Defeated: Right to Adequate Shelter [Complete] [Complete]

Abacathea

Abacathea

TNPer

Right to Adequate Shelter
A resolution to improve worldwide human and civil rights.


Category: Human Rights

Strength: Significant

Proposed by: Talkistan​

Description: The World Assembly,

Believing that the having a home that provides adequate shelter is a right that should be available to all people,

Realizing that many people across the world are either without shelter, or subsist in grossly inadequate shelters,

Feeling that member nations should work to eradicate the problems of homelessness and inadequate housing,

Defining
A. "shelter" as a construction whose primary purpose is to house people
B. "adequate shelter" as a shelter which is structurally sound, provides reasonable protection against external environmental hazards, allows adequate personal space for its individual occupants, enables access to services and facilities as per the needs of the occupants, and is culturally acceptable and financially affordable to the occupants.

Hereby:
1. Mandates that each member nation guarantee its legal residents the right to adequate shelter as a fundamental right, and take steps to ensure they have the necessary knowledge and the ability to exercise that right.

2. Declares that a deliberate attempt to violate anyone's right to adequate shelter shall be illegal. This exempts situations when such an action is essential to the administration of justice which is otherwise compliant with the WA, or to the mitigation of an extreme threat to either national security or the nation's general populace.

3.Requires each nation to assess the needs of its populace and available resources while making national and local guidelines on adequate shelter and establish the minimum criteria for a shelter to meet the definition of adequate for that nation's people.

4. Encourages every nation to help make available the best possible affordable shelter for every legal resident. This may include (but is not limited to) providing housing benefits, subsidizing building materials, or providing government-sponsored shelters, especially to those who are unable to adequately house themselves.

5. Strongly encourages nations to extend the right to adequate shelter to refugees and stateless individuals within their borders and act in coordination with each other and international organizations to satisfy non-citizens' housing needs.

6. Encourages nations to work with each other and share technologies and resources to improve the quality, standards and affordability of shelters.

7. Mandates that nations ensure the right to adequate shelter while making national laws concerning eviction of tenants, expropriation of land or buildings and any other law that deals with housing or directly influences the availability of adequate shelter.
 
Ministerial Review;

In truth, the intent behind this resolution appears to be well meaning, but we wonder if in the authors pursuit of well meaning they've overlooked some serious flaws in the text. Here is a mandate by mandate breakdown.

1. Mandates that each member nation guarantee its legal residents the right to adequate shelter as a fundamental right, and take steps to ensure they have the necessary knowledge and the ability to exercise that right.
Click to expand...

This clause seems reasonable, it's not overly invasive although we do query the "steps" to be taken to ensure all citizens have the knowledge of their rights. I would assume a page in all town libraries should cover us on that.

2. Declares that a deliberate attempt to violate anyone's right to adequate shelter shall be illegal. This exempts situations when such an action is essential to the administration of justice which is otherwise compliant with the WA, or to the mitigation of an extreme threat to either national security or the nation's general populace.
Click to expand...

Now this is the one that I draw issue with off the bat. "A deliberate attempt to violate anyones right to adequate shelter shall be illegal". While it exempts the administration of Justice there's two things we note here;

1: if there is a threat to national security this right is secondary. This we suspect is a massive loophole for the more illegitimate or corrupt dictatorships to oust people from their homes willy nilly.

2: The repossession of one's home may not essentially be considered the carriage of "justice", essentially preventing such actions being undertaken.

3.Requires each nation to assess the needs of its populace and available resources while making national and local guidelines on adequate shelter and establish the minimum criteria for a shelter to meet the definition of adequate for that nation's people.
Click to expand...

This just confuses us, aside from muddy language the definition of shelter is added quite clearly at the start of the text, and yet now we're being asked to asses the minimum criteria for a shelter to meet the definition of adequate shelter....

7. Mandates that nations ensure the right to adequate shelter while making national laws concerning eviction of tenants, expropriation of land or buildings and any other law that deals with housing or directly influences the availability of adequate shelter.
Click to expand...

Again, this structure seems quite poor and ill-thought. The eviction of tenants does not go hand in hand with the provision of adequate shelter, eviction is usually contrary to that purpose.

Ministerial Suggested Vote:

Overall, we find the act, while well meaning, to be considerably flawed. While some flaws in a text are normally tolerable, this seems rushed and ultimately went from drafted to submitted in three weeks, when it really could have used a lot more refinement. As a result, the suggested vote on this is NAY.

As always, this is a suggested vote only, please vote Yay, Nay, or Abstain below..
 
As Olvern is currently clearing slums and replacing them with public housing, Olvern is not exactly sure what kind of legal predicament this problematic bill would bring her into.

Nay.
 
While we try to keep a neutral perspective when doing the review, we cannot ignore the errors we've spotted.

Nay.
 
Voting on this resolution has ended.

Thanks to those nations who cast their votes. Your participation is a great help to the region.

This topic has been locked and sent to the Archives for safekeeping. If you would like this topic to be re-opened for further discussion, please contact the WA Delegate, a Global Moderator, or an Administrator for assistance. Thank you.
 
Voting on this resolution has ended.

Thanks to those nations who cast their votes. Your participation is a great help to the region.

This topic has been locked and sent to the Archives for safekeeping. If you would like this topic to be re-opened for further discussion, please contact the WA Delegate, a Global Moderator, or an Administrator for assistance. Thank you.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top