NationStates Jolt Archive

Right to Protection of Life Act

Category: Human Rights
A resolution to improve worldwide human and civil rights.

Strength: Strong
Proposed by: Aligned Planets

1. Everyone residing in a Nation within the UN has the right to life, in so far as their lives shall be protected by law. No one shall be deprived of his life intentionally by another save in the execution of a sentence of a court following his conviction of a crime for which this penalty is provided by law.

(a) The definition of life from conception to birth shall be determined by the individual Nation within the confines of Resolution #61, which states that 'all women shall have the right to choose whether to have an abortion or not'. The Right to Protection of Life Act does not extend to cover life before birth.
(b) If a conflict should arise between this proposed resolution and Resolution #61, Resolution #61 must be upheld. This proposed resolution shall bear no effect upon the laws pertaining to Abortion.

2. Deprivation of life shall not be regarded as inflicted in contravention of this Article when it results from the use of force which is no more than absolutely necessary:

(a) in defence of any person from unlawful violence;
(b) in order to effect a lawful arrest or to prevent the escape of a person lawfully detained;
(c) in action lawfully taken for the purpose of quelling a riot or insurrection;
(d) during a state of war, when lives are lost due to military activities.

Aligned Planets, you seem to think that the problem is the language or word choice. It's not. It's just not a good idea.

No matter how convoluted you make the language, people are going to continue to pick holes in it. Why? Because you're asking the state to guarantee something it has no power to guarantee.

You also continue to use the phrase "right to life", which has twin negative conotations: the idea that there is actually a right to life, and the fact that it is the chosen name of Pro-Life activists for the hot-button issue of abortion. No matter how you phrase your resolution, your use of this particular phrase will resonate as an anti-abortion proposal.

It's just not gonna fly here. This is your second topic and third iteration on the subject, and I don't recall seeing support for it in the other one. How many more topics are you going to post before you let this idea drop?

Sigh - fine

The Black New World does not recognise a right to life and we wouldn't like to start.

But we are also wondering what has the right to life, why not any others, and you do realise this conflicts with legalise euthanasia, right?

Lady Desdemona of Merwell,
Senior UN representative,
The Black New World,
Delegate to The Order of The Valiant States

We recognise the inherent problems with this Proposal, and have decided to abandon it for now.