NationStates Jolt Archive

Conscious: that all peoples are united by common bonds, their cultures pieced together in a shared heritage, and concerned that this delicate mosaic may be shattered at any time,

Mindful: that during this century millions of children, women and men have been victims of unimaginable atrocities that deeply shock the conscience of humanity,

Recognizing: that such grave crimes threaten the peace, security and well-being of the world,

Affirming: that the most serious crimes of concern to the international community as a whole must not go unpunished and that their effective prosecution must be ensured by taking measures at the national level and by enhancing international cooperation,

Determined: to put an end to impunity for the perpetrators of these crimes and thus to contribute to the prevention of such crimes as:

(a) The crime of genocide;
(b) Crimes against humanity;
(c) War crimes;
(d) The crime of aggression.

Determined: to these ends and for the sake of present and future generations, to establish an independent permanent International Criminal Court in relationship with the World Assemblies system, with jurisdiction over the most serious crimes of concern to the international community as a whole.

Emphasizing: that the International Criminal Court established under this Statute shall be complementary to national criminal jurisdictions,

Resolved: to guarantee lasting respect for and the enforcement of international justice.

Please remove the colons after the participles at the beginning of each clause; they are not appropriate there.

We also note that your proposal doesn't actually do anything, it just gives justifications for that. For example, where in your proposal is a court actually established? You say we are determined to establish one, but you need to rephrase that to actually establish that. Furthermore, you should give more detail about what the crimes actually are and how they are to be prosecuted. Very few WA nations (Gnoria included) will give a blank check to an international court to prosecute unspecified crimes in an unspecified manner.

We wish you luck in the drafting process.

Douglas Moore
Secy. to the WA

From the Commonwealth of Okinawakenshi,

Our realm is greatly concerned with escalating crime rates which purges our world. It is an international objective to deter crime, however, our realm is also deeply concerned with the implementation of such an international court.

With all due respect from the Commonwealth, we would eagerly question the jurisdiction of such a court and the laws that which may be commonly refered to in such a court. The Commonwealth abides with the common laws passed down in the natural world to the fullest extent which is greatly influenced by the rich culture which the human race has contributed to.

Simply speaking, the Commonwealth is just asking for the following to be clarified:
(a) Jurisdiction
(b) Powers of the Court/Role of the Court
(c) Appellant Jurisdiction
(d) Reference to Law
(e) Appointment of Judges
(f) Purpose (the purposes suggested in your post is simply vague) - Please redefine

We wish you luck as well in the drafting process however the issues above must be addressed to.

Yours Sincerely,
Loyal Subordinate to Her Majesty
Queen Elizabeth the Second
Crown to the Commonwealth

It will be interesting to see how this court purports to extend it's jurisdiction into the territory of non-member nations, especially since most of the matters it is intended to cover are already generally forbidden via passed resolutions.

It will be interesting to see how this court purports to extend it's jurisdiction into the territory of non-member nations, especially since most of the matters it is intended to cover are already generally forbidden via passed resolutions.

From the Commonwealth,

You are absolutely right, the fact that it is an international court, there is no function to it if it does not apply to all members in this world. Therefore, the Commonwealth has asked for the listed issues to be clarified with as soon as possible prior to decision making.

Yours Sincerely,
The Commonwealth of Okinawakenshi

This is an extremely complicated and difficult subject on which to legislate. The manner in which the court will operate and the actual standards of justice it will maintain are just two of a myriad of questions that this resolution must answer, jurisdictional questions, appeals, how cases will be referred to the court, what bases would be acceptable for actual proceedings to be initiated e.t.c. all of these must be outlined before this can be considered anything like a serious statute.


Yours,

John K. Lanting Secretary of State steps up.

The people of Droa ask the following changes to be made.


UNDERSTANDING that all peoples are united by common bonds, their cultures pieced together in a shared heritage, and concerned that this delicate mosaic may be shattered at any time,

MINDFUL that during this century millions of children, women and men have been victims of unimaginable atrocities that deeply shock the conscience of humanity,

RECOGNIZING that such grave crimes threaten the peace, security and well-being of the world,

AFFIRMING that the most serious crimes of concern to the international community as a whole must not go unpunished and that their effective prosecution must be ensured by taking measures at the national level and by enhancing international cooperation,

EMPHASIZING that all people have the right to a fair trail

This motion hereby orders the creation of The International Criminal Court. A court that's sole purposes is to prosecute those who commit,

The crime of genocide;
Crimes against humanity;
War crimes;
The crime of aggression.

We know these changes will make the motion acceptable to Droa, and the region of Andar but also hope that it will make it acceptable to many more nations.

Thank You

John K. Lanting Secretary of State steps up.

The people of Droa ask the following changes to be made.


UNDERSTANDING that all peoples are united by common bonds, their cultures pieced together in a shared heritage, and concerned that this delicate mosaic may be shattered at any time,

MINDFUL that during this century millions of children, women and men have been victims of unimaginable atrocities that deeply shock the conscience of humanity,

RECOGNIZING that such grave crimes threaten the peace, security and well-being of the world,

AFFIRMING that the most serious crimes of concern to the international community as a whole must not go unpunished and that their effective prosecution must be ensured by taking measures at the national level and by enhancing international cooperation,

EMPHASIZING that all people have the right to a fair trail

This motion hereby orders the creation of The International Criminal Court. A court that's sole purposes is to prosecute those who commit,

The crime of genocide;
Crimes against humanity;
War crimes;
The crime of aggression.

We know these changes will make the motion acceptable to Droa, and the region of Andar but also hope that it will make it acceptable to many more nations.

Thank You



Honestly honoured Ambassador, how long did it take to come up with this ? Does it really look like a law to you Excellency ?


Yours,

John K. Lanting once again steps to the podium.

We understand the Ambassador from Urgench hesitation, especially when it comes down to the details. But we ask the Ambassador the Urgench does it really seam nesisary to put evey detail about the court into the motion?

Thank You

John K. Lanting once again steps to the podium.

We understand the Ambassador from Urgench hesitation, especially when it comes down to the details. But we ask the Ambassador the Urgench does it really seam nesisary to put evey detail about the court into the motion?

Thank You


This is not a motion which is being written, unless you really are intent on wasting your own time as well as that of the rest of this organisation, this is a statute.

A statute creating any kind of court must be relatively detailed in order for that court to know how to function and for those who will be expected to support that court to be able to have the relevant information to have any confidence in it.

In any event a court does not spring in to existence simply because one wishes it, it must be legally constructed. The details in this case are utterly inseparable from the actual business of creating the court in question.

Has the honoured Ambassador familiarised themselves with any of this organisation's extant laws ? We suggest that they do so, the level of detail involved in most resolutions is fairly great, and necessarily so, or otherwise the canon of w.a. laws would amount to nothing more than a meaningless shopping list of vague aspirations.


Yours,

Conscious: that all peoples are united by common bonds, their cultures pieced together in a shared heritage, and concerned that this delicate mosaic may be shattered at any time,

Mindful: that during this century millions of children, women and men have been victims of unimaginable atrocities that deeply shock the conscience of humanity,

Recognizing: that such grave crimes threaten the peace, security and well-being of the world,

Affirming: that the most serious crimes of concern to the international community as a whole must not go unpunished and that their effective prosecution must be ensured by taking measures at the national level and by enhancing international cooperation,

Determined: to put an end to impunity for the perpetrators of these crimes and thus to contribute to the prevention of such crimes as:

(a) The crime of genocide;
(b) Crimes against humanity;
(c) War crimes;
(d) The crime of aggression.

Determined: to these ends and for the sake of present and future generations, to establish an independent permanent International Criminal Court in relationship with the World Assemblies system, with jurisdiction over the most serious crimes of concern to the international community as a whole.

Emphasizing: that the International Criminal Court established under this Statute shall be complementary to national criminal jurisdictions,

Resolved: to guarantee lasting respect for and the enforcement of international justice.

PART 1. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE COURT
Article 1 The Court
An International Criminal Court ("the Court") is hereby established. It shall be a permanent institution and shall have the power to exercise its jurisdiction over persons for the most serious crimes of international concern, as referred to in this Statute, and shall be complementary to national criminal jurisdictions. The jurisdiction and functioning of the Court shall be governed by the provisions of this Statute.
Article 2 Relationship of the Court with the United Nations
The Court shall be brought into relationship with the United Nations through an agreement to be approved by the Assembly of States Parties to this Statute and thereafter concluded by the President of the Court on its behalf.
Article 3 Seat of the Court
The seat of the Court shall be established at s’Gravenhage in the Grand Duchy of Noordeinde. ("the host State").
The Court shall enter into a headquarters agreement with the host State, to be approved by the Assembly of States Parties and thereafter concluded by the President of the Court on its behalf.
The Court may sit elsewhere, whenever it considers it desirable, as provided in this Statute.

PART 2. JURISDICTION
Article 4 Jurisdiction of the International Court.
The Court has Jurisdiction within al nations that are member of the World Assembly.

Article 5 Prosecutor
The Prosecutor may initiate investigations proprio motu on the basis of information on crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court.
The Prosecutor shall analyse the seriousness of the information received. For this purpose, he or she may seek additional information from States, organs of the World Assembly, intergovernmental or non-governmental organizations, or other reliable sources that he or she deems appropriate, and may receive written or oral testimony at the seat of the Court.
If the Prosecutor concludes that there is a reasonable basis to proceed with an investigation, he or she shall submit to the Pre-Trial Chamber a request for authorization of an investigation, together with any supporting material collected. Victims may make representations to the Pre-Trial Chamber, in accordance with the Rules of Procedure and Evidence.
If the Pre-Trial Chamber, upon examination of the request and the supporting material, considers that there is a reasonable basis to proceed with an investigation, and that the case appears to fall within the jurisdiction of the Court, it shall authorize the commencement of the investigation, without prejudice to subsequent determinations by the Court with regard to the jurisdiction and admissibility of a case.
The refusal of the Pre-Trial Chamber to authorize the investigation shall not preclude the presentation of a subsequent request by the Prosecutor based on new facts or evidence regarding the same situation.
If, after the preliminary examination referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2, the Prosecutor concludes that the information provided does not constitute a reasonable basis for an investigation, he or she shall inform those who provided the information. This shall not preclude the Prosecutor from considering further information submitted to him or her regarding the same situation in the light of new facts or evidence.

Article 6 Applicable law
The Court shall apply:
In the first place, this Statute, Elements of Crimes and its Rules of Procedure and Evidence;
In the second place, where appropriate, applicable treaties and the principles and rules of international law, including the established principles of the international law of armed conflict;
Failing that, general principles of law derived by the Court from national laws of legal systems of the world including, as appropriate, the national laws of States that would normally exercise jurisdiction over the crime, provided that those principles are not inconsistent with this Statute and with international law and internationally recognized norms and standards.
The Court may apply principles and rules of law as interpreted in its previous decisions.
The application and interpretation of law pursuant to this article must be consistent with internationally recognized human rights, and be without any adverse distinction founded on grounds such as gender, as defined in article 7, paragraph 3, age, race, colour, language, religion or belief, political or other opinion, national, ethnic or social origin, wealth, birth or other status.

Part 3. Crimes that will be handled by the court

Article 7 Crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court
The jurisdiction of the Court shall be limited to the most serious crimes of concern to the international community as a whole. The Court has jurisdiction in accordance with this Statute with respect to the following crimes:
The crime of genocide;
Crimes against humanity;
War crimes;
The crime of aggression.
The Court shall exercise jurisdiction over the crime of aggression once a provision is adopted in accordance with articles 121 and 123 defining the crime and setting out the conditions under which the Court shall exercise jurisdiction with respect to this crime. Such a provision shall be consistent with the relevant provisions of the Charter of the World Assembly.

Article 8 Genocide
For the purpose of this Statute, "genocide" means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
Killing members of the group;
Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

Article 9 Crimes against humanity
For the purpose of this Statute, "crime against humanity" means any of the following acts when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack:
Murder;
Extermination;
Enslavement;
Deportation or forcible transfer of population;
Imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty in violation of fundamental rules of international law;
Torture;
Rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization, or any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity;
Persecution against any identifiable group or collectivity on political, racial, national, ethnic, cultural, religious, gender as defined in paragraph 3, or other grounds that are universally recognized as impermissible under international law, in connection with any act referred to in this paragraph or any crime within the jurisdiction of the Court;
Enforced disappearance of persons;
The crime of apartheid;
Other inhumane acts of a similar character intentionally causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or to mental or physical health.
For the purpose of paragraph 1:
Attack directed against any civilian population means a course of conduct involving the multiple commission of acts referred to in paragraph 1 against any civilian population, pursuant to or in furtherance of a State or organizational policy to commit such attack;
Extermination includes the intentional infliction of conditions of life, inter alia the deprivation of access to food and medicine, calculated to bring about the destruction of part of a population;
Enslavement means the exercise of any or all of the powers attaching to the right of ownership over a person and includes the exercise of such power in the course of trafficking in persons, in particular women and children;
Deportation or forcible transfer of population means forced displacement of the persons concerned by expulsion or other coercive acts from the area in which they are lawfully present, without grounds permitted under international law;
Torture means the intentional infliction of severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, upon a person in the custody or under the control of the accused; except that torture shall not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or incidental to, lawful sanctions;
Forced pregnancy means the unlawful confinement, of a woman forcibly made pregnant, with the intent of affecting the ethnic composition of any population or carrying out other grave violations of international law. This definition shall not in any way be interpreted as affecting national laws relating to pregnancy;Persecution means the intentional and severe deprivation of fundamental rights contrary to international law by reason of the identity of the group or collectivity;
The crime of apartheid means inhumane acts of a character similar to those referred to in paragraph 1, committed in the context of an institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group over any other racial group or groups and committed with the intention of maintaining that regime;
Enforced disappearance of persons means the arrest, detention or abduction of persons by, or with the authorization, support or acquiescence of, a State or a political organization, followed by a refusal to acknowledge that deprivation of freedom or to give information on the fate or whereabouts of those persons, with the intention of removing them from the protection of the law for a prolonged period of time.
For the purpose of this Statute, it is understood that the term "gender" refers to the two sexes, male and female, within the context of society. The term "gender" does not indicate any meaning different from the above.

Article 10 War crimes
The Court shall have jurisdiction in respect of war crimes in particular when committed as a part of a plan or policy or as part of a large-scale commission of such crimes.
For the purpose of this Statute, "war crimes" means:

(i)Wilful killing;
(ii)Torture or inhuman treatment, including biological experiments;
(iii)Wilfully causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or health;
(iv)Extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly;
(v)Compelling a prisoner of war or other protected person to serve in the forces of a hostile Power;
(vi)Wilfully depriving a prisoner of war or other protected person of the rights of fair and regular trial;
(vii)Unlawful deportation or transfer or unlawful confinement;
(viii)Taking of hostages.
Other serious violations of the laws and customs applicable in international armed conflict, within the established framework of international law, namely, any of the following acts:
(i)Intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population as such or against individual civilians not taking direct part in hostilities;
(ii)Intentionally directing attacks against civilian objects, that is, objects which are not military objectives;
(iii)Intentionally directing attacks against personnel, installations, material, units or vehicles involved in a humanitarian assistance or peacekeeping mission in accordance with the Charter of the World Assembly, as long as they are entitled to the protection given to civilians or civilian objects under the international law of armed conflict;
(iv)Intentionally launching an attack in the knowledge that such attack will cause incidental loss of life or injury to civilians or damage to civilian objects or widespread, long-term and severe damage to the natural environment which would be clearly excessive in relation to the concrete and direct overall military advantage anticipated;
(v)Attacking or bombarding, by whatever means, towns, villages, dwellings or buildings which are undefended and which are not military objectives;
(vi)Killing or wounding a combatant who, having laid down his arms or having no longer means of defence, has surrendered at discretion;
(vii)Making improper use of a flag of truce, of the flag or of the military insignia and uniform of the enemy or of the World Assembly, resulting in death or serious personal injury;
(viii)The transfer, directly or indirectly, by the Occupying Power of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies, or the deportation or transfer of all or parts of the population of the occupied territory within or outside this territory;
(ix)Intentionally directing attacks against buildings dedicated to religion, education, art, science or charitable purposes, historic monuments, hospitals and places where the sick and wounded are collected, provided they are not military objectives;
(x)Subjecting persons who are in the power of an adverse party to physical mutilation or to medical or scientific experiments of any kind which are neither justified by the medical, dental or hospital treatment of the person concerned nor carried out in his or her interest, and which cause death to or seriously endanger the health of such person or persons;
(xi)Killing or wounding treacherously individuals belonging to the hostile nation or army;
(xii)Declaring that no quarter will be given;
(xiii)Destroying or seizing the enemy's property unless such destruction or seizure be imperatively demanded by the necessities of war;
(xiv)Declaring abolished, suspended or inadmissible in a court of law the rights and actions of the nationals of the hostile party;
(xv)Compelling the nationals of the hostile party to take part in the operations of war directed against their own country, even if they were in the belligerent's service before the commencement of the war;
(xvi)Pillaging a town or place, even when taken by assault;
(xvii)Employing poison or poisoned weapons;
(xviii)Employing asphyxiating, poisonous or other gases, and all analogous liquids, materials or devices;
(xix)Employing bullets which expand or flatten easily in the human body, such as bullets with a hard envelope which does not entirely cover the core or is pierced with incisions;
(xx)Employing weapons, projectiles and material and methods of warfare which are of a nature to cause superfluous injury or unnecessary suffering or which are inherently indiscriminate in violation of the international law of armed conflict, provided that such weapons, projectiles and material and methods of warfare are the subject of a comprehensive prohibition and are included in an annex to this Statute, by an amendment in accordance with the relevant provisions set forth in articles 121 and 123;
(xxi)Committing outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment;
(xxii)Committing rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, as defined in article 7, paragraph 2 (f), enforced sterilization, or any other form of sexual violence also constituting a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions;
(xxiii)Utilizing the presence of a civilian or other protected person to render certain points, areas or military forces immune from military operations;
(xxiv)Intentionally directing attacks against buildings, material, medical units and transport, and personnel using the distinctive emblems of the Geneva Conventions in conformity with international law;
(xxv)Intentionally using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare by depriving them of objects indispensable to their survival;
(xxvi)Conscripting or enlisting children under the age of fifteen years into the national armed forces or using them to participate actively in hostilities.

Part 4. Judges

Article 11. Appointment of Judges at the International Criminal Court.

The judges of the International Criminal Court are elected for nine-year terms by the member-countries of the World Assembly and thereby the court. Candidates must be nationals of those countries and they must "possess the qualifications required in their respective States for appointment to the highest judicial offices".
A judge may be disqualified from "any case in which his or her impartiality might reasonably be doubted on any ground", and a judge may be removed from office if he or she "is found to have committed serious misconduct or a serious breach of his or her duties" or is unable to exercise his or her functions.
The judges are organized into three divisions: the Pre-Trial Division, Trial Division and Appeals Division.

I had a dream last night that the new version of the resolution is just a copied version of a mythical treaty called the "Rome Statute"...

Douglas Moore
Secy. to the WA

well yeah i used quite a lot of it to be honest, and with al those questions I had to find an answer so I looked for the Statute of Rome, because it is such a great part of United Nations international regulations. And i know the Court quite well because it is in my hometown, their are actually multiple courts here in The Hague.

you said
Article 2 Relationship of the Court with the United Nations
The Court shall be brought into relationship with the United Nations through an agreement to be approved by the Assembly of States Parties to this Statute and thereafter concluded by the President of the Court on its behalf.
We are the world assembly and not the united nations.
United nations no longer exists

*(snip)*
The seat of the Court shall be established at s’Gravenhage in the Grand Duchy of Noordeinde. ("the host State").Illegal, 'branding'.

*(snip)*
the Charter of the World Assembly.There isn't one.

*(snip)* the Geneva Conventions;Illegal, RL reference.
*(snip)*
The judges of the International Criminal Court are elected for nine-year terms by the member-countries of the World Assembly Probably illegal for 'game mchanics' and/or as a breach of the rules about WA committees.

Plus, as already mentioned, it's illegal for plagiarism.

Plus, it looks way over the maximum length that's allowed for WA proposals... *(Checks this...)* Yes, it's about five times as long as that maximum.

And, although the fact that it has all of those other problems means that I haven't actually bothered to check the small print yet, I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out to contain some illegal contradiction/duplication/amendment of existing resolutions too.

I haven't placed it, but to answer queations how I would verrify genocide, war crimes I used the statute of Rome, but I still have to modify it to World Assembly regulations.

The way I see it, we didn't have an international court at any point in time when we were the UN, and we've never had one as the WA, and we've managed to get by just fine. So I fail to see a need for this.

Bob Flibble
WA Representative

OOC: basically, creating an International Court without violating the metagaming rules is very hard, and creating one that does anything is nearly impossible.