General Assembly

The General Assembly,

RECOGNIZING that armed conflict causes immense and unnecessary suffering among civilians;

AFFIRMING that humane conduct in warfare and the protection of civilians are vital principles of international law;

ACKNOWLEDGING that serious violations of moral and humanitarian norms during armed conflict should be recognized as war crimes;

SEEKING to establish standards for the protection of civilians, protected persons, medical operations, and evidence relating to such crimes;

Hereby establishes the following standards regarding war crimes and the conduct of warfare:

1. Defines “civilian” as any individual who is not a member of armed forces or otherwise directly participating in hostilities;

2. Civilians are not legitimate military targets unless directly participating in hostilities, and combatants must distinguish between civilians and military objectives while taking reasonable precautions to minimize civilian harm when engaging lawful military targets;

3. Actions intended to terrorize civilian populations are prohibited, including attacks, threats, demonstrations of violence, or military operations intended to spread fear, intimidation, or severe physical harm among civilians;

4. Defines “civilian infrastructure” as facilities primarily supporting civilian life, including housing, humanitarian shelters, medical facilities, water, electrical, food, and sanitation systems;

5. Targeting civilian infrastructure is prohibited unless it directly and substantially contributes to military operations and its destruction, capture, or neutralization would provide a definite military advantage;

6. Medical facilities retain special protection unless used for hostile military-related purposes beyond their humanitarian function;

7. The deliberate use of civilians, the wounded and sick, or protected civilian infrastructure to shield military objectives from attack is prohibited, including placing military forces or material among them for that purpose;

8. The starvation of civilian populations as a method of warfare is prohibited, including deliberate deprivation or destruction of resources vital for civilian survival and wellbeing;

9. Individuals captured or detained during armed conflict must be treated humanely, including:

   1. protection from torture, cruel treatment, or degrading treatment;

   2. access to food, water, shelter, and medical care sufficient to preserve basic health and survival, to the greatest extent reasonably practicable and without adverse distinction;

   3. protection from execution or punishment solely on the basis of nationality, civilian status, or lawful service in an opposing armed force, except following lawful judicial process and conviction for a specific criminal offense;

   4. protection from being taken or held as hostages;
      

10. Military officials, civilian authorities, or other persons exercising effective authority over combatants or military operations shall be held responsible for war crimes committed by subordinates where they knew, or reasonably should have known, that such crimes were being committed or likely to be committed, and failed to take reasonable measures within their authority to prevent, stop, report, or punish such acts;

11. The wounded and sick, meaning individuals rendered incapable of fighting by wounds or sickness, whether military or civilian, must not be attacked, denied protection, or deprived of adequate medical care except by legitimate medical priority;

12. Medical personnel, medical transport, and exclusively humanitarian medical operations must not be targeted or obstructed unless used beyond their humanitarian function for hostile military-related purposes;

13. Member states shall take reasonable and feasible measures to preserve evidence in their possession or control relating to credible allegations of war crimes, including documentation of civilian harm, preservation of relevant battlefield evidence, and cooperation with investigations;

14. Establishes the World Assembly War Crimes Documentation Commission, tasked with collecting and maintaining records of alleged war crimes reported by member states, assisting with documentation and evidence preservation, and publishing periodic reports summarizing international news and trends relating to violations of this Convention.
    

The World Assembly,

Affirming that member nations are sovereign political communities and not constituent subdivisions of an international federation;

Holding that such political communities ultimately derive their legitimacy from the societies that they represent, and therefore remain the primary institutions through which societies govern their own affairs;

Observing that the wide variety of political, social, and economic systems present throughout the international community renders centralized regulation both necessarily inefficient and generalizing to a dangerous extent;

Acknowledging that nevertheless, certain matters require international cooperation, whether due to their transboundary nature or their relation to fundamental rights;

Cognizant that efforts to address such matters carry the risk of displacing sovereign governance from its core competencies and, in doing so, can undermine the legitimacy of this body;

Seeking to establish a durable framework governing the relationship between the Assembly and its members;

Hereby:

1. Establishes that sovereign authority is presumed to reside in member nations except where expressly modified by legislation enacted by this Assembly;

2. Recognizes the following areas of governance as core sovereign competencies ordinarily reserved to member nations:

   1. Territorial governance, including the administration of territory and the populations subject to national authority;

   2. Domestic lawmaking, judicial administration, and the enforcement of the law;

   3. Foreign relations, including all facets of diplomacy, participation in international organizations, and commerce;

   4. National defense and the protection of populations from external threats;

   5. Economic governance, including taxation, fiscal and monetary policy, public expenditure, and currency issuance;

   6. Border control, immigration policy, and employment within national territory;

   7. The management, conservation, and exploitation of resources within national jurisdiction;

   8. Cultural, linguistic, educational, and civic policy;

3. Recognizes that matters involving the above areas of governance may nonetheless require international intervention where necessary to address transboundary concerns or protect fundamental rights;

4. Establishes that legislation affecting one or more sovereign competencies shall:

   1. Identify the competencies implicated by such legislation;

   2. Explain the necessity of Assembly action with respect to those competencies;

   3. Preserve the exercise of sovereign authority to the greatest extent consistent with achieving the objectives of that legislation;

5. Establishes that where legislation affects core sovereign competencies, implementation and enforcement shall be conducted through cooperation whenever reasonably practicable, and that legislation establishing such cooperative mechanisms shall provide procedures for review or appeal of decisions made pursuant thereto;

6. Mandates that member nations ensure their diplomats or representatives to the Assembly are appropriately instructed regarding their role and responsibilities within this body, recognizing that such instruction is necessary to enable the Assembly to conduct its proceedings through informed participation by its members, while leaving the means by which such instruction is provided to the discretion of each member nation.

The General Assembly,

Alarmed by the destruction, neglect, and deliberate erasure of culturally significant sites across the world,

Affirming the significance of protecting and preserving the cultures and histories of all peoples, and the World Assembly’s duty to work to uphold this importance,

Recognising that culturally, historically, religiously, and scientifically significant sites constitute both a vital piece of the world’s shared cultural heritage and an irreplaceable component of the identity and traditions of local peoples and civilisations,

Defending the freedom of World Assembly nations to safeguard places meriting such preservation on the Assembly’s behalf,

Hereby,

1. Defines “places of cultural significance” as locations holding exceptional and irreplaceable cultural, historical, or scientific value, such that their preservation is of common concern to the international community. Such categories of places which may warrant preservation include, but are not limited to:

   1. Those where artificially created structures stand or have historically stood,

   2. Those where a singular or multiple historical events of significance have taken place,

   3. Those which are of particular importance to religious or cultural traditions.

2. Establishes the World Landmarks Oversight Board (WLOB) as a body managing the “World Cultural Landmarks” registry of defined protected places, charged with:

   1. Overseeing the evaluation, selection, establishment, and removal of World Cultural Landmarks,

   2. Ensuring the proper protection, administration, and maintenance of World Cultural Landmarks,

   3. Monitoring the distribution and usage of all designated funds put forth for the appointment, establishment, and upkeep of World Cultural Landmarks,

   4. Maintaining an updated list of World Cultural Landmarks at risk, consisting of all World Cultural Landmarks that are threatened by significant dangers, such as military conflict, environmental degradation, and neglect,

   5. Encouraging the further expansion and continued proper conservation of World Cultural Landmarks for future generations.

3. Allows member nations to nominate locations within their jurisdictions to the WLOB for designation and removal as World Cultural Landmarks. This is the sole process by which World Cultural Landmarks may be established.

4. Requires member nations with World Cultural Landmarks to take reasonable measures to identify, protect, and preserve all World Cultural Landmarks within their own jurisdiction, while providing the WLOB information regarding the condition and preservation of such sites.

The General Assembly,

Understanding that GA#1 "Daybreak" recognizes the World Assembly (WA) maintains necessary infrastructure for the execution of its functions;

Affirming that such infrastructure should respect the national sovereignty of member nations and avoid imposing undue burdens upon them;

Observing that generations of delegates have demonstrated a remarkable tendency to conclude negotiations, settle misunderstandings, and accidentally draft treaties while gathered at the World Assembly Strangers' Bar (WASB);

Further observing that the recent addition of the World Assembly Ballroom (WABR) has transformed the establishment from a favored diplomatic watering hole into one of the most practical meeting places; and

Concluding that it is generally wiser to designate the place everyone already uses as the World Assembly Headquarters (WAHQ) than to construct another one elsewhere or evict squatters from the previous location;

Hereby:

1. Designates the WASB, together with the adjoining WABR, as the official headquarters of the World Assembly (WASBBRHQ), serving as its principal venue for diplomatic engagement, administrative activity, official ceremonies, and such other functions as are necessary to facilitate the work of the World Assembly;

2. Declares that no member nation shall obtain preferential status or influence over WASBBRHQ operations by virtue of geography, patronage, or repeated success during trivia night;

3. Recognizes the corridor outside the restrooms as the Hall of Nations, acknowledging its historic role as the location of years' worth of impromptu diplomatic discussions, emergency coalition-building, awkward encounters, and delegates pretending they were heading somewhere else all along;

4. Orders the placement of a photograph of the Kennyite delegation in a spot of honor above the bar;

5. Reserves the northwest corner booth of WASBBRHQ for exclusive use by the World Assembly Secretariat when conducting official business, with the stipulation that:

1. Secretariat members shall only relinquish the booth whenever they unanimously agree that another table looks more comfortable; and

2. no international incident shall arise solely because another delegation mistakenly believes the booth to be available;

6. Directs that routine operating expenses of the WASBBRHQ shall be offset through voluntary commercial revenue generated on the premises, including:

1. a tip jar, the proceeds of which shall be distributed among WASBBRHQ custodial, hospitality, maintenance, and other building staff; and

2. a jukebox, an automated teller machine (ATM), and exactly two slot machines, whose net revenues shall be dedicated exclusively to the maintenance, repair, improvement, and continued operation of the WASBBRHQ;

7. Clarifies that no member nation shall be obligated to contribute financially through the use of any such amenity;

8. Encourages member nations to make use of the WASBBRHQ for formal negotiations, back channel communications, cultural exchange, and the peaceful resolution of disputes, while reminding delegates that endorsement levels and shouting "Point of Order!" does not reserve a place in the queue for the restrooms; and

9. Affirms that nothing in this resolution shall be interpreted as limiting the ability of the World Assembly under future resolutions to regulate diplomatic privileges, security, administrative procedures, or other matters necessary for the effective operation of the WASBBRHQ.

The World Assembly understands there to be fundamental rights to life, dignity, and legal recognition for all persons within its jurisdiction. From these basic rights, a right to freedom from torture can be extrapolated. In pursuit of a strong international solution to ensure that all peoples are guaranteed this right, the World Assembly hereby enacts the following:

1. For the purposes of this resolution, “torture” is defined as any act which seeks to inflict severe psychological or physical pain or trauma against an individual for an interest in:

   1. coercing persons into providing information or consent, or complying with demands that are not strictly necessary to the conduction of law enforcement or military action; or

   2. punishing persons or using their pain or trauma to coerce or influence others.

2. Subjecting a person to torture is to be treated as a serious criminal offence in individual member-states’ jurisdictions and, when done in large scale against a civilian population, a crime against humanity as covered by international law. Aiding the execution of these crimes and complicity in torture must also be criminalised, with sanctions to be set proportionately to involvement.

3. The prior clause shall be interpreted as mandating the criminalization of significant involvement in the planning, ordering, or execution of torture; and as mandating the criminalization of compliance with an order to torture, except where:

   1. compliance was necessary to avoid grave punishment upon the complying person or another person known to the complying person, and

   2. that punishment is not merely financial or on the basis of reputation.

4. Member-states must provide educational materials for persons directly or indirectly serving them in roles that involve interrogation, criminal investigation, or the handling of prisoners or detainees, including instruction on the international prohibition of torture and the rights of persons regarding it.

5. It is the duty of every member-state to combat the practice of torture in its institutions and among its inhabitants. Member-states' governments are required to thoroughly investigate any credible report or accusation of torture within their jurisdiction, and prosecute it.

6. Confessions, testimonies, statements, and any other piece of evidence acquired by means of torture shall be considered inadmissible in every court proceeding, national or otherwise. Evidence an accused produced against themselves by torturing another person is admissible exclusively for the purpose of facilitating proceedings against them. The victims of torture may also use evidence produced by their torturing to prove the innocence of themselves or others on related accusations.

7. Member states may not retaliate against persons via direct or indirect means for reporting or attempting to report a violation of this resolution's mandates that is credible to the best of the reporter's knowledge, and must take effective action to curtail any retaliation which occurs in the jurisdiction of their state.