NationStates Jolt Archive

I'm urging all those able to support and vote for the Remedies for Detained Aliens proposal. This is a situation that needs immediate address.

It would likely be better to read the proposal there so you can then support it, but my generosity compels me to put it here:

Remedies for Detained Aliens
A resolution to improve worldwide human and civil rights.


Category: Human Rights
Strength: Significant
Proposed by: Xananu

Description: ACKNOWLEDGING that many nations indefinitely detain aliens when their home countries refuse to accept their return or other countries refuse to accept such persons as citizens;

FURTHER ACKNOWLEDGING that the indefinite detention of aliens simply because they are "nation-less" is abhorrent to human rights, and such practices should be eliminating by this resolution;

NOTING that herein referenced, an "alien" is defined as a person found in a nation that is not a legal resident under the respective nation's naturalization or immigration laws;

NOTING FURTHER that herein referenced, an alien is deemed to be "nation-less" if that alien is prohibited from entering the nation in which they are presently detained, is also prohibited from returning to the nation from which they most immediately departed, and additionally prohibited from entering more than two (2) nations from he or she sought citizenship;

RECOGNIZING that the "Refugee Protection Act" is severely limited when applied to detained aliens;

FURTHER RECOGNIZING the availability of habeas corpus, in many nations, to detained aliens when their legal status is being determined or has already been determined;

HEREBY RESOLVES:

Article 1. Any UN-member nation that permits the indefinite detention of aliens for any reason shall enact procedures to allow such aliens to seek freedom under the principles of habeas corpus;

Art. 2. Any detained alien that is determined to be nation-less despite any habeas corpus proceeding must be permitted to submit a request to any UN-member nation seeking citizenship;

Art. 3. If any detained alien is still deemed to be nation-less after seeking relief under Articles 1 and 2, then such person must be permitted to request the UN, or any reasonable body, agency, or court approved by the UN, to provide relief by recommending, appointing, or ruling a nation to take the detained alien as a citizen;

Art. 4. In considering an alien's request for UN involvement in determing his or her citizenship in a new nation, the UN would be advised to create a committee or committees to decide such requests so as to not take away from the general business of the UN; and

Art. 5. No nation should be limited by this resolution when citing specific concerns for ensuring national security;

ENCOURAGES all nations to seek diplomatic and well-reasoned decisions with fellow nations in providing detained or soon-to-be detained aliens a home nation; and

STRONGLY ENCOURAGES all nations to stop indefinitely detaining aliens for any reason, and to implement other procedures and policies not provided here to prevent such detentions with due respect to human rights.


Voting Ends: Tue Sep 20 2005

You've got Flanagania's vote, but I fear that you may have to resubmit the proposal.

We applaud the intent of this proposal, but we cannot support it as written. The resolution confuses citizenship with permission to enter and remain within a nation. They are two very different things. Part of the confusion stems from the proposal's definition of alien in a way that is contrary to accepted usage of the term. An alien is simply a person who is not a citizen of the nation in which he is present. He or she may very well be a legal resident of the nation. (RL example: My Korean friends in the next apartment building are citizens of South Korea. In terms of the US, they are aliens. But they all have "green cards" and are legally resident in this country. They are resident aliens.)

The granting and revocation of citizenship is a fundamental right of a nation. Ausserland will never support a proposal which would have the NSUN "appointing" us to accept someone as a citizen or "ruling" that we must.

If the proposal were to establish an NSUN mechanism for helping "nation-less" persons find asylum, refugee or resident alien status in a nation, we'd happily support it. The proposal should limit itself to providing aid to people in finding a nation which will allow them to enter its borders and become legally resident. Citizenship should be left completely out of the picture.

Hurlbot Barfanger
Ambassador to the United Nations

If I read and interpret this precisely, it would allow, say, wanted war criminals, international terrorists, pirates of the high seas, or anyone outlawed and exiled from their home nation to then plead with any number of other nations to grant them citizenship, or to appeal to a court to be enforcedly granted citizenship from the country in which they were detained. Thus, they can gain them rights, and possibly avoid perils due them for their despicable acts.

There might be a reason for indeterminant detention without formal sentencing. However, such reasoning should be made known, and a process to contest such detention might be made. Yet the rights of the state in which they are held should not be impugned or eliminated entirely.

I concur with the Ambassador from Ausserland. This resolution needs to be thought through with an eye for international sovereignty, and I daresay add, international law enforcement.

I welcome all of your comments, and plan to propose another version. As for the concern for international criminals, Art. 5 explicitly states that none of this would apply when a country detains someone for national security reasons. I will also consider whether I should focus on just illegal aliens or all aliens in general, including resident aliens.

Also, does anyone know why this proposal would be rejected before a final tally. It was supposed to be up for vote until the end of Tuesday, but it was booted the end of Monday instead--very strange!

Thanks for many others suggestions, I have made another proposal because this is a very important issue worth having resolved by the UN. Please support this new proposal.

For those of you have read previous versions, new text is in italics.



Remedies for Detained Aliens
A resolution to improve worldwide human and civil rights.


Category: Human Rights
Strength: Significant
Proposed by: Xananu

Description: NOTING that herein referenced, an "alien" is defined as a person found in a nation that is not a citizen of that nation under the respective nation's naturalization or similar laws, and such a person could be a lawful alien under the nation's immigration laws or an unlawful alien residing in a nation without the nation's approval;

NOTING FURTHER that herein referenced, an alien is deemed to be "nation-less" if that alien is prohibited from entering the nation in which they are presently detained, is also prohibited from returning to the nation from which they most immediately departed, and additionally prohibited from entering more than two (2) nations from which he or she sought resident status;

ACKNOWLEDGING that many nations indefinitely detain aliens when their home countries refuse to accept their return or other countries refuse to even accept such persons as lawful aliens;

FURTHER ACKNOWLEDGING that the indefinite detention of aliens simply because they are "nation-less" is abhorrent to human rights, and such practices shall be eliminating by this resolution;

RECOGNIZING that the "Refugee Protection Act" is severely limited when applied to detained aliens;

FURTHER RECOGNIZING the availability of habeas corpus, in many nations' legal systems, executive discretionary relief, and similar forms of relief to detained aliens when their legal status is being determined or has already been determined;

HEREBY RESOLVES:

Article 1. Any UN-member nation that permits the indefinite detention of aliens for any reason shall enact procedures to allow such aliens to seek freedom under the principles of habeas corpus;

Art. 2. In addition to providing habeas corpus relief to detained aliens, UN-member nations may also provide discretionary relief through the executive, or any other process a nation believes to further the purpose of this resolution;

Art. 3. Any detained alien that is determined to be nation-less despite any habeas corpus proceeding or other procedures a nation may enact must be permitted to submit a request to any UN-member nation seeking, at the least, residency as a lawful alien, yet this article in no way prohibits a nation from extending or granting a detained alien citizenship from such a request;

Art. 4. If any detained alien is still deemed to be nation-less after seeking relief under Articles 1, 2, and 3 then such person must be permitted to request the UN, or any reasonable body, agency, or court approved by the UN, to provide relief by recommending, appointing, or ruling a nation to take the detained alien as a lawful alien;

Art. 5. In considering an alien's request for UN involvement in determing his or her residency in a new nation, the UN would be advised to create a committee or committees to decide such requests so as to not take away from the general business of the UN; and

Art. 6. No nation shall be limited by this resolution when genuine, specific concerns for ensuring national security are cited;

ENCOURAGES all nations to seek diplomatic and well-reasoned decisions with fellow nations in providing detained or soon-to-be detained aliens a home nation; and

STRONGLY ENCOURAGES all nations to stop indefinitely detaining aliens for any reason, and to implement other procedures and policies not provided here to prevent such detentions with due respect to human rights.


Voting Ends: Fri Sep 23 2005