[DRAFT]Limitiations On Conscription

[Fauxia]

"Crime and Punishment? Excuse me but I do not follow. What do you mean Crime and Punishment?

"They're referring to a resolution by that name," Johan said. "There is a nice archive of them on the premises, with an easy-to-search filing system."

“Thank you, ambassador. Now, if you do not mind, what is your opinion on this?”

[Araraukar]

“Thank you, ambassador. Now, if you do not mind, what is your opinion on this?”

"I am actually not an ambassador, though I'm fulfilling the obligations of that role in miss Leveret's absence," Johan explained. "And the official stance of the Grand Nation of Araraukar is that war, and thus military-anything, is a barbaric remainder from the time when the primitive ancestors of the now-sapient species fought one another for territory, and as such is not something any sapient species should be involved in. My actual personal opinion is that limiting the time of a "tour of duty" for a conscripted person is stupid if the person is serving willingly. You should limit the term of service for all soldiers, rather than one subgroup. Most nations that conscript soldiers are doing so out of necessity rather than malice¹, and it makes no sense to punish them for having to resort to it."

OOC: Clause 6 reads like a contradiction of CoCR; why should conscripted soldiers be paid potentially more (the "generous" part) than professional ones?

OOC note: ¹Exactly why Finland does it; with such a small population we can't afford a "professional" army large enough to have any kind of impact, but if in essence half the population is capable of fighting, it may give us some chance. As it did in the past.

[Wallenburg]

"This is not acceptable. The limitations of the Military Freedom Act are strong as it is. We do not need a de facto blanket ban on conscription for those nations who treat conscripts better than mere cannon fodder."

[The First German Order]

OOC: Wouldn't a work around be a nation coming up with their own calendar (like N. Korea) and then saying that 1 year in their calendar is like 50 years?

[Fauxia]

"This is not acceptable. The limitations of the Military Freedom Act are strong as it is. We do not need a de facto blanket ban on conscription for those nations who treat conscripts better than mere cannon fodder."

“This is not even close to a blanket ban on conscription. Had this been at vote, you would have been in breach of Read the Resolution Act.”

[Wallenburg]

"This is not acceptable. The limitations of the Military Freedom Act are strong as it is. We do not need a de facto blanket ban on conscription for those nations who treat conscripts better than mere cannon fodder."

“This is not even close to a blanket ban on conscription. Had this been at vote, you would have been in breach of Read the Resolution Act.”

"I said de facto, ambassador. Pay attention to my statements if you intend to criticize them."

[Fauxia]

“This is not even close to a blanket ban on conscription. Had this been at vote, you would have been in breach of Read the Resolution Act.”

"I said de facto, ambassador. Pay attention to my statements if you intend to criticize them."

“I saw that, and it’s still ridiculous.”

[Silverlight]

Statement from The Quartered Beast, King of Silverlight

"We feel the proposal, as it now stands, is redundant and unnecessary. Our nation already enforces compulsory military service for a maximum of one year, after which the individual is free to go back to their civilian life or to re-enlist; We find re-enlistment does not suffer from this policy, and most of Our citizens are proud to serve in rebuilding Our nation, feeling it is their duty to aid in Our efforts. For those nations that do not enforce conscription, this proposal is unnecessary. For nations that enforce conscription for more than one year, We feel it is not Our duty to intervene in their affairs, as they may very well have a good reason to do so. Overall, it would seem the proposal is nothing more than a practice in futility at this point in time, and as such We must vote against. But We must applaud the effort all the same, as well as the goodwill behind its intent. We are not without compassion and mercy, after all, and encourage the author of the proposal to continue to revise and refine the draft. Should it gain relevance, We shall revisit it at a later date."

[Wallenburg]

"I said de facto, ambassador. Pay attention to my statements if you intend to criticize them."

“I saw that, and it’s still ridiculous.”

"You...saw my speech? Oh right, the transcript. If you still consider my statement ridiculous, I don't really know how to elaborate in simpler words."

[Fauxia]

“I saw that, and it’s still ridiculous.”

"You...saw my speech? Oh right, the transcript. If you still consider my statement ridiculous, I don't really know how to elaborate in simpler words."

“Elaborate or don’t elaborate, you’re still wrong. This does not come close to banning conscription. It doesn’t de facto outlaw conscription. It places a few reasonable restrictions on it.”

[Wallenburg]

"You...saw my speech? Oh right, the transcript. If you still consider my statement ridiculous, I don't really know how to elaborate in simpler words."

“Elaborate or don’t elaborate, you’re still wrong. This does not come close to banning conscription. It doesn’t de facto outlaw conscription. It places a few reasonable restrictions on it.”

"It restricts conscription to the extent that member states cannot give conscripts suitable training for combat and also put them to effective use. It most certainly makes impossible the use of conscripts to fulfill specialist roles that require extensive training. It basically legislates the use of conscripts purely as meat shields for the soldiers with real training."

[Araraukar]

OOC: Heh, just realized that your definitions create a huge loophole that allows any nation that wants to use conscription to use conscription freely and ignore everything in this...

[Liagolas]

OOC: Heh, just realized that your definitions create a huge loophole that allows any nation that wants to use conscription to use conscription freely and ignore everything in this...

OOC: Care to share with the class?

IC:

"It is the observation of the Dominion that a quirk in phrasing may have created a weakness within the draft, Ambassador." The Mouth pulls out its copy of the draft, pointing to it in reference.

1. Defines combat role and all variants thereof, for the purposes of this resolution, as the active participation in open warfare against an enemy,

2. Defines conscription and all variants thereof, for the purposes of this resolution, as the mandatory enlistment of a person into the armed forces,

3. Mandates that no nation, during times of peace, may conscript any person for combat roles for periods of time that exceed one year,

4. Prohibits member nations from conscripting any person under the age of majority for combat roles,

"The first clause 'defines combat role' as 'the active participation in open warfare against an enemy,' and the third clause mandates that 'no nation, during times of peace, may conscript any person for combat roles for periods of time that exceed one year.'

"It is the belief of the Dominion that the first clause necessarily guts the second. After all, what 'time of peace' will involve 'participation in open warfare against an enemy'? That hardly seems peaceful at all.

"Therefore, in a time of peace, a nation may freely conscript denizens for as long as it likes, as no one is in 'open warfare against an enemy.' In a time of war, the third clause's mandate does not apply, so again, conscription can be as indefinite as the nation likes.

"The first clause furthermore creates problems for the fourth, as member nations are only prohibited from conscripting minors in 'combat roles,' which are roles that involve 'active participation in open warfare against an enemy,' which would similarly not be happening in peacetime. Thus, a nation could conscript minors as grunt soldiers so long as it is not actively at war or involved in martial conflict.

"The first clause would be better phrased as follows:

1. Defines combat role and all variants thereof, for the purposes of this resolution, as the a role which would involve active participation in open warfare against an enemy during a time of war or other martial conflict,

"It is the grant of the Dominion that this is a bit clunky, but to the Dominion it seems more or less serviceable. Thus, in a time of peace, a nation is prohibited from conscripting combat soldiery. In a time of war, it is free to.

"It is the acknowledgment of the Dominion that it is in staunch disagreement with policy that restricts conscription (if only because the Dominion relies upon forced labor for... nearly everything). But, it is the supposition of the Dominion that so long as it is not actually a member of this albeit august body, it might as well point out such flaws in the draft."

[Araraukar]

OOC: Care to share with the class?

OOC: Nah, I'll get yelled at just for pointing it out. Now they can yell at you instead...

[Fauxia]

“Elaborate or don’t elaborate, you’re still wrong. This does not come close to banning conscription. It doesn’t de facto outlaw conscription. It places a few reasonable restrictions on it.”

"It restricts conscription to the extent that member states cannot give conscripts suitable training for combat and also put them to effective use. It most certainly makes impossible the use of conscripts to fulfill specialist roles that require extensive training. It basically legislates the use of conscripts purely as meat shields for the soldiers with real training."

“You shouldn’t be using conscripts for specialist roles. What next, are you going to force people to become rocket scientists?”

[The First German Order]

"It restricts conscription to the extent that member states cannot give conscripts suitable training for combat and also put them to effective use. It most certainly makes impossible the use of conscripts to fulfill specialist roles that require extensive training. It basically legislates the use of conscripts purely as meat shields for the soldiers with real training."

“You shouldn’t be using conscripts for specialist roles. What next, are you going to force people to become rocket scientists?”

OOC: I mean, why wouldn't we force people to become rocket scientists?
All it does make sense to use conscripts for specialist roles. Militaries need some specialists, not just grunts.

[Araraukar]

“You shouldn’t be using conscripts for specialist roles.”

OOC: Even if the conscript is halfway there due to their civilian training and education?

Also, rocket scientists at least in RL tend to not be military peeps originally, anymore.

[Wallenburg]

"It restricts conscription to the extent that member states cannot give conscripts suitable training for combat and also put them to effective use. It most certainly makes impossible the use of conscripts to fulfill specialist roles that require extensive training. It basically legislates the use of conscripts purely as meat shields for the soldiers with real training."

“You shouldn’t be using conscripts for specialist roles. What next, are you going to force people to become rocket scientists?”

"Military specialists and rocket scientists are not even remotely comparable."

[Fauxia]

“You shouldn’t be using conscripts for specialist roles.”

OOC: Even if the conscript is halfway there due to their civilian training and education?

Also, rocket scientists at least in RL tend to not be military peeps originally, anymore.

OOC: They aren't really all that close if you have to keep training them for more than a year. If you can finish the training within the year, that's great, but if you can't, you're taking too much from the person.

“You shouldn’t be using conscripts for specialist roles. What next, are you going to force people to become rocket scientists?”

"Military specialists and rocket scientists are not even remotely comparable."

"The idea is that you shouldn't be forcing people to train for things that will take longer than a reasonable timeframe."

“You shouldn’t be using conscripts for specialist roles. What next, are you going to force people to become rocket scientists?”

OOC: I mean, why wouldn't we force people to become rocket scientists?
All it does make sense to use conscripts for specialist roles. Militaries need some specialists, not just grunts.

OOC: Nothing stops those people from joining voluntarily, or from you giving incentives to have them join.

[The First German Order]

OOC: Even if the conscript is halfway there due to their civilian training and education?

Also, rocket scientists at least in RL tend to not be military peeps originally, anymore.

OOC: They aren't really all that close if you have to keep training them for more than a year. If you can finish the training within the year, that's great, but if you can't, you're taking too much from the person.

"Military specialists and rocket scientists are not even remotely comparable."

"The idea is that you shouldn't be forcing people to train for things that will take longer than a reasonable timeframe."

OOC: I mean, why wouldn't we force people to become rocket scientists?
All it does make sense to use conscripts for specialist roles. Militaries need some specialists, not just grunts.

OOC: Nothing stops those people from joining voluntarily, or from you giving incentives to have them join.

OOC: So we can threaten to execute them if they don't join? That's an incentive, right?

[Wallenburg]

"Military specialists and rocket scientists are not even remotely comparable."

"The idea is that you shouldn't be forcing people to train for things that will take longer than a reasonable timeframe."

"The only unreasonable timeframe here is the one this proposal sets on conscription."

[Fauxia]

OOC: They aren't really all that close if you have to keep training them for more than a year. If you can finish the training within the year, that's great, but if you can't, you're taking too much from the person.

"The idea is that you shouldn't be forcing people to train for things that will take longer than a reasonable timeframe."

OOC: Nothing stops those people from joining voluntarily, or from you giving incentives to have them join.

OOC: So we can threaten to execute them if they don't join? That's an incentive, right?

OOC: Positive incentive. I didn’t want to have to clarify that but of course I did.

"The idea is that you shouldn't be forcing people to train for things that will take longer than a reasonable timeframe."

"The only unreasonable timeframe here is the one this proposal sets on conscription."

"It is abhorrent that you do not believe that people have the right to vhoose their own jobs.”

[Wallenburg]

"The only unreasonable timeframe here is the one this proposal sets on conscription."

"It is abhorrent that you do not believe that people have the right to vhoose their own jobs.”

"You know what's more abhorrent? Foreign occupation by a dictatorial power."

[Fauxia]

"It is abhorrent that you do not believe that people have the right to vhoose their own jobs.”

"You know what's more abhorrent? Foreign occupation by a dictatorial power."

"There's a reason these limitations go away during wartime."

[Wallenburg]

"You know what's more abhorrent? Foreign occupation by a dictatorial power."

"There's a reason these limitations go away during wartime."

"They don't."