[DRAFT] No Eternal Punishment

[Imperium Anglorum]

No Eternal Punishment
Human Rights: Mild

The World Assembly,

Asserting that it is unconscionable to doom any person to any sort of eternal punishment and that all punishments ought be time limited or occur once,

Concerned that such punishment would violate one's fundamental identity and basic rights,

Believing that such a punishment is fundamentally unjust and that an individual's free liberties must be protected, and

Seeing international action as a fundamentally useful means to secure such rights, hereby:

1. Prohibits the imposition of any eternal punishment on any individual irrespective of physical, digital, or other nature; commutes the sentences of all individuals currently serving such sentences;

2. Declares it a heinous crime to command, effect, or assist in any such punishment; and

3. Requires that all persons found to have committed such an offence be punished to the fullest extent possible under World Assembly law.

[Imperium Anglorum]

Ban Hell.

[Kenmoria]

“The wording of this would appear to suggest a ban in life in prison, depending on what the word ‘eternal’ is supposed to mean. With the death penalty de facto banned through ‘Preventing the Execution of Innocents’, banning life sentences too would seem to leave too little options for member nations to punish extremely serious crimes, such as mass murder.

If, on the other hand, this is only intended to prevents punishments of literally infinite duration, it seems inapplicable to the vast majority of member states, which do not to my knowledge consist of immortal beings.”

[Imperium Anglorum]

“The wording of this would appear to suggest a ban in life in prison, depending on what the word ‘eternal’ is supposed to mean. With the death penalty de facto banned through ‘Preventing the Execution of Innocents’, banning life sentences too would seem to leave too little options for member nations to punish extremely serious crimes, such as mass murder.

If, on the other hand, this is only intended to prevents punishments of literally infinite duration, it seems inapplicable to the vast majority of member states, which do not to my knowledge consist of immortal beings.”

Latter. Life is time limited.

[Caracasus]

Wonder when the devil's advocate will show up?

Would this extend to victims currently experiencing eternal damnation? Some religions have devil like figures who are also being punished by being in hell, fallen angels and whatnot. Would they be freed?

[Liberimery]

“The wording of this would appear to suggest a ban in life in prison, depending on what the word ‘eternal’ is supposed to mean. With the death penalty de facto banned through ‘Preventing the Execution of Innocents’, banning life sentences too would seem to leave too little options for member nations to punish extremely serious crimes, such as mass murder.

If, on the other hand, this is only intended to prevents punishments of literally infinite duration, it seems inapplicable to the vast majority of member states, which do not to my knowledge consist of immortal beings.”

Latter. Life is time limited.

(What about AI citizens? At least those who are not iCitizens, which have a tendancy to break right as the iCitizen 10 with no headphone jacks are due out? )

[Wrapper]

Wonder when the devil's advocate will show up?

OOC: IA, please explain why this is not an ideological ban, as many theocracies use the threat of eternal damnation to... you know what, never mind, I can't keep a straight face while typing this.

[Imperium Anglorum]

Wonder when the devil's advocate will show up?

OOC: IA, please explain why this is not an ideological ban, as many theocracies use the threat of eternal damnation to... you know what, never mind, I can't keep a straight face while typing this.

In the same way banning slavery is not an ideological ban on autocracies.

[Auralia]

Given that:

(1) World Assembly resolutions are binding only on member states, whose jurisdiction is necessarily limited to the natural order; and
(2) physical immortality is impossible,

we must conclude that clauses 1 through 3 of this proposal would have no effect. We therefore struggle to see how this proposal merits its chosen category and strength.

(If the author seriously intends to to use this proposal to "ban Hell", however, we must remind them that any attempt to regulate divine eschatology is ultra vires this Assembly.

We suspect, however, that the primary purpose of this proposal is clause 4, which would prohibit the World Assembly from forbearing in any way the power to regulate member state judicial decisions, including criminal punishments and civil judgements.

We also suspect this proposal is illegal for contradicting GAR #312, which expressly prohibits the World Assembly from establishing an international criminal court for crimes for which there is universal jurisdiction.

In any event we stand opposed.

Martin Russell
Chief Ambassador, Auralian Mission to the World Assembly.

[Polish Prussian Commonwealth]

w h e e z e
saving

[Separatist Peoples]

"We exist in a universe where there is, empirically, no god. Which is mighty convenient. As such, we have no horse in this race. Might as well support."

[Lord Dominator]

"Seems to me that trying to regulate how assorted divine beings do what they do might be something of a strength violation..."

OOC;

[Demiurges]

OOC: Okay, ngl, while ridiculous this has to be one of the most amusing and entertaining proposals I've seen. I guess we're freeing Satan. Oh, and I suppose that means we need to release all the Lovecraftian deities that are imprisoned eternally either outside the boundaries of space or in the sunken city of R'lyeh. XD

[Bananaistan]

OOC: Joke proposals go here.

[Mount Kadath]

OOC: Okay, ngl, while ridiculous this has to be one of the most amusing and entertaining proposals I've seen. I guess we're freeing Satan. Oh, and I suppose that means we need to release all the Lovecraftian deities that are imprisoned eternally either outside the boundaries of space or in the sunken city of R'lyeh. XD

Nyarlathotep the Crawling Chaos would like to note for the record that according to the Necronomicon:
"That is not dead which can eternal lie,
And with strange aeons even death may die."
(Abdul "the Mad Arab" Alhazred, c. 735)

Under the vacillating moon and shimmering ocean lies no eternal prison of R'lyeh, but a mere physical, Euclidian, limit to the boundless madness that is the High Priest of the Great Old Ones, whose existence is beyond the cognition of Men, a temporary moment for the Dreaming. Dread Cthulhu shall rise again before this Aeon is out, bringing forth the City in which he currently Dreams, a harrowing non-Euclidian vortex of nightmare and the cosmic insignificance of Men. To a Being of the Outer World, one who has seen Kadath, no prison can be eternal, and as such this resolution would not apply to us.

[Caracasus]

If you are serious about this, you might want to also consider simulated eternal punishment. There have been some rather interesting breakthroughs regarding drugs that can alter someone's perception of time, and that is of course before we take into account uploading consciousness. Today's sci fi is often tomorrow's technology.

[Neo-Routhengard]

Michel read the proposal with amusement. He was then thinking about this proposal which might spark another religious debate which, for him, should be fun to watch. With a snarky smirk on his face, he then reclined on his chair, stretching his booted feet on the table.

He then said, "Although I am always been a devout follower of our creed which granted me a lot of blessings including my inclusion in this august assembly, a creed in which sinners would face eternal damnation as the final judgment for their deeds in this universe; as my Deity always forgives those who seek Him truly and unconditionally, I had no reason to shackle them in an infinite sentence, as only my Deity can judge as such. I am voting in support of this measure. If in time the members of this august assembly will castigate my Deity for its eternal punishment, I will leave the decision to Him to judge them for their blasphemous actions."

[Bears Armed]

"The Afterlife does not fall within this organisation's jurisdiction."

Artorrios o SouthWoods,
ChairBear, Bears Armed Mission at the World Assembly.

[Imperium Anglorum]

If you are serious about this, you might want to also consider simulated eternal punishment. There have been some rather interesting breakthroughs regarding drugs that can alter someone's perception of time, and that is of course before we take into account uploading consciousness. Today's sci fi is often tomorrow's technology.

That's a good point.

[Wallenburg]

Any Ferengi worth his lobes knows that only greed is eternal. This proposal is unnecessary.

[Third Asopia]

Asserting that it is unconscionable to doom any person to any sort of eternal punishment and that all punishments ought be time limited or occur once,

This kind of contradicts:

3. Requires that all persons found to have committed such an offence be punished to the fullest extent possible;

this. You are banning eternal punishment, but you say all persons found to have committed that has to be punished to the fullest extent possible. That could mean life punishment, but yet again, it could also be the highest legal age for someone to get arrested.

[Bears Armed]

Given that:

(1) World Assembly resolutions are binding only on member states, whose jurisdiction is necessarily limited to the natural order; and
(2) physical immortality is impossible,

we must conclude that clauses 1 through 3 of this proposal would have no effect. We therefore struggle to see how this proposal merits its chosen category and strength.

OOC
While not being quite as dogmatic about the impossibility of physical immortality as Auralia seems to be, at least in the context of NS roleplay, I do agree that it is likely to be far too rare within WA member nations for this proposal to justifiably be given even a 'Mild' strength.[/one-sixth of GenSec]

[Sierra Lyricalia]

While not being quite as dogmatic about the impossibility of physical immortality as Auralia seems to be, at least in the context of NS roleplay, I do agree that it is likely to be far too rare within WA member nations for this proposal to justifiably be given even a 'Mild' strength.[/one-sixth of GenSec]

OOC: I'm not really sure that's a judgment we can make within the rules. Either it has no operative clause, or it's Mild. Keep in mind that a proposal consisting entirely of hortatory ("URGES member states to...") statements is considered legal at a Mild strength assuming no other illegalities; so I'm not sure where we could get off saying something "doesn't affect enough people/countries" to meet the threshold of Mild strength.

That said, I would echo Caracasus' suggestion to include virtual reality administered punishments within the scope of this prohibition (see Surface Detail by Iain M. Banks for a disturbingly vivid rendition of such 'virtual hells'). Placement in such multisensory realities ought to be considered torture under WA law, as GAR #9 does not account for the possibility of vividly simulating its prohibited conduct.

[Doing it Rightland]

I have a few questions and concerns regarding this. First, what punishments, aside from those given through a divine and probably omnipotent entity, would be eternal? Since all things are mortal, there is no way eternal punishment is actually possible. Instead, punishments lasting for life (or periods longer), or condemnation for the duration of the nation, would be the longest lasting punishments, thus point 1 won't do anything.

Next, you state that anyone who eternally punishes a criminal (which really isn't actually possible) should be treated as "Criminals Against Humanity". Then I ask you this: what punishment will they serve? They cannot be executed, as they did not commit a violent crime (GA #443 section 6, which you might recall) and if you would want section 1 of your current draft to limit life sentences, then they cannot serve life sentences.

Finally, point 4 reads as a blatant power grab, as you take the power for member nations to decide their own laws an punishments, and reserve it for the World Assembly.

Frankly, I cannot and will never support a resolution that fails to do anything except strip member nations of any and all control of their own legal systems.

[The Order of the Holy Inquisitors]

To say this draft is mild strength is an outright lie. Point 4 clearly states that the World Assembly would become the sole authority to define crimes and appropriate punishments within member nations. Resolutions like these continue to overstep the boundaries of the GA, and attempts to control member nations through unjust resolutions that nations such as yours create is appalling.

In addition, there is no such thing as physical immortality, thus, governments have no way to enforce eternal punishments. Only deities can do such a thing, and the idea that you can regulate the power of gods is quite absurd.