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Animal Protection Act; Currently in Draft - to be submitted
Topic Started: Nov 15 2004, 09:04 PM (87 Views)
Hersfold
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Animal Protection Act
A resolution to restrict Political Freedoms in the interest of Moral Decency


Category: Moral Decency Strength: Significant Proposed by: Hersfold


Description: THE NATIONSTATES UNITED NATIONS, IN ASSEMBLY:

REALIZING, with great shock, that many domestic animals worldwide are cruelly mistreated every day;

NOTICING, that in some cases, this abuse is not intentional, but simply neglect and failure to care for the animal in question.

HORRIFIED, that at times this abuse is intended, leaving the innocent animals wounded and disfigured;

HEREBY DEFINES the following terms as crimes in all member nations:

1) Neglect – To fail to provide proper basic care for a domestic animal, such as food, water, shelter, and necessary veterinary care, when the accused is fully capable of doing so.

2) Intentional Abuse – To deliberately cause unnecessary harm to a domestic animal not declared for use as food for any cause other than proven self-defense.

AND HEREBY RESOLVES UPON THE FOLLOWING:

3) That all persons accused of the above crimes shall be given a fair trial in which they may present evidence in their defense, in accordance with UN Resolution #47, "Definition of Fair Trial".

4) That the crime of neglect of a domestic animal shall be considered a misdemeanor in all UN Member nations, and punishable with a minimum sentence of a light fine OR six months in prison if found guilty.

5) That the crime of intentional abuse of a domestic animal shall be considered a felony in all UN Member nations, and punishable with a minimum sentence of a moderate fine and 5 years in prison if found guilty.

6) That all movie production studios shall be encouraged to use computer animated figures in place of animals when an animal is required to do any sort of stunt act.

7) That an Animal Protection Agency shall be henceforth established, to raise awareness of these crimes and to aid member nations in seeking out occurrences of these horrible deeds.

RESOLVED, IN ASSEMBLY, BY THE NATIONSTATES UNITED NATIONS.


I have drafted this proposal in the intrest of preventing cruelty to animals worldwide. It's fairly obvious what I intend to do with this proposal, but in short. the proposal will outlaw animal neglect and intentional abuse, as defined in Articles 1 and 2. The UN shall place in effect minimum sentences to be passed on those found guilty of these crimes in a fair trial, as laid out in Resolution #47. The APA will be established to, like the Real-life ASPCA, raise awareness of these crimes, an important step in combating them, and also to aid the UN in prosecuting these criminals.

I have posted this draft on the NationStates forums, where some of you have seen it. Frisbeeteria, I know you do not support this yourself, but I ask you, and the rest of the Old Guard, to help me improve this document so that it may work to the best of it's ability.

Thank you, and Live Long and Prosper.

The United Federation of Hersfold
UN Regional Delegate, Part123
Honorary Founder, Part123
Author, UN Resolution #54, UN Educational Committee

Italicized text indicates edits, in accordance with posts below.
The United Federation of Hersfold
UN Member
Deputy Minister of Culture and Education, The North Pacific
Author, UN Resolution #54, UN Educational Committee
Author, Deleted Resolution, Olympic Games
Department Head, UN Affairs, The Lemurian University
Assistant Editor-in-Chief, The North Pacific Wire
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Hersfold
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5) That the crime of intentional abuse of a domestic animal shall be considered a felony in all UN Member nations, and shall be punished with a fine and prison term if found guilty, which the UN recommends to be a minimum sentence of a moderate fine and 5 years in prison.


Article 5 has now been edited to the above.
The United Federation of Hersfold
UN Member
Deputy Minister of Culture and Education, The North Pacific
Author, UN Resolution #54, UN Educational Committee
Author, Deleted Resolution, Olympic Games
Department Head, UN Affairs, The Lemurian University
Assistant Editor-in-Chief, The North Pacific Wire
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_Myopia_
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Autonecromancer extraordinaire
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I like the general idea and most of its execution, however there are three things I disagree with. First, "international crimes" seems to suggest to me something far more heinous than cruelty to animals, it seems more appropriate to things like genocide and other crimes against humanity, which are above national law. Couldn't it say "HEREBY DEFINES the following as criminal acts in every UN member state"?

As to classifying things as "crimes" or "misdemeanors", do all legal systems work like that? I personally don't know quite what the distinction is, except that crimes are more harshly punished than misdemeanors, and am unsure if they exist even in all RL nations.

Finally, I'm not a big fan of mandating particular sentences, as nations have different approaches to sentencing. I do recognise that you want to ensure a minimum level of harshness in sentencing, though, and if a satisfactory alternative to specifying a sentence cannot be found, I will drop this objection. The only thing I can think of would be to say a punishment equivalent to some other specified crime, but that isn't a great solution.

Anyways, good luck

EDIT: Ah, I see you've edited Article 5, and the new version does go some of the way to addressing my final issue.
The Liberal not-quite-Utopia of _Myopia_
Liberty with Compassion - La liberté et l'humanité
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Hersfold
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_Myopia_,Nov 15 2004
09:25 PM
I like the general idea and most of its execution, however there are three things I disagree with.  First, "international crimes" seems to suggest to me something far more heinous than cruelty to animals, it seems more appropriate to things like genocide and other crimes against humanity, which are above national law. Couldn't it say "HEREBY DEFINES the following as criminal acts in every UN member state"?

Mmm... ok. Will edit. Thanks.

Quote:
 
As to classifying things as "crimes" or "misdemeanors", do all legal systems work like that? I personally don't know quite what the distinction is, except that crimes are more harshly punished than misdemeanors, and am unsure if they exist even in all RL nations.


Erm... no, I don't know that they exist in all NS nations, but too bad. I need some sort of distinction between the two. Which is, by the way...

To my (fairly limited) understanding, in RL USA, a misdemeanor basically means you did something bad and were punished for it, but it wasn't exactly horrible. Whereas a felony means you did something really bad, and I believe prevents you from voting, and makes it really hard to find a job.

Quote:
 
Finally, I'm not a big fan of mandating particular sentences, as nations have different approaches to sentencing.  I do recognise that you want to ensure a minimum level of harshness in sentencing, though, and if a satisfactory alternative to specifying a sentence cannot be found, I will drop this objection. The only thing I can think of would be to say a punishment equivalent to some other specified crime, but that isn't a great solution.

Anyways, good luck

EDIT: Ah, I see you've edited Article 5, and the new version does go some of the way to addressing my final issue.


Yeah, that was Frisbeeteria's main problem with it, I believe. Adam Island, on the NationStates forums, was also giving me a hard time about it, so I relented. i can only hope that that article will not be abused in any way.

Thank you very much.

Edit: If there are no further editing comments on any of the three forums this is posted on over the next 12 hours, this will be submitted.
The United Federation of Hersfold
UN Member
Deputy Minister of Culture and Education, The North Pacific
Author, UN Resolution #54, UN Educational Committee
Author, Deleted Resolution, Olympic Games
Department Head, UN Affairs, The Lemurian University
Assistant Editor-in-Chief, The North Pacific Wire
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Hersfold
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There have been no further comments, so I am now submitting the proposal as is.

Thanks to all who helped me to draft this proposal. Delegates of the Old Guard, I ask that you please approve this as soon as possible. If anyone has any further comments, this draft is still open to editing, but it may be a while until your edit is included. Thanks again, and Live Long and Prosper.

Finally submitted, final draft can be found here:

http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?p...d=1#post7512976
The United Federation of Hersfold
UN Member
Deputy Minister of Culture and Education, The North Pacific
Author, UN Resolution #54, UN Educational Committee
Author, Deleted Resolution, Olympic Games
Department Head, UN Affairs, The Lemurian University
Assistant Editor-in-Chief, The North Pacific Wire
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