NationStates Jolt Archive

I have never written a resolution, but I have been on NationStates for about a year (this is my third nation). So this is a draft of a resolution to the best of my abilities, I am open for constructive criticism.

Category: Human Rights
Strength: Significant

Argument:

RECOGNIZING freedom of religion as an important value and a fundamental human right.

FURTHER RECOGNIZING that freedom of religion includes the right to not participate in any such religion.

NOTING that parents of children have a right to share their religious values with their children, keeping in mind that all people, including minors, share these basic rights to freedom of expression.

FURTHER NOTING that some religious groups partake in extreme and unconventional religious practices, and while these practices should not be infringed upon by government so long as they are abiding by the law, many children are forced into these extreme religious practices without choice or better knowledge.

CALLING FOR higher standards of protection of children from being forced into cults by their families or guardians.

The World Assembly,

HEREBY DEFINES a "cult" as any religious organization which is severely isolted from conventional society and participates in extreme indocrination of members for long periods of time, or any religious organization which threatens the safety of members who wish to depart from it.

DECLARES that religious practice may give absolutely no justification to child abuse under any circumstance.

REDEFINES child abuse to include intense indoctrination of children with a religion, especially if such indoctrination is largely based on fear tactics.

ALSO DECLARES that deprevation of food, shelter, clothing, or a fair education based on religious reasons is child neglect and inherently wrong and should be treated as a severe violation of a child's basic human rights.

OUTLAWS all forms of abuse of children in the name of religion, including physical, mental, emotional, and sexual (including arranged mairrages against the child's consent).

MANDATES that all nations give a reasonable effort to protect all minors from all forms religious abuse.

Why not just write a child abuse resolution?

I was considering that. I just thought it'd be an interesting idea.

.
FURTHER NOTING that some religious groups partake in extreme and unconventional religious practices, and while these practices should not be infringed upon by government so long as they are abiding by the law, many children are forced into these extreme religious practices without choice or better knowledge.

participates in extreme indocrination of members for long periods of time, or any religious organization

DECLARES that religious practice may give absolutely no justification to child abuse under any circumstance.

OUTLAWS all forms of abuse of children in the name of religion, including physical, mental, emotional, and sexual (including arranged mairrages against the child's consent).




hi, good first attempt at a resolution, however i do think you should just go ahead and do the child abuse one. there are many reasons i dont think this will, or should go through. :)

the good people of mohandasia, being worshippers of science, believe that all religions would come under this piece of legislation. particularly the bits i quoted above. However it was also decided that if you are going to get this passed with the intention of using it against all religions we would happily sign it.

The Narnian Kingdom of Fotar will absolutely not support this proposal.

For starters, it is contradictory. It opens up praising the freedom of religion and the rights of parents to teach children their religion, then promptly goes totally against that and takes that right away for those deemed "too extreme."

Furthermore, who decides what religions are extreme and cults and which are not? We can easily see this resolution resulting in the removal of religious rights for billions of citizens legitimately practicing and teaching their religion.

On that note, some of the child abuse sections are good and worthy of supporting. Therefore, Fotar strongly encourages Ecosoc to drop this proposal and redraft a child abuse one as suggested, leaving religion out of it.
_________________
Fotar,
~King of the Narnian Kingdom of Fotar
~Vice-Chancellor of the Council of Narnia (http://www.nationstates.net/10639/page=display_region/region=the_council_of_narnia)

I don't really see that the reason for child abuse should be very relevant: whether it's done for religious, or for entirely non-religious, reasons, it's still child abuse.

But, I would also note that minors generally operate under a restricted set of rights, even in nations with very liberal human rights laws. Minors are often not allowed to consent to sexual activity, by virtue of international law they are not allowed to take certain jobs, and we expect parents or guardians to exercise certain decisions on their behalf: 'school choice', for example, is usually applied to parents, not children. So it's totally unreasonable to allow parents to make some decisions on behalf of the child for religious reasons: for example, fasting not detrimental to health.

-- Samantha Benson
Congressional Liaison, Office of WA Affairs
Quintessence of Dust, Delegate of Wysteria

Are you absolutely certain that this belongs under 'Human Rights' rather than 'Moral Decency'?

Any time somebody wants to restrict access to something "for your own good", I've considered that to be Moral Decency. I'd agree with St Edmund that this belongs in the latter category.

As we legally categorize all religions as one form of a cult or another, Travda cannot support this proposal, since it would mean banning religion altogether. For although Travda frowns upon religion in general, and despite cults being despicable institutions, so long as they do not violate any federal laws, Travda permits their existence.

Vokhuz Kon
Travda WA Chief Delegate

As Spiritual Advisor to the Dominion of Samilyn, I must say that while we wish to see no child/citizen abused, it is our stance that no Spiritual path should be censored. We expect tolerance of our citizens. What some might call child abuse, others would see as strengthening of character, or even preperation for the potential hardships of the next life. So it must be that the stance of the Dominion of Samilyn is that we will not support any proposal that would limit the religious/spiritual practice of any of our citizens.

-Aidwen L'Mey
Spiritual Advisor to the
Dominion of Samilyn

WAACA? WAACA what? WAACA-mole?

Nemo Taranton
Pedant extraordinaire

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

We rise to voice our dismay at this draft proposal, particularly the following passage:

HEREBY DEFINES a "cult" as any religious organization which is severely isolted from conventional society and participates in extreme indocrination of members for long periods of time

These words would quite succinctly describe the Diaspora Church of the Eternal Kawaii. We are a people set apart by the Cute One from so-called "conventional" society, and pride ourselves in the rigorousness of our religious educational standards.

If this is what the World Assembly shall deem a "cult", then we embrace the term whole-heartedly. We question, though, why nations such as ours should be singled out for condemnation?

As we are weird, we like this resolution, but we will not support it.

It is the right of people to form a cult, weather a religion one, weather a political one. It must be outlawed to do real harm to children. So a resolution on child rights or against child abuse is a good idea.

We are also people of science and we do not like religious groups who think their believes are stronger than facts (science). But we give the right to people to do as stupid as they like, hence they do no real harm to others.

Greetings,
Cocoamok,
weird coordinator of The Wierd Anarchists

Subistratica has done away with all religions years ago, and so this resolution would not have any effect on us.

This seems to be an anti-child abuse proposal that seeks to stamp out abuse in the name of religion. I am in agreement with Miss Benson; is "religious" child abuse the only one deserving of a proposal to stop it? Our nation would more readily support a general anti-child abuse proposal.

any religious organization which threatens the safety of members who wish to depart from it.

Do threats of eternal damnation in various kinds of hells count? Pretty much all religions are overgrown cults. It doesn't make sense to discriminate between them.

REDEFINES child abuse to include intense indoctrination of children with a religion, especially if such indoctrination is largely based on fear tactics.

As a child, I was sent to Sunday school and told that if you don't believe in Jesus you will go to hell. I certainly agree that does fit this definition and thereby counts as child abuse, and I certainly am in favour of stopping all this religious indoctrination of children from happening, but I'm concerned that you're not really achieving what I think you want to achieve here.

Basically, what we're learning from this is that "legitimate" religions and outright wacko cults can in reality be very difficult to distinguish and perhaps it'd be better if they were all done away with. Now please excuse me, I'm late for my Angry Atheists Anonymous meeting.

Eric Lattener
Ambassador to the WA

[OOC: Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems to me that this came up in response to the Yearning For Zion Ranch raids that are still in the news here in the US... click here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yearning_for_Zion) for the Wikipedia article about the YFZ Ranch.]

As a child, I was sent to Sunday school and told that if you don't believe in Jesus you will go to hell. I certainly agree that does fit this definition and thereby counts as child abuse, and I certainly am in favour of stopping all this religious indoctrination of children from happening, but I'm concerned that you're not really achieving what I think you want to achieve here.
Again, I think the singling out of religion is unnecessary; we should just ban all indoctrination, whether religious or not. For example, when I was little I was told that if I didn't brush my teeth every night they would go brown and fall out, and I found this image very traumatic. I believe it constituted a form of child abuse, particularly when my parents forced me to brush my teeth or did it for me. Therefore, in addition to attending Sunday school, we would like to see the inclusion of forcing children to brush their teeth, eat broccoli, and not creep downstairs to watch the late movie on channel 909.

-- Samantha Benson