Seva
Registered
Fundamental Freedoms:
Exploring the Evolution of Europeian Rights
Written by Istillian, Edited by Lloenflys and Forilian
On September 24, 2007, the first Bill of Rights was presented to the Senate by then-Senator Lethen. In it, the bill laid out a comprehensive set of fundamental rights for our citizens, protecting them from mistreatment, giving the ability to seek clarification on legislative matters, and enabling citizens the ability to request and obtain explanations regarding governmental activities. Interestingly, it wrote that the right to vote is protected as private property, and that citizens are free to exercise their voting preferences. Moreover, that citizens have the right to participate in elections freely and publicly. Notably, this initial Bill ensured that citizens were not unfairly denied access to the forum based on their political affiliations, protecting the rights of individuals even if they belonged to controversial political parties - it truly established the fundamental liberties of our citizens. Earlier that year, on July 25, 2007, Lethen had also put to vote in the Senate the Free Speech Act, legislation that protected our Freedom of Speech in guaranteeing any and all persons could express their opinions publicly.
The Bill of Rights, alongside the Free Speech Act, were the first pieces of legislation of their kind in Europeia that sought to protect our voice. While several basic amendments were made in the years after this, it wasn't until May 12, 2009 that former Senator Numero proposed the Gender Equality Act, which recognised the region's commitment to non-discrimination based on gender, and aimed to establish a legal framework that promoted gender equality. While by today's standards this may seem a basic piece of legislation in many NationStates regions, there is no denying that there was some controversy around this fundamental right back in 2009. This provision highlighted the importance of inclusivity for all citizens, irrespective of their gender or pronouns, and helped to foster a culture of gender equality and empowerment in Europeia.
The Europeian Broadcasting Corporation reached out to Lethen to reflect on the first Bill of Rights. He said, "I don't remember much of the context, but I feel like we must've had an economy going or else I wouldn't mention money or taxes and also a bill of rights feels like a "thing" to have, even if some of these rights may not really apply in an online game."
In December of 2009, the Senate oversaw a major constitutional amendment in the form of the Charter of Rights. In it, this Charter encompassed all that the initial Bill of Rights and the Gender Equality Act had sought to do, while adding the protection of fundamental freedoms protecting an individual's conscience, religion, thought, belief, expression, and association.
Outside of NationStates, the United Nations General Assembly, on December 10, 1948, created the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a declaration that was created as a result of representatives of various nations that sought to establish a global standard for fundamental human rights, aspiring to protect many basic freedoms. However, many of its fundamental principles are still not followed in every country, community, or group. In contrast, Europeia's first Charter of Rights without question enshrined equality rights in our law, guaranteeing equal treatment and non-discrimination based on various grounds such as race, national or ethnic origin, skin colour, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, or mental or physical disability.
On September 5, 2015, a major review of the Charter of Rights was conducted, and an amendment was made. Regarding our fundamental freedoms, then-Senator Malashaan said, "I'm a little concerned about limiting expression to speech, writing, and pictures. It's unlikely to arise, but this potentially invites arguments that particular expression is not protected (e.g., music). Furthermore, I don't see any reason not to be broad here, e.g., "freely express opinions in any manner or medium." Also, this omits freedom of association. It may be worth discussing what that means in Europeia, but it has historically been considered to place restrictions on how political parties can be regulated at a minimum."
By September 22, 2015, the Senate had amended the fundamental freedoms in our Charter of Rights to:
On August 13, 2018, Chair Assembly member Kari proposed The Gender Neutralisation Amendment, an amendment to correct gendered language across the laws of Europeia, which was passed by the Senate and signed by President Sopo later that year. On June 4, 2019, former First Minister Lloenflys signed the Second Gender Neutralisation Amendement (2019), an amendment to the Judicature Act (2012), the Senate Protocol Act (2015), and the World Assembly Act (2017) to ensure that gender-neutral language was adopted fully into all of our laws. Attorney General Darcness said, "The amendment makes no substantive changes to law, but instead removes mention of gender via the use of various language constructs including the singular they."
On September 4, 2020, our Charter of Rights was again reviewed. Once more, Malashaan brought the review to the Senate, commenting that: "I want to look at including an explicit due process right in the Charter of Rights. Generally, Due Process is the concept that the state must accord all people their legal rights when dealing with them. It is essentially a guarantee that individual's are treated fairly and in accordance with the law in legal proceedings."
The Attorney General at that time, Pichtonia, conducted a legislative review of the Charter of Rights, specifically stating that:
"In FF03, formerly Section 4 in CoR 2015, wording for "forums" was changed to "areas" to include and protect all of the region, not just the forums, so now the on-site page and discord are covered, for example.
In FF03, formerly Section 4, was reworded, with "defined herein as" being added so that the what follows -- "used for social or informal activities by the entire community; areas necessary for the exercise of rights guaranteed by this Charter or elsewhere; and areas necessary for basic access to the Government and Administration." -- would be read like a, b, and c, more clearly. Whereas the former wording of "including" was not definite and could potentially be ambiguous."
The Charter of Rights of 2015 was repealed, and the 2020 document became law on October 2, 2020, when signed by former President Sopo, and our Charter of Rights now remains enshrined in law as the following:
Looking now at Pride Month, the Senate of Europeia made a milestone resolution of recognising Europeian Pride in 2023, in the form of Senate Resolution 012. This resolution goes a step beyond protecting our freedoms and rights, and instead, it celebrates them, the people that we are, and the community that we thrive in.
Senator McEntire spoke powerfully, representing our community well when he said: "I have always been proud of the diversity of our membership, our many queer citizens, and our regional values of openness and respect for the dignity of all people. It is a scary time to be a queer person, and I think this year's Euro Pride, more than ever, we need to actively stand up and tell the world that we stand with our LGBTQIA+ community."
From the initial Bill of Rights to subsequent amendments and reviews, Europeia has consistently demonstrated its commitment to protecting the rights and dignity of our citizens. The Fundamental Freedoms of the Charter of Rights in Europeia is a pillar of significance in safeguarding the freedom of thought and expression in Europeia, and its intent has sought to foster a vibrant and inclusive community that stands up for the the rights and dignity of all of our citizens, and our strong history in celebrating Europeian Pride shows that we will continue to do so.
