[Accelerator - GA - Passed] Protecting Sites of Religious Significance

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Protecting Sites of Religious Significance
Accelerator Draft Discussion and Review
Category: TBD
Author: Boston Castle | Onsite Topic​
The General Assembly,

RECOGNIZING that many religious traditions have and maintain sites that are important to the practice or history of their creed,

FURTHER RECOGNIZING that certain sites of religious significance have have not been properly maintained and preserved,

NOTICING that while the World Assembly has affirmed the right of citizens of nations to practice the religion of their choosing, it has not affirmed that the places of worship and related places of significance to a religion must be protected as well.

DESIRING that this deficiency in existing legislation be remedied in international law, hereby:

  1. Defines a "site of religious significance" to be:
    • The foundational place, or places, of a religion;
    • A focus of worship for a religion;
    • The graves and birth sites of people associated with or significant to a religion;
    • Places of religious community;
  2. Creates the Office for the Protection of Religious Sites, hereafter noted as the OPRS, which shall:
    • Work to identify and designate sites of religious significance to presently practiced religions, especially those which have significant meaning to, or are are focuses of worship of, a presently practiced religion;
    • Work with member nations to develop an effective plan to protect designated sites of religious significance; and
  3. Further clarifies that member nations must allow sites as designated by the OPRS to be deemed significant and made compliant with this resolution,
  4. Asserts the following actions are in violation of this resolution:
    • Desecrating sites of religious significance and desecration shall be defined as;
      • Causing permanent disrepair or irreparable damage to sites of religious significance;
      • Destroying artefacts or materials contained at said sites which are of religious importance;
      • The removal of bodies, relics, or items of significance with the intent to make said sites no longer significant as deemed by the OPRS, unless the removal of the bodies, relics, or items of significance is for restoration or maintenance purposes, and
      • Altering the religious nature of said spaces as defined by the OPRS in an attempt to make them no longer significant; though
      • Desecration shall not apply in the event of an imminent threat to health and safety with the present conditions of the site or in the event that said sites were established in a hostile fashion (such as through invasion);
    • The imposition of special taxes, levies, fines, or fees on religious institutions for the purposes of maintenance of sites except in cases where national policy does not provide for government funds to be disbursed to private organizations;
    • Abusing one's private property rights in the pursuit of gaining the legal right to protect or maintain a site of religious significance; and
    • Showing favoritism to or selectively working to maintain sites of one belief over another; and
  5. Clarifies that nations may restrict access to religious sites in an event which requires that a nation restrict the freedom of movement throughout the whole nation such as a civil war, conflict which occurs on a nation’s territory, internal instability in the region of a religious site, or if a pandemic is declared by the Epidemic and Pandemic Response Center,
  6. Further clarifies that nations may not impose these restrictions on access solely on the grounds of religion,
  7. Urges member nations to take additional measures to provide for the security of sites of religious significance, and
    • Allows nations to appoint third-party controllers of religious sites in the event that this would prove to be more conducive to their continued survival and maintenance than local administration.
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Note: This is an internal discussion on a draft proposal accepted to the WA Accelerator Program. Please rip this draft apart and offer any comments you may have; the objective here is to help the author make this proposal better. If the author does not have access to this subforum, comments will be communicated to them by the Minister or an assigned Deputy. Detailed feedback is appreciated and encouraged!
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  • Vote Reject if you want the Ministry and Delegate to not sponsor the proposal upon submission.
Detailed opinions on whether to sponsor this proposal are likewise appreciated and encouraged!
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02
 
The General Assembly,

RECOGNIZING that many religious traditions across the world encourage their practitioners to travel to sites of religious significance,

FURTHER RECOGNIZING that certain sites of religious significance have have not been properly maintained and preserved,

NOTICING that while the World Assembly has affirmed the right of citizens of nations to practice the religion of their choosing, it has not affirmed that the places of worship and related places of significance to a religion must be protected as well.

DESIRING that this deficiency in existing legislation be remedied in international law, hereby:
  1. Defines a "site of religious significance" to be:
    1. The foundational place or places of a religion;
    2. A focus of worship for a religion;
    3. The graves and birth sites of people associated with or significant to a religion;
    4. Places of religious community;
  2. Creates the Office for the Protection of Religious Sites, hereafter noted as the OPRS, which shall:
    1. Work to identify and designate sites of religious significance to presently practiced religions, especially those which have significant meaning to, or are are focuses of worship of, a presently practiced religion
    2. Work with member nations to develop an effective plan to protect designated sites of religious significance; and
  3. Further clarifies that member nations must allow religious sites of presently practiced religions to be deemed significant and made compliant with this resolution,
  4. Asserts the following actions are in violation of this resolution:
    1. Desecrating sites of religious significance such as places of worship, the burial, death, and birth sites of figures of religious significance, desecration shall be defined as;
      1. Causing permanent disrepair or irreparable damage to sites of religious significance;
      2. Destroying artefacts or materials contained at said sites which are of religious importance;
      3. The removal of bodies, relics, or items of significance with the intent to make said sites no longer significant as deemed by the OPRS, unless the removal of the bodies, relics, or items of significance is for restoration or maintenance purposes, and
      4. Altering the religious nature of said spaces as defined by the OPRS in an attempt to make them no longer significant; though
      5. Desecration shall not apply in the event of an imminent threat to health and safety with continued use of the site or in the event that said sites were established in a hostile fashion (such as through invasion);
    2. The imposition of special taxes, levies, fines, or fees on religious institutions for the purposes of maintenance of sites except in cases where national policy does not provide for government funds to be disbursed to private organizations;
    3. Abusing one's private property rights in the pursuit of access to a site of religious significance; and
    4. Showing favoritism to, or selectively working to provide access to, sites of one belief over another; and
  5. Mandates nations restrict access to religious sites in an event which requires that a nation restrict the freedom of movement throughout the whole nation such as a civil war, declared war on a nation’s territory, internal instability in the region of a religious site, or if a pandemic is declared by the Epidemic and Pandemic Response Center, and
  6. Urges member nations to take additional measures to provide for the security of religious sites they visit, and
    1. Allows nations to appoint third-party controllers of religious sites in the event that this would prove to be more conducive to their continued survival and maintenance than local administration.
 
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I don't think this draft is quite ready for consideration by this program at this time. It has undergone a substantial rewrite immediately prior to this thread's posting, which, aside from effectively rendering prior refinement efforts null, has completely altered the focus of the draft. I believe it's fully worthy of this program, in the future, but it is much too early to be making commitments. I'll withhold a vote for now.
 
i think there should be an exclusion for sites for ritual sacrifice or something or other violations of WA law
 
Honeydewistan:
i think there should be an exclusion for sites for ritual sacrifice or something or other violations of WA law
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Ritual sacrifice is presently prohibited by WA Law, but sacred sites that previously played host to such shouldn't lose protection on those grounds alone. The demonization of Aztec and Inca religions here in RL as inherently monstrous or evil, thus justifying the destruction of virtually their entire literary history and culture, is a prime example of the matter. Respecting religious sites does not mandate that one enthusiastically leap in support of any prior acts of that particular faith; certainly we ought not to go knocking down churches simply because they once supported the crusades?
 
Tinfect:
I don't think this draft is quite ready for consideration by this program at this time. It has undergone a substantial rewrite immediately prior to this thread's posting, which, aside from effectively rendering prior refinement efforts null, has completely altered the focus of the draft. I believe it's fully worthy of this program, in the future, but it is much too early to be making commitments. I'll withhold a vote for now.
Click to expand...
The only response I have to that is that the re-write was prompted by a discussion I'd had with Cretox. And in any case, the latter half of the original proposal IIRC was more in line with the current proposal than the original one.
 
Concerning the category, I think Civil Rights | Mild is the "safe" choice. CR | Significant and maybe Education and Creativity | Cultural Heritage could work, but the last one especially is a bit of a stretch.

Mandates nations restrict access to religious sites in an event which requires that a nation restrict the freedom of movement throughout the whole nation such as a civil war, declared war on a nation’s territory, internal instability in the region of a religious site, or if a pandemic is declared by the Epidemic and Pandemic Response Center
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I think clause 5 could work better as an exception rather than its own mandate. Or a clarification.
 
Cretox State:
Concerning the category, I think Civil Rights | Mild is the "safe" choice. CR | Significant and maybe Education and Creativity | Cultural Heritage could work, but the last one especially is a bit of a stretch.


I think clause 5 could work better as an exception rather than its own mandate. Or a clarification.
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So, just thinking aloud here, change "mandates" to "allows"? I think that gives nations the ability to do it without necessarily requiring them to do it.

As for the category. Civil Rights sounds like it would be best, as per the discussions we've had.
 
ponthieu:
So, just thinking aloud here, change "mandates" to "allows"? I think that gives nations the ability to do it without necessarily requiring them to do it.
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Or "permits". Maybe add somewhere that these restrictions may only be to the extent necessary to address the situation. Or that the severity of restrictions cannot be determined on religious grounds. Something of the sort.
 
Just spitballing this one, but...

5. Mandates Permits nations to restrict access to religious sites in an event which requires that a nation restrict the freedom of movement throughout the whole nation such as a civil war, declared war on a nation’s territory, internal instability in the region of a religious site, or if a pandemic is declared by the Epidemic and Pandemic Response Center,
a. disallowing nations to impose restrictions on access solely on the grounds of religion, and

(etc, etc. from there)
 
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ponthieu:
Permits nations to restrict access to religious sites in an event which requires that a nation restrict the freedom of movement throughout the whole nation such as a civil war, declared war on a nation’s territory, internal instability in the region of a religious site, or if a pandemic is declared by the Epidemic and Pandemic Response Center,
a. disallowing nations to impose restrictions on access solely on the grounds of religion, and
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This could work. Alternatively:
5. Clarifies that nations may restrict access to religious sites in an event which requires that a nation restrict the freedom of movement throughout the whole nation such as a civil war, declared war on a nation’s territory, internal instability in the region of a religious site, or if a pandemic is declared by the Epidemic and Pandemic Response Center,

6. Further clarifies that nations may not impose these restrictions on access solely on the grounds of religion,
Click to expand...
 
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Alright, everyone, several edits have been made to the resolution for logical consistency reasons, they have been bolded in this box.

The General Assembly,

RECOGNIZING that many religious traditions have and maintain sites that are important to the practice or history of their creed,

FURTHER RECOGNIZING that certain sites of religious significance have have not been properly maintained and preserved,

NOTICING that while the World Assembly has affirmed the right of citizens of nations to practice the religion of their choosing, it has not affirmed that the places of worship and related places of significance to a religion must be protected as well.

DESIRING that this deficiency in existing legislation be remedied in international law, hereby:

  1. Defines a "site of religious significance" to be:
    • The foundational place, or places, of a religion;
    • A focus of worship for a religion;
    • The graves and birth sites of people associated with or significant to a religion;
    • Places of religious community;
  2. Creates the Office for the Protection of Religious Sites, hereafter noted as the OPRS, which shall:
    • Work to identify and designate sites of religious significance to presently practiced religions, especially those which have significant meaning to, or are are focuses of worship of, a presently practiced religion;
    • Work with member nations to develop an effective plan to protect designated sites of religious significance; and
  3. Further clarifies that member nations must allow sites as designated by the OPRS to be deemed significant and made compliant with this resolution,
  4. Asserts the following actions are in violation of this resolution:
    • Desecrating sites of religious significance and desecration shall be defined as;
      • Causing permanent disrepair or irreparable damage to sites of religious significance;
      • Destroying artefacts or materials contained at said sites which are of religious importance;
      • The removal of bodies, relics, or items of significance with the intent to make said sites no longer significant as deemed by the OPRS, unless the removal of the bodies, relics, or items of significance is for restoration or maintenance purposes, and
      • Altering the religious nature of said spaces as defined by the OPRS in an attempt to make them no longer significant; though
      • Desecration shall not apply in the event of an imminent threat to health and safety with the present conditions of the site or in the event that said sites were established in a hostile fashion (such as through invasion);
    • The imposition of special taxes, levies, fines, or fees on religious institutions for the purposes of maintenance of sites except in cases where national policy does not provide for government funds to be disbursed to private organizations;
    • Abusing one's private property rights in the pursuit of gaining the legal right to protect or maintain a site of religious significance; and
    • Showing favoritism to or selectively working to maintain sites of one belief over another; and
  5. Clarifies that nations may restrict access to religious sites in an event which requires that a nation restrict the freedom of movement throughout the whole nation such as a civil war, conflict which occurs on a nation’s territory, internal instability in the region of a religious site, or if a pandemic is declared by the Epidemic and Pandemic Response Center,
  6. Further clarifies that nations may not impose these restrictions on access solely on the grounds of religion,
  7. Urges member nations to take additional measures to provide for the security of sites of religious significance, and
    • Allows nations to appoint third-party controllers of religious sites in the event that this would prove to be more conducive to their continued survival and maintenance than local administration.
Click to expand...
 
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