NationStates Jolt Archive

(OOC: This is my first piece of draft legislation-as opposed to just chucking an idea up in the air and watching it crash land (Which is highly dispiriting)- So any input is welcomed)
Legislation dictating the legal status and position of humanitarian workers in warzones
RECOGNISING the efforts of Doctors,Nurses,relief workers and other medical/humanitarian workers in warzones world-wide;

CONCERNED that no piece of WA legislation has been passed showing their legal status;

The World Assembly,

Sets out the following set of rules:

1. States that Doctors,Nurses and all other Medical and Humanitarian workers (Hereafter abbreviated as DNMH's) Are considered to be non-combatants:They may not be taken as POW's,Shot at or targeted in any way. Intentional violation of these rules shall be treated as a war crime. Should any DNMH be taken prisoner by accident,they should be released immediately.

2. DNMH's shall not be considered to be part of any armed force for the purpose of determining who they give aid to: They shall give medical aid to any friendly soldiers,Pow's and civilians who request it.

3. For the purpose of other resolutions,DMNH's in warzones are considered to have all the rights of Humanitarian workers: IE they are humanitarian cargo's, but are not bound to follow the orders of the ICRC while they remain in the warzone.

4. DMNH's must not be prevented from continuing their efforts to aid fellow human beings.

5. The use of a DMNH as a human shield is a war crime.

Category and strength?

Apart from some things like capitals and so we like it.
But in clause 2 you state "They shall give medical aid to any friendly soldiers,Pow's and civilians who request it."

We rather see it like this :"They shall give medical aid to soldiers, Pow's and civilians who request it, if possible."
The humanitarian workers need to be unpartial (allthough their origin can be of one side in the war) and can only do their upmost to help all. A war, sadly, is such a slaughterhouse normally, that it would be impossible to help all.

On the category we do not care, because we are weird and chaotic. But strenghth is strong we think (because of war crimes).

Greetings,
Love and peace,
Cocoamok
WA-delegate of Intelligentsia Islands

First off, you'll find that I'll be a vocal supporter of this resolution once it reaches the floor. :) My RPed government is modeled after Swizterland, which has a love affair with this subject as well.

1. States that Doctors,Nurses and all other Medical and Humanitarian workers (Hereafter abbreviated as DNMH's) Are considered to be non-combatants:They may not be taken as POW's,Shot at or targeted in any way. Intentional violation of these rules shall be treated as a war crime. Should any DNMH be taken prisoner by accident,they should be released immediately.

DNMH's could also be called emergency responders.

Depending on the type of emergency, other specialists could be called in as field responders. Here is a list of some of the classic skills:

- Law Enforcement
- Firefighters
- Geographic Information Specialists (yes, they are deployed to the field)
- Civil Engineers (structures need to be inspected for they can be entered by ANYBODY else)
- Paramedics
- Social Workers
- Information Technology (they support all the above)

For example, if you have an earthquake in a country that is at civil war, civil engineers might be sent in to inspect buildings and structures. They too could be shot at. :(

My suggestion is to just change the first clause to emergency responders. Naturally people will ask "So who is an emergency responder?", and I think the best answer is, "anybody who would not normally be at this place, but came by request following a declaration of emergency".