NationStates Jolt Archive

3 proposals; Verus Liberum: Rights of the Children 1, 2, and 3, are currently being voted on. If enough UN Delegates support it, it will be voted on by the entire UN.
These resolutions are for the rights of children everywhere, including basic rights like life, free speech, education, and many more. Please consider supporting these proposals for the sake of children world wide.
Thank you, and I look forward to your thoughts on these proposals!

To view and vote on these proposals, go to the UN and scroll down to List Proposals in green. Click on it. You may have to go as far as the 5th page to view them

Have you checked that this wouldn't violate the 'House of Cards' rule?

You know, if you can't fit everything you want to do into one proposal, you're trying to do too much..

It also would be nice to Post the text of the proposals here.

But just a note, putting something like that into a 3 Part Proposal is most likely against rules.

Verus Liberum
A resolution to improve worldwide human and civil rights.


Category: Human Rights
Strength: Strong
Proposed by: Perpetuating Liberty

Description: Rights of the Children:

In recognition of the basic needs of children throughout the world, and in sympathizing with the underprivileged, poverty stricken, and unequipped families to which many children are born into, we, the members of the United Nations, hereby pass a resolution to uphold these basic needs, aid and enable the families unable to give their children proper care, and prevent any child being brought into the world with a future of only pain and suffering.
The following are articles written applying to all minors everywhere, and are to be followed in all circumstances:

Defines: Child and minor to be synonymous terms, referring to a human being 18 years of age or younger.


Part I: Basic Rights:

Recognizing several basic freedoms that all children should be entitled to, and in recognizing that no matter how basic, some areas of the world do not uphold them, the UN hereby passes Part I of Rights of the Children, to give children everywhere the basic needs they deserve.

Article I: All decisions made that may affect a child shall be made in the best interest of the child.

Article II: All children shall have the right to live.

Article III: All children shall have the right to express their opinions in matters regarding decisions that may affect them.

Article IV: All children whose rights have been violated shall be immediately taken from the way of harm and helped by the government to be rehabilitated and placed in a safe environment to be raised in a proper manner.

Article V: Should the laws of a country provide better care for a child than this Constitution, those laws should take precedence.


Approvals: 20 (Raggie Ralph, WZ Forums, Marindon, Ventei, Transcorporate, Psycotia Island, Yacare, Jabu Jabu, Kevin Hunt, Ikeania, DeathlyLlamas, The Kings Guard, Rathful fire, Thoth of Acha, Misplaced States, South Lorenya, Sucram-Leon, Vrijdenker, 7D, Anderya)

Status: Lacking Support (requires 93 more approvals)

Voting Ends: Tue Nov 13 2007

Verus Liberum II
A resolution to improve worldwide human and civil rights.


Category: Human Rights
Strength: Strong
Proposed by: Perpetuating Liberty

Description: Rights of the Children:

Part II: Political Rights:

Seeing to the fact that human beings develop physically as well as mentally, the UN hereby grants Part II of Rights of the Children’s request for a child’s life to be enriched with freedoms essential to not only their physical but also mental development, for the benefit of their lives in the world of tomorrow.

Article I: All children shall have the right to a name.

Article II: All children shall have freedom of religion.

Article III: All children shall have freedom of speech.

Article IV: All children shall have the right to read this document to know what they are entitled to.

Article V: All children shall have the right to obtain information regarding their health and well-being.


Approvals: 18 (Raggie Ralph, WZ Forums, Ventei, Transcorporate, Psycotia Island, Yacare, Jabu Jabu, Kevin Hunt, DeathlyLlamas, The Kings Guard, Rathful fire, Thoth of Acha, Misplaced States, South Lorenya, Sucram-Leon, Vrijdenker, 7D, Anderya)

Status: Lacking Support (requires 95 more approvals)

Voting Ends: Tue Nov 13 2007

Verus Liberum III
A resolution to improve worldwide human and civil rights.


Category: Human Rights
Strength: Strong
Proposed by: Perpetuating Liberty

Description: Rights of the Children:

Part III: Lifestyle and Environmental Rights:

In caring for the lives of children and with respect to the needs of children to be provided in their early lifetimes, the UN passes Part III of Rights of the Children to ensure a safe environment to grow, learn, and play in, in the spirit of virtue and prestige, so that they may grow to be true and just leaders, and give themselves to making the world a better place to live for all mankind.

Article I: All children have the right to a proper guardian.

Defines: Proper Guardian as a caretaker who is lacking in criminal record or has been fully rehabilitated for past crimes, who is both physically and mentally able to provide care, and who is willing and ready at all times to adhere to the basic needs of the child to a reasonable extent.

Article II: All children shall have available proper shelter.

Defines: Proper Shelter as a sturdy and stable structure surrounding its occupant from all sides with at least one available way leading in or out, containing within a healthy internal environment.

Article III: All children shall have the right to a healthy lifestyle.

Defines: Healthy Lifestyle as a way to maintain a functioning, able, and healthy body and mind in growth and development.

Article IV: All children shall have the right to proper nutrition.

Defines: Proper Nutrition as a healthy diet containing all necessary proportions of foods while not exceeding a healthy amount of these.

Article V: All children shall have the right to proper rest.

Defines: Proper Rest as a full night’s sleep of at least 8 hours or more depending on the unique conditions of the child.

Article VI: All children shall have the right to a proper education.

Defines: Proper Education as the recommended amount of schooling time each week varying by nation, with proper instituted teachers, with teacher to student ratios exceeding no more than 1:21, with healthy school buildings and adequate funding.

Article VII: All children shall have the right to a proper environment.

Defines: Proper Environment as substance free, toxin free, safe, clean, and comfortable places in which the child resides, plays, goes to school, and spends their time.

Article VIII: All children shall have the right to fun.

Defines: Fun as a time in which a child can enjoy his/herself in a proper environment with toys and various safe and fun objects to play with, and in this time child derives enjoyment and pleasure.

Article IX: No child shall be forced to perform unreasonable labor.

Defines: Unreasonable Labor as physical work in which the child has a high risk of being injured, which requires work hours depriving them of above Articles, or physical work which requires the child to spend long periods of time in an unhealthy environment.

Article X: No child shall be the subject of abuse.

Defines: Abuse as verbal slander or physical beatings that may hurt the child’s mental and/or physical health.

Article XI: No child shall be taken from his/her environment.

Article XII: No child shall be the victim on sexual exploitation.

Article XIV: No child shall be forced to bear arms and/or participate in military combat.

Written in hopes of a brighter future for children, for our future lies within the hearts, minds, and soles of our young.


Approvals: 19 (Gataconn, WZ Forums, Marindon, Ventei, Kelh, Psycotia Island, Yacare, Jabu Jabu, Kevin Hunt, DeathlyLlamas, The Kings Guard, Rathful fire, Thoth of Acha, Misplaced States, South Lorenya, Sucram-Leon, Vrijdenker, 7D, Grahameni)

Status: Lacking Support (requires 94 more approvals)

Voting Ends: Tue Nov 13 2007

In the Name of the Eternal Kawaii, may the Cute One be praised.

We rise in respect for the goals of this author to ensure the rights of children. Our nation takes second place to none when it comes to concern for the welfare of our children, and we applaud efforts to promote childrens' welfare in this body.

That said, we have serious concerns about many of these articles. As a nation whose government is fundamentally based on the institution of the family, we cannot accept any UN resolution that seeks to undermine that institution. Sadly, many of the articles here appear to do just that.

We have prepared a point-by-point address to the articles of particular concern to us:


Part I, Article I: All decisions made that may affect a child shall be made in the best interest of the child.

A laudible sentiment, but it raises a thorny issue that is reflected throughout these articles, namely, "Who decides?" Who decides what is the best interest of a child? Their parents, their nation's government, the UN? While we applaud the concern for children expressed here, the proposal is disturblingly silent on the matter of their parents' rights.


Part I, Article III: All children shall have the right to express their opinions in matters regarding decisions that may affect them.

A wise man once said, "Everyone has a right to an opinion. Not everyone has a right to have theirs taken seriously." The opinions of children, while sometimes instructive, are not the basis of sound government.


Part I, Article IV: All children whose rights have been violated shall be immediately taken from the way of harm and helped by the government to be rehabilitated and placed in a safe environment to be raised in a proper manner.

We cannot accept this, for it takes the concerns we have with Part I, Article I and gives them teeth. The right to "correct" an undefined "violation of a child's rights" would give governments a blank check to usurp the rights of parents to raise their children in the manner they think best. I am not exagerrating when I say this proposal gives the UN writ to destroy the very institution of the family.


Part I, Article V: Should the laws of a country provide better care for a child than this Constitution, those laws should take precedence.

This article is poorly worded and does not address the issue it apparently is intended to. Laws do not provide care for children, adults do. Also, it is unclear what the author means by "take precedence". Are we to assume that this proposal obviates all national family law, permitting only such laws that some UN judge deems "providing better care"? Who decides?


Part II, Article II: All children shall have freedom of religion.

We agree with this, however, we believe this issue is already covered under previous resolutions guaranteeing freedom of religion to adults. However, if by this article the author means that children under the age of majority are free to choose a faith other than their parents', then we most strongly object. Such an interpretation would constitute a tyrannical undermining of the authority of parents.


Part II, Article III: All children shall have freedom of speech.

We refer to our remarks on Part I, Article III.


Part III, Article X: No child shall be the subject of abuse.

Defines: Abuse as verbal slander or physical beatings that may hurt the child’s mental and/or physical health.


We agree whole-heartedly with the author, however, we note that the concept of "abuse" is poorly defined here. Not all forms of abuse take the form of harsh words or blows, and not all harsh words or blows are necessarily abuse. Further, the issue of "who decides?" once more rears its head. Some societies that are more indulgent with their children may consider others who value a disciplined approach to child-rearing to be abusive. Does the author intend for the UN to draw up a list of "approved" child-rearing practices so that all states' concerns here are satisfied?


Part III, Article XI: No child shall be taken from his/her environment.

We note that this is in direct contradiction to Part I, Article IV. Which is the operative article here?

MY question is: why do you need a special childrens rights proposal as living beings they should have the same rights regardless of age as an adult of a nation..

All laws of most nations don't say only for those 30-100; so they include chidren in them.. If there is not a law on the issue then all are effected; children and adult... so why single out to protect chidren when those who are suppose to be doing the protecting are not protected themselves.

As for children having to follow rules placed on them by adults that is normal and should be until they become self supporting and are able to pay for their own mistakes where they may damage things. Here you burden the working citizens of a nation with keeping unwanted or problem children... many times because nobody takes the time to set rules for them... so here you are only turning them loose with nobody to set those rules... or if rules or set they don't by this have to follow them.

Children to earn a right of citizenship must meet the same requirements any adult did to get there and have those rights or citizenship... The only way they lose those rights is to not follow the rules set for them to become productive citizens not welfare system burdens or criminals.

MY question is: why do you need a special childrens rights proposal as living beings they should have the same rights regardless of age as an adult of a nation..

All laws of most nations don't say only for those 30-100; so they include chidren in them.. If there is not a law on the issue then all are effected; children and adult... so why single out to protect chidren when those who are suppose to be doing the protecting are not protected themselves.

As for children having to follow rules placed on them by adults that is normal and should be until they become self supporting and are able to pay for their own mistakes where they may damage things. Here you burden the working citizens of a nation with keeping unwanted or problem children... many times because nobody takes the time to set rules for them... so here you are only turning them loose with nobody to set those rules... or if rules or set they don't by this have to follow them.

Children to earn a right of citizenship must meet the same requirements any adult did to get there and have those rights or citizenship... The only way they lose those rights is to not follow the rules set for them to become productive citizens not welfare system burdens or criminals.

Indeed Cavirra is correct

But just a note, putting something like that into a 3 Part Proposal is most likely against rules.Have you checked that this wouldn't violate the 'House of Cards' rule?Bingo. I thought I specifically mentioned it, but I guess I didn't. Still, a multi-part Proposal is a de facto House of Cards violation. A Resolution like "Common Sense Act II" wasn't in violation, because it made no reference to "Common Sense Act I" (which failed) aside from its title. This, however, is one Proposal broken into three parts. It needs to be consolidated into a single Proposal.

OOC: I'm not entirely sure that's true, Hack. I only skimmed through the proposals (I'm at work and the font hurt my eyes), but they do appear to be independent of one another aside from the titles.

We second the objections raised by the honorable representative of The Eternal Kawaii, and add our own minor objection, to wit:

Defines: Child and minor to be synonymous terms, referring to a human being 18 years of age or younger.

This definition, at the very beginning of Part I, does not take into account that UN member states are not all composed of "human beings", or the fact that UN member states have widely varying ages of majority. As a result, we believe that this definition, on which so much of the following legislation is based, is seriously flawed.

Ikir Askanabath, Ambassador

I thought a house of cards rule was when you remove one of the cards the whole argument collapses. If the cards are in fact independant and are able to stand alone on themselves without the other cards then how can it be a HOC violation?

In this example you have three resolutions:

Basic Rights of Children
Political Rights of Children
Lifestyle and Environmental Rights of Children


Each of those resolutions could easily stand alone (or at least make a valliant effort to) on their own. The body could, for example, pass only #3, or even more strangely pass them in reverse order.

(Yes there is the problem that #2 and #3 lack definition, but that's a fopar as all definitions only exist for the purposes of the resolution and is a common mistake made by people all the time.)

While it is not common to throw several items of a multi-resolution all at once in the queue, it is quite common to multi-resolution an idea that is just too big to be passable in a single resolution. This is why, for example you won't see the big grand unified free trade resolution but you do see from time to time various attempts at limited areas of free trade. Divide and conquer seperately.

Article I: All decisions made that may affect a child shall be made in the best interest of the child.

Article II: All children shall have the right to live.

Article III: All children shall have the right to express their opinions in matters regarding decisions that may affect them.

Article IV: All children whose rights have been violated shall be immediately taken from the way of harm and helped by the government to be rehabilitated and placed in a safe environment to be raised in a proper manner.

Article 1: Who decides the "best interest of the child"? Parents? Government?

New Sequoyah applauds Article 2. By logical extension, this would also apply to abortion, which is in effect murder of children.

Article 3: This endorses, yes, and encourages disobedience of parents by children. It supports the further undermining of the family, a universal unit that has been held in high esteem since the dawn of time.

Article 4: Again, who decides when a child's "rights" have been violated? The right place for children is to be with their parents, and that right should never be taken away. The deprivation of parents is detrimental to children.

Article I: All children have the right to a proper guardian.

Defines: Proper Guardian as a caretaker who is lacking in criminal record or has been fully rehabilitated for past crimes, who is both physically and mentally able to provide care, and who is willing and ready at all times to adhere to the basic needs of the child to a reasonable extent.

Article II: All children shall have available proper shelter.

Defines: Proper Shelter as a sturdy and stable structure surrounding its occupant from all sides with at least one available way leading in or out, containing within a healthy internal environment.

Article III: All children shall have the right to a healthy lifestyle.

Defines: Healthy Lifestyle as a way to maintain a functioning, able, and healthy body and mind in growth and development.

Article IV: All children shall have the right to proper nutrition.

Defines: Proper Nutrition as a healthy diet containing all necessary proportions of foods while not exceeding a healthy amount of these.

Article V: All children shall have the right to proper rest.

Defines: Proper Rest as a full night’s sleep of at least 8 hours or more depending on the unique conditions of the child.

Article VI: All children shall have the right to a proper education.

Defines: Proper Education as the recommended amount of schooling time each week varying by nation, with proper instituted teachers, with teacher to student ratios exceeding no more than 1:21, with healthy school buildings and adequate funding.

Article VII: All children shall have the right to a proper environment.

Defines: Proper Environment as substance free, toxin free, safe, clean, and comfortable places in which the child resides, plays, goes to school, and spends their time.

Article VIII: All children shall have the right to fun.

Defines: Fun as a time in which a child can enjoy his/herself in a proper environment with toys and various safe and fun objects to play with, and in this time child derives enjoyment and pleasure.

Article IX: No child shall be forced to perform unreasonable labor.

Defines: Unreasonable Labor as physical work in which the child has a high risk of being injured, which requires work hours depriving them of above Articles, or physical work which requires the child to spend long periods of time in an unhealthy environment.

Article X: No child shall be the subject of abuse.

Defines: Abuse as verbal slander or physical beatings that may hurt the child’s mental and/or physical health.

New Sequoyah finds fault with every single one of the above Articles.

Article 1: The most proper guardians for children are their parents, or closest relatives in the case of orphans.

Articles 2-4: What about areas of extreme poverty? Regions where livivng conditions are very poor? Will children be stripped of their parents, and forced upon strangers? This would be a great travesty.

Article 5: What if the child lived on a planet where the average sleep required for normal healthy behavior was less than 8 hours? Or what if a child could not physically sleep for 8 hours?

Article 6: What about regions where there are few teachers; fewer than the specified 1:21 ratio? Will children be forcibly relocated because there are too few teachers in their area?

Article 7: Will children be torn from their surroundings if their home and community is too dirty? Or not comfortable?

Article 8: This interferes with the raising of children by their parents. What if the family cannot afford "various safe and fun objects to play with"? What exactly is a "safe and fun object to play with"? Will 17 year-olds be able to refuse to do school or chores because they want to play? What if they want their playtime to be all day? Children do not have an inherent "right" to play, nor should they.

Article 9: Unreasonable labor? Will "Johnny" be able to refuse to do his chores because it interferes with his "right" to play?

Article 10: So discipline will be outlawed. Children need discipline. Discipline is a vital need for the development of human beings.


In short, these proposed resolutions are dangerous to the rights of both parents and children, and should never even come to the floor of the UN General Assembly. If they ever do, God forbid, New Sequoyah and her allies will fight tooth and nail against these horrendous resolutions.

Lieut. Gen. John Brown Gordon, Ret.
UN Ambassador for New Sequoyah

The problem is, with the preamble and the definition of "child" in the first part, and then closing remarks in the third part, this is very clearly intended to be a single Proposal that has been split into three parts.