Submission priority: high.
Repeal "Convention on Wartime Deceased"
Category: Repeal | Target: GA 136 "Convention on Wartime Deceased" | Replacement: None. How to handle their dead is best left to individual nations.
The World Assembly,
Aware of the nature of war as an often-necessary evil, but an evil nevertheless,
Commending the body of existing WA law that seeks to make armed conflict more humane and less crushingly deleterious to those civilians who find themselves caught between opposing armed forces,
Believing that when it comes to handling the dead in times of war, the World Assembly ought to either regulate the subject competently or not regulate it at all,
Concerned that GA 136 "Convention on Wartime Deceased" is far too vague and sloppily written to actually ensure respect for the dead, through:Annoyed that this poor language extends to the target's nonbinding clauses as well, through:
- demanding "that states take appropriate measures to prevent the desecration of deceased civilians, military personnel, and any others who may fall on the field of battle" without actually defining what an "appropriate measure" is, and
- prohibiting "the needless dismembering of deceased combatants on the field of battle" without actually defining what "needless dismembering" is,
Puzzled at what exactly the target means when it "CONDEMNS" those who engage in desecration of the dead on the field of battle,
- recommending "that appropriate measures be taken to ensure the repatriation of the deceased to their nation of origin" without defining what makes a measure "appropriate," and
- suggesting "that nations make provisions for the proper burial or other post-death rituals" without defining how extensive these provisions should be,
Frustrated that the target's prohibition of "needless dismembering" and definition of desecration "as the act of defiling, profaning, or otherwise mutilating and causing undue trauma" potentially includes ritual burials entirely in line with a nation's customs, as well as voluntary organ harvesting and the like,
Confused as to why a resolution espousing respect for national customs would go ahead and try to override those customs, and
Noting that this body already protects civilians during wartime from the worst excesses of armed conflict that affect them when they're actually alive, through well-written resolutions such as GA 317 "Wartime Looting and Pillage,"
Hereby repeals GA 136 "Convention on Wartime Deceased."
