NationStates Jolt Archive

Passport harmonisation
A resolution to increase democratic freedoms.

Category: The Furtherment of Democracy Strength: Significant Proposed by: Stormymilkshake
Description: As the peoples of the world learn more of other nations the urge to travel and broaden cultural horizons has naturally increased. Border formalities are hampered customs officials finding themselves increasingly baffled by the variety of personal identification each nation requires. A UN standardisation initiative would see world citizens issued with documentation which presents personal information in a single format, easing stress and delays at Customs and Immigration facilities. Tourism generates significant revenues alongside the cutural benefits and UN intervention would stimulate growth in this area of each nation's economy.

Each nation would be able to present its travel documentation in a manner and design which reflects its own culture and traditions as long as it contained the standard information.

Votes For: 3566

Votes Against: 674

This is the current proposal up for vote. As you can see, there are aldready about 6 times more votes for than against the proposal.
I ask the people who placed their votes "for" to reconsider. It seems to me that they read the title, scanned the proposal to get the jist, then voted for it because there's no real reason not to.

The main problem I have with this proposal being passed is that it is useless. It is going to cause havoc in the administration of all UN Nations, with no befefits whatsoever.

The proposal's main point is that there are "customs officials finding themselves increasingly baffled by the variety of personal identification each nation requires", and these should be combatted by another piece of documentation, which "presents personal information in a single format." However, it later states that "Each nation would be able to present its travel documentation in a manner and design which reflects its own culture and traditions." How does this prevent "customs officials finding themselves increasingly baffled"? It only adds to the hassle by requiring a further piece of identification which every nation will make differently.

Aside from the fact that this proposal does nothing, the costs of implementing this nothing will be huge. Think of how long it will take for a nation with 500 Million citizens to catalouge everyone in the nation and ensure that they all get this unessesary documentation. Think about how much public spending will be incurred by the system. Where will this money come from? (That's not rhetorical, it's a serious question I want to know the answer to).

Lastly, the proposal is terribly unclear. It states that this documentation must contain "standard information," although it does not state what this information is. How can the information be of a standard unless the standard we must adhear to isn't made clear? (That one is rhetorical).

I am particularly applealing to Delegates, as you have more votes than most. Don't vote for just because there's no reason you found to vote against, that's a silly philosophy. You should vote agaisnt unless everything in the proposal tells you to vote for.
And to Non-Delegate Un Members: Your votes count too! If what you have read here makes sense, please place your vote Against, or ask your Delegate to do so.

Thank you for your time,

Yngwie Malmsteen,
Nibbleton UN Ambassador

This is exactly what I was thinking as I read this proposal. The feasability of this project is very questionable, and it will be a great cost to both citizens and governments. I urge the UN members to vote against this proposal, as it will only bring more unnecessary problems. At current there is no problem, and so there is nothing to fix.

-Ambassador from Kevinovilla

IC:

- The problem addressed by this proposal is: Some of the required data by one nation might not be present in the passports of another. Then a person trying to get into such nation with an incomplete (by that nations standarts) passport would not be able to do so, or at least have serious trouble doing it.

- Not everyone needs this documentation, it is like all passports have been in the past, only people in need of traveling to other countries get them, and in capitalist countries they have to PAY from their own pocket to get them.

- What the proposal means by "Each nation would be able to present its travel documentation in a manner and design which reflects its own culture and traditions" it is only that every nation can put the information required in any format they want, as long as the data is there.

- The point of this proposal is that not all passports contain the same information. It proposes the standarization of information, not of the format of the document.

Now... Did I read the proposal well enough?... don't answer... THAT'S a rethorical question.

Leonardo Fernández
Representant in the UN for
the Community of Bariloche

OOC:
I don't know why you are whining about it, regulations like this exist in the real world and everyone follows them.

I read all proposals, and this one is one of the few that is well writen and addresses a truly international issue as all UN resolutions should.

Don't throw down to the floor the spirit of the guy who wrote this just because you want to play it smart. Encourage him to keep writing every time better proposals like this.

But how can you propose standardization without standards? This resolution aims to force all nations into an agreement where no nation knows what they are agreeing to.

i dont know if this has been brought up...but what if we require to see special info about that person? What if we want to know if that person's been accused of terrorism? What if we want to know if that person's an enemy spy?

that would be outside of the basic information. we're talking Standard information, if you require information such as if the person is an enemy spy, do that on a case by case basis,

The main problem I have with this proposal being passed is that it is useless. It is going to cause havoc in the administration of all UN Nations, with no befefits whatsoever.

The proposal's main point is that there are "customs officials finding themselves increasingly baffled by the variety of personal identification each nation requires", and these should be combatted by another piece of documentation, which "presents personal information in a single format." However, it later states that "Each nation would be able to present its travel documentation in a manner and design which reflects its own culture and traditions." How does this prevent "customs officials finding themselves increasingly baffled"? It only adds to the hassle by requiring a further piece of identification which every nation will make differently.

Aside from the fact that this proposal does nothing, the costs of implementing this nothing will be huge. Think of how long it will take for a nation with 500 Million citizens to catalouge everyone in the nation and ensure that they all get this unessesary documentation. Think about how much public spending will be incurred by the system. Where will this money come from? (That's not rhetorical, it's a serious question I want to know the answer to).



"Where will this money come from?"

*blink* Spice taxes of course!

How many nations have 500 Million Travelers? OK, probably many of them. But what is the cost of coming up with a "Travel Portfolio"? Problably far less than it costs to take a hooker home for the night (which is now legal in all member states thanks to the UN). I could see us even asking the famous has-been actress Sally Struthers to do a UN ad IMPLORING people to not see a hooker for one night and donating their 40 g of Spice Melange (I'm just guessing at the cost here) to the government so it can make a simple Travel Porfolio.

The call for a standarization in format is appealing to Mikitivity. Do you know how annoying it is when a Capitalist Pig who has been nerve stapled walks in through the Miervatian Immigration Office and exposes their neck asking us to scan then to confirm their I.D. and VISA? We can't even afford flash lights in Mikitivity, much less bar code readers.

We love for people to come and visit and enjoy our hospitality, but sadly we do have to check people's travel credentials as well. The process can be exceeding difficult. And it is a two way street. Our travelers have complained about how long it takes many of your immigration check points to allow them into your nations too. I can tell you first hand how many nations do not employ telepaths to read creditials, and many Barada (whom prefer to communicate telepathically and thus don't carry any physical travel papers) are often REFUSED entry into nations because we just don't have enough telepaths to work in your ports of entry!

Now my government has told the Barada that they need to carry around their bicycle license (and a hefty Spice Melange bribe for corrupt nations) to get in. But here too is a problem. Do you know how many different travel documents we have to draft up to conform with all the wacky ideas the rest of you think are logical for VISAs? There is a reason our economy is hurting right now, and it is because we are wasting time coming up with non-standard travel papers.

We'll agree to stop using our telepaths to scan your citizens if you agree to stop implanting micro chips in ours.

OOC:

Edit: ***Bah, this is what I wrote before I read the other topic which explains everything that I was complaining about, so read it or don't, I don't care...
EndEdit


OOC:
I don't know why you are whining about it, regulations like this exist in the real world and everyone follows them.

I read all proposals, and this one is one of the few that is well writen and addresses a truly international issue as all UN resolutions should.

Don't throw down to the floor the spirit of the guy who wrote this just because you want to play it smart. Encourage him to keep writing every time better proposals like this.

I agree with you on some parts Bariloche, but on others I don't.
Yes, I'm sure that this is a true international issue that should be discussed by the UN and that there definately are regulations that set the standards for all to follow.

However, I feel sad for the UN committee if this truly is one of the better written proposals for the review committee. I am not trying to bash the person who wrote this proposal, but it leaves so many questions open!

Please, StormyMilkShake, do not be offended by my comments. Please do keep sending in proposals for the UN. All we ask is that further thought is taken into consideration. If you want, I'd be more than happy to look over future proposals and ask questions to help you make them more detailed in the way you wish to see them done! ^_^

IC:

I do not think that the Zeta Ceti can approve of this proposal as it stands. It does not answer questions that would immediately affect this proposal. What standards are going to be placed on the passport papers? Name, Address, Country are givens... but what about the other needed identification? I'm sure not all countries actually deal with Social Security Numbers, or any other key identification codes, like the United States does. What do other countries think we should add to the "standards" of the passport papers? What is the needed criteria for such standardization? What if I, or other countries, disapprove of any set of the criteria or think another set needs to be added.
It is my belief that these topics should be further discussed before taking action on this proposal.
Perhaps, if the creator of this proposal added that extra step or two to further the ideas of the proposal, I would be more willing to adopt it into my country, but as it stands, I cannot.

Bahgum will vote against this resolution because it is mind-numbingly dull. A bit of inspiration wouldn't go amiss!

I would just like to note that this resolution infringes upon the sovereignty of all individual nations, having to conform to such a specific international standard. The handling of customs is distinct for each nation, and each nation needs to deal with them differently, as each country has different matters with which to be concerned with. This synchronization is expensive, unworkable, and is an incursion into the rights of sovereign states to deal with security in the manner they best see fit. I urge you to vote against this resolution.

Well I'm supporting it, because by harmonizing passports it'll be easier to catch terrorists!

I read all proposals, and this one is one of the few that is well writenBut it isn't well written. Surely a well written proposal about standardising information would include the standards for the information to be set to?
Without this information, the proposal is useless, as it is impossible to implement. Allowing it to pass would cause insane amounts of havoc as people try and work out what this proposal is telling them to do, and everyone will make this "standardised documents" differently.
A "well written" proposal such as this needs to include clear instructions as to what information must be included in the documents, so that it actually means something.

Yngwie Malmsteen,
Nibbleton UN Ambassador

This resolution, like so many UN resolutions, deserves a "no" vote.

Only about one-third of the nations in NS are UN members and therefore do not have to standardize their passports. What happens when the citizens from a non-UN member nation want to enter a UN nation with a non-standard passport? There will still be approxiamately 80,000 different passport types being used.

And, the points made about the resolution not actually containing the standards for the standardized language are well made.

We at Rixtex urge our fellow UN members to vote no on this resolution.

this is good news