more generically "law enforcement" (going beyond "police" to include border agents, for example).

2) Require all OSMV’s to combat domestic abuse and sexual violence using the following methods:
(a) Consolidating and commissioning suitable, peer reviewed research to find the best solutions for domestic and sexual violence intervention;

Well, this is a bit of a hodgepodge. To consolidate and to commission research are two very different things, and could potentially be quite contradictory: especially when it's unclear who is determining "suitab[ility]". I'm also not clear on what "intervention" refers to: in a counselling context, it has quite a different meaning from the one I presume is at work here.

(b) Creating education and information campaigns

Good, though given the importance of this wouldn't a little more detail be desirable? I mean, five words in an entire resolution, for the clause that will probably prove its biggest substantive contribution?

(c) Consolidating and commissioning suitable, peer reviewed research to attempt to understand the psychological conditions of those who perpetrate domestic and sexual violence;

See my above concerns. I would also note that almost anything can be "peer reviewed". Ambassador Merrywether agrees with my comments and looked over my notes: they are thereby "peer reviewed". If you're hoping to require academic credibility, more is needed. But why should non-academic groups be conducting such research anyway?

3) In addition, all OSMV’s are required to offer support services for those who have been victims of domestic abuse and/or sexual violence, those who have been convicted of perpetrating it, those who admit to perpetrating it but have not been convicted and those who fear they may commit it.

Uh...what now? They're required to? They can't prioritise local or emergent cases? They can't limit themselves to community groups they're familiar with, or operate on a nationals-only basis? And, more importantly, who is going to pay for all this?

Admirable intent, though.

-- Samantha Benson
Congressional Liaison, Office of WA Affairs

[The Rotan]

Anyone who would abuse another sentient creature is dishonorable and deserves to be thrown out the nearest airlock at the earliest opportunity.

Article 1 has some problems I can easily see so I'll address those, and leave the rest to my more experienced peers.

2) Defines, for the purposes of this resolution, sexual violence as any sexual act, attempt to obtain a sexual act,

The problem thus far is this wording right here. If any sexual act is violent, then how could anyone possibly every have children? This suggests that consensual acts of sex between partners over the age of consent is somehow wrong. This could be easily abused as a loophole by anyone who gets broken up with in a relationship as revenge, or by any parent or sibling who got upset that Adam and Eve had relations. I strongly advise you to remove the "as any sexual act, attempt to obtain a sexual act" as even the second part removes for 90% of all species, standard dating practices. Starting at "Unwanted sexual advances" is a far stronger start that what is listed already.

(vii) Forced marriage or cohabitation, including the marriage of children;

And what of societies where arranged marriages are customary, having been done so for as far back as living memory extends? Those are forced marriages, often being arranged when both parties are still children.


Article 2 I can find nothing wrong with, but surely my peers have some thoughts on it.

yours,
Judicator Aldaris, Rotanian Ambassador to The World Assembly.

[Grand Europic States]

Wow Ms Benson, never has one person identified so many of my failures, so accurately, so quickly! You are however correct on every single point you made.

OOC: I made this draft very quickly on the back of a very disturbing news story and, having no expert knowledge of this area, drew up the draft using what little sources I had ready to hand.

1) Defines, for the purposes of this resolution, domestic abuse as when a family member, partner or ex-partner attempts to physically or psychologically dominate another;

Your subsequent clause seems to exempt the BDSM community. But the language here is still overly broad. An attempt at domination is, to my mind, inherently distasteful, but not inherently abusive; how you would go about demonstrating an "attempt...to dominate" in a court of law eludes me.

Agreed, my current suggestion would be to reword this as: "Defines, for the purposes of this resolution, domestic abuse as when a family member, partner or ex-partner attempts to exercise undue, unwarranted, unlawful, and/or non-consensual physical or psychological influence over another"

2) Defines, for the purposes of this resolution, sexual violence as any sexual act, attempt to obtain a sexual act, unwanted sexual comments or advances, or acts to traffic, or otherwise directed, against a person’s sexuality using coercion, by any person regardless of their relationship to the victim, in any setting;

you're classifying an "unwanted sexual comment" as "sexual violence"? You haven't even included any requirement the victim be aware of such comments! The latter portion of your clause appears to devolve into nonsense: you have either missed out a section, or lost the train of thought of which it began. Is "acts" here a verb or a noun? How did trafficking get involved? Or, for that matter, sexuality?

My inability to read what I've written astounds even me! Propose this: "Defines, for the purposes of this resolution, sexual violence as any sexual act, any attempt to obtain a sexual act, or any attempt to traffic for the purpose of non-consensual sexual exploitation, using force, deception, or intoxication by any person regardless of their relationship to the victim, in any setting"

I'm still not overly satisfied with this part, I'm not quite sure why though. On grammar I have no idea, so if you spot any grammar mistakes please notify me of the correct phrasing/wording.

3) Definitions shall include the following actions/behavior:
(i) Rape by strangers;
(ii) Rape within marriage or dating relationships;

I'm gratified you've mentioned spousal rape as it is of course a major problem. But you've done very little to actually deal with it, because by identifying it in the way you have you are excluding its most common form: rape not recognised as such by the laws of the nation. That is, nations that have marriage confer presumed consent. I believe, though I'd be open to debate, such laws would be legal under the terms of FoMA/SPA.

I propose adding a clause, probably above Article 1, declaring that: "domestic abuse and sexual violence, as defined in this resolution, will be hence forth illegal in all WA member nations if they are not already under national laws" This would make rape within marriage illegal in all member nations if this proposal were to pass. On a side note I'll also change (ii) to include civil unions.

(iii) Systematic "war rape" during armed conflict;

Surely any war rape is to be opposed.

I think what I was trying to get at here is that (i) already makes rape illegal and I think I was trying to make it explicit that mass rape, or rape in a conflict scenario is also illegal. I'm not sure whether to keep that bit in or if it is sufficiently covered by (i).

(iv) Unwanted sexual advances or sexual harassment, including demanding sex in return for favors;

The use of "demanding" creates loopholes: most workplace harassment (to which I presume the clause refers) probably involves suggestions, not demands. I also question this clause's effect on prostitution (legal under SPA).

I'm a bit stuck on this one, i.e. does sexual harassment count as sexual violence and if so should it be illegal under criminal law or simply civil law? As for prostitution, it should not affect it because there is a difference between 'demanding' and 'purchasing'. However, I will add "consensual acts provided as a service in exchange for payment or other goods or services" to the list of exemptions.

(v) Sexual abuse of mentally or physically disabled people;
(vi) Sexual abuse of children;

Well, what is "sexual abuse"? You've defined domestic abuse and sexual violence, and now you're saying sexual abuse is included in the definition of those. Urh, that's awfully convoluted. And the latter is illegal under the Child Protection Act anyway.

Agreed, I will cut entirely this part as it should be covered by the CPA.

(vii) Forced marriage or cohabitation, including the marriage of children;

Already illegal under FoMA.

I was unaware of that, so I'll drop this clause.

(viii) Denial of the right to use contraception or to adopt other measures to protect against sexually transmitted diseases;

Hey, we've argued in favour of this before, but to say that it amounts to sexual violence and should be treated on an equal level with war rape? And how does this affect, say, a physician conscience rule? or parental consent? or withdrawing defective or harmful contraceptives? or medical decisions?

Let me explain this one: it means denying someone the right to use contraception that is legal under national law in a specific situation, as opposed to the state denying access to it. Its not a very nice topic to give examples on but, this means if a person were to prevent their partner from using contraception when they had sex with him/her.

(ix) Forced abortion;

As I have argued before, to prohibit forced abortions while not legalising voluntary abortions is an act of hypocrisy. I also question whether the violence is in this case sexual in nature.

Agreed, but it doesn't mean that people still don't need to be protected from it. As for the violence issue, I see where you're coming from but as this, to my knowledge, has not been prevented in any other resolution, it seems to fit in with this one even if it is not always sexual violence in the strictest sense.

(x) Violent acts against sexual integrity, including genital mutilation and obligatory inspections for virginity;

Does this include male circumcision? (Yeah Bob, I went there.) Does this include a medical pelvic exam? You seem to have gone from thinking up examples of abusive situations to thinking up examples of situations that could be abusive.

This does not refer to consensual acts. As for male circumcision, if it is consensual, it would not apply. If it we're talking about the circumcision of a baby/child it would apply unless national law allows such an act with parental/guardian consent in which case it would be legal.

(xi) Forced prostitution and trafficking of people for the purpose of sexual exploitation;

I fail to see how this is not illegal under the Ban on Slavery and Trafficking.

It is, as I said before I am aware that some of it was already covered by existing resolutions but I have not had time to go through them all to remove duplications yet. This clause will be removed.

4) Definitions shall exclude the following actions:
(i) The consensual use of non-lethal sexual violence between partners over the age of consent, as set by national law;

Not sure you can grant nations exclusive prerogatives here, as their laws are already subject to the SPA.

I'd like the advice of someone more proficient in grammar here, but what the "as set by national law" refers to is the age of consent and not the whips and chains bit.

5) Definitions do not depend on the gender, race, religion or sexual orientation of either the perpetrator(s) or victim(s);

No, they don't. So there's no need to even mention this.

I had an inkling that this was already addressed by an existing resolution but I was not 100% sure. I'll take your word for it and remove it.

1) Requires all nations to establish local agencies, which will collectively be called Offices for Sexually Motivated Violence (OSMV’s), to coordinate domestic and sexual violence intervention efforts between the following groups:

For the record I think this is an excellent idea. By the way, there is no apostrophe when pluralising an acronym. But what is a "local agenc[y]"? Or rather, how local?

There are also some other groups you might consider, such as victim support groups, community outreach groups, and perhaps more generically "law enforcement" (going beyond "police" to include border agents, for example).

Grammar corrected. The word local is used because there was a clause establishing a WA committee to co-ordinate internationally information about domestic abuse and sexual violence and the OSMV would have been the 'local' or national chapters of such an organisation. I'll change it to: "Requires every nation to establish a national agency, all national agencies will collectively be called Offices for Sexually Motivated Violence (OSMV’s)..."

I will add in your suggestions (victim support groups, community outreach groups, and perhaps more generically "law enforcement" (going beyond "police" to include border agents, for example) and in addition I'll add something to include all relevant charities.

2) Require all OSMV’s to combat domestic abuse and sexual violence using the following methods:
(a) Consolidating and commissioning suitable, peer reviewed research to find the best solutions for domestic and sexual violence intervention;

To consolidate and to commission research are two very different things, and could potentially be quite contradictory: especially when it's unclear who is determining "suitab[ility]". I'm also not clear on what "intervention" refers to: in a counselling context, it has quite a different meaning from the one I presume is at work here.

What I mean is collating (?(can't find the right word)) current research and commissioning new research. The word 'intervention' is used as opposed to another because it accurately describes the aim of intervening at every point, i.e. before, to prevent, during, to stop, and after, to help pick up the pieces. In that context I believe it is the correct and best word.

(b) Creating education and information campaigns

Good, though given the importance of this wouldn't a little more detail be desirable? I mean, five words in an entire resolution, for the clause that will probably prove its biggest substantive contribution?

It sure can and I will look at how I can expand that point.

OOC: Initially the proposal came to 3,700 characters, thus why a lot of it is condensed.

(c) Consolidating and commissioning suitable, peer reviewed research to attempt to understand the psychological conditions of those who perpetrate domestic and sexual violence;

I would also note that almost anything can be "peer reviewed"

There was a specific word I was seeking there, something along the lines of reputable or celebrated. I've haven't found the word I'm looking for yet but when I do I will change it. (If I can't find the word I'll reword it another way)

3) In addition, all OSMV’s are required to offer support services for those who have been victims of domestic abuse and/or sexual violence, those who have been convicted of perpetrating it, those who admit to perpetrating it but have not been convicted and those who fear they may commit it.

Uh...what now? They're required to? They can't prioritise local or emergent cases? They can't limit themselves to community groups they're familiar with, or operate on a nationals-only basis? And, more importantly, who is going to pay for all this?

I'm not entirely sure what you're getting at with this one. It simply requires OSMV to have support programs, it doesn't say anything about priorities or whether they are local or community groups. It doesn't say how they have to provide them either, so they could contract it out to charities, community groups, or church groups if they liked.

OOC: The support program for offenders bit is based on the work of the Quakers so it was my intention to allow any group to provide support groups on behalf of the OSMV.

Who will pay for all this? Member nations obviously. I don't think anyone should be afraid to spend money on domestic abuse and sexual violence intervention, although I'm sure that's not what you were getting at. The cost of this proposal will hardly be high, its biggest intention is simply to co-ordinate the existing operations, that could actually save money! Also, many of the services states are required to provide are already provided by charities for free.

Yours,

[Grand Europic States]

2) Defines, for the purposes of this resolution, sexual violence as any sexual act, attempt to obtain a sexual act,

The problem thus far is this wording right here. If any sexual act is violent, then how could anyone possibly every have children? This suggests that consensual acts of sex between partners over the age of consent is somehow wrong. This could be easily abused as a loophole by anyone who gets broken up with in a relationship as revenge, or by any parent or sibling who got upset that Adam and Eve had relations. I strongly advise you to remove the "as any sexual act, attempt to obtain a sexual act" as even the second part removes for 90% of all species, standard dating practices. Starting at "Unwanted sexual advances" is a far stronger start that what is listed already.

My grammar is terrible so it doesn't mean what it looks like it means: those in green are a list of acts, it goes on to say using coercion. So it means "Defines, for the purposes of this resolution, sexual violence as any sexual act or attempt to obtain a sexual act using coercion".

2) Defines, for the purposes of this resolution, sexual violence as any sexual act, attempt to obtain a sexual act, unwanted sexual comments or advances, or acts to traffic, or otherwise directed, against a person’s sexuality using coercion, by any person regardless of their relationship to the victim, in any setting;

(vii) Forced marriage or cohabitation, including the marriage of children;

And what of societies where arranged marriages are customary, having been done so for as far back as living memory extends? Those are forced marriages, often being arranged when both parties are still children.

This is being removed as I'm told its already been made illegal by a prior resolution.

Yours,

[The Rotan]

2) Defines, for the purposes of this resolution, sexual violence as any sexual act, attempt to obtain a sexual act,

The problem thus far is this wording right here. If any sexual act is violent, then how could anyone possibly every have children? This suggests that consensual acts of sex between partners over the age of consent is somehow wrong. This could be easily abused as a loophole by anyone who gets broken up with in a relationship as revenge, or by any parent or sibling who got upset that Adam and Eve had relations. I strongly advise you to remove the "as any sexual act, attempt to obtain a sexual act" as even the second part removes for 90% of all species, standard dating practices. Starting at "Unwanted sexual advances" is a far stronger start that what is listed already.

My grammar is terrible so it doesn't mean what it looks like it means: those in green are a list of acts, it goes on to say using coercion. So it means "Defines, for the purposes of this resolution, sexual violence as any sexual act or attempt to obtain a sexual act using coercion".

Ahh, now that is much better. I shall review this further.

[Valipac]

Just a nit-picky thing, but on some of your subheadings you use lowercase roman numerals and on some you use an alphabetical scheme. I'd appreciate it if those were standardized to one or the other. Yeah, I know... <.<

[Grand Europic States]

Just a nit-picky thing, but on some of your subheadings you use lowercase roman numerals and on some you use an alphabetical scheme. I'd appreciate it if those were standardized to one or the other. Yeah, I know... <.<

Not a problem, I'll get onto changing that right away.

Baz Reading,
Senior Policy Consultant
Europic Diplomatic Corps WA Mission

on behalf of,

[Grand Europic States]

Unfortunately the current draft is over 3,500 characters again so it will need to be condensed. If you spot anything that can be dropped from it please say so.

Baz Reading,
Senior Policy Consultant
Europic Diplomatic Corps WA Mission

on behalf of,

[Tiesabre]

I feel a nation has no need to create a 'Offices for Sexually Motivated Violence'. As federal Health departments exist to fulfill such role. i suppose this could be called a slippery slope bcause then if you have an Offices for Sexually Motivated Violence, then wouldn't it make sense to have and Office for Murder an Office for For robbery and such?

The nation of Tiesabre feels no need to create such an office as our federal health department and national police force handles these things. It is an unwelcome expense.

[Tanaara]

The desire to curb violence, especially sexual and domestic violance are most comendable, but I feel that it steps over the line into infringing upon national sovereignty.

[Grand Europic States]

I feel a nation has no need to create a 'Offices for Sexually Motivated Violence'. As federal Health departments exist to fulfill such role. i suppose this could be called a slippery slope bcause then if you have an Offices for Sexually Motivated Violence, then wouldn't it make sense to have and Office for Murder an Office for For robbery and such?

Ambassador, the intention of the Offices for Sexually Motivated Violence is to co-ordinate the activities of Health and Law Enforcement departments in regard to domestic abuse and sexual violence. As I explained earlier, the efficiency savings gained from creating a single body to manage and co-ordinate all efforts on domestic abuse and sexual violence could mean that instead of an expense such a department could need to spend less over the long term.

Also, considering that joint operations offices such as the OSMV are likely to be more effective at tackling specific crimes than ordinary fractured operations split between many different departments, further cost savings are likely to be made by reducing domestic abuse and sexual violence and, therefore, also the cost that they have on the economy.

Consider that if OSMV reduce domestic abuse and sexual violence then the amount of lost productivity to WA economies will also be reduced, as will damage to property, the amount spent on medical treatment for victims, the amount spent on investigations, and the amount spent on incarcerating perpetrators.

As for Offices for Murder or Robbery, domestic abuse and sexual violence is a particularly difficult problem to deal with and requires many different parties, agencies and departments to get involved. In comparison, a murder investigation requires forensics, a coroner, and the police. Often, I'd add, there are special offices or departments that deal with murder, such as Homicide Departments or Murder Investigation Teams.

Yours,

[Grand Europic States]

Further comment on this draft would be much appreciated :-)

[Studly Penguins]

We are reviewing this piece of legislation, and will comment on the matter shortly. We apologize but our offices are working OT working our current proposal at the moment.

Tracy Pheffenbaker
Secretary of Studly Penguins WA Offices

[Kryozerkia]

Though this isn't my WA nation, I do want to comment.

This is a well-constructed proposal. I do like that it uses gender and sex neutral-language so that no one is excluded. I know if my WA nation could support a proposal, it would support this one.

[Charlotte Ryberg]

Category wise, this would be a good "Human Rights" resolution under the strength of "Significant".

"Convention on Sexual Violence" would be a good title (29 chars), too.

I'd be happy to help remove the unnecessary use of characters in this proposal, honoured ambassador to the Grand Europic States.

It is possible to shrink parts of Article 2 (simply known as "Definitions") to the following:

1. DEFINES, for the purposes of this resolution:
a) Domestic abuse as when a family member, partner or ex-partner attempts to exercise undue, unwarranted, unlawful, and/or non-consensual physical or psychological influence over another;
b) Sexual violence as any sexual act, any attempt to obtain a sexual act, or any attempt to traffic for the purpose of non-consensual sexual exploitation, using force, deception, or intoxication by any person regardless of their relationship to the victim, in any setting;

It is not necessary to repeat the phrase "Defines, for the purposes of this resolution" twice for parts 1 and 2, which explains why too many characters are being used (saving: 45 characters).

In part 3, "actions" and "behaviour" have similar meanings, but personally I prefer behaviour because it is describing in terms of human behaviour: also, no need to number the following since they have equal importance (13 chars saved):

2. EXTENDS the definitions to include the following behavior:
- Rape by strangers;
- Rape within marriage or dating relationships, including civil unions;
- Systematic "war rape" during armed conflict;
- Unwanted sexual advances or sexual harassment, including demanding sex in return for favors;
- Denial of the right to use contraception or to adopt other measures to protect against sexually transmitted diseases;
- Forced abortion;
- Violent acts against sexual integrity, including genital mutilation and obligatory inspections for virginity;

For part 4:

3. EXEMPTS the following behaviour from the definitions:
- Consensual use of non-lethal sexual violence between partners over the age of consent, as set by national law;
- Consensual acts provided as a service in exchange for payment or other goods or services;