The General Assembly,
Noting the desire of the World Assembly to further democracy and to enforce strong standards of civil rights and liberties,
Believing that this desire must not come at the expense of dispensing justice,
Worried by the definition of a forced disappearance, which does not go far enough in safeguarding witness protection programs, which can jeopardize the convictions of dangerous criminals by disallowing informants from being able to testify safely,
Perturbed by Clauses 2 and 3, which require the publicising of all cases of forced disappearance ex post facto and demand that no statute of limitation be applied in relation to cases of forced disappearances, and are thus unsuited for situations such as those in fragile post-conflict states, where negotiated amnesties or other settlements that may otherwise breach these provisions are required to bring about a transition to a state of peace,
Asserting the existence of compelling safety and national security interests which necessitate the freedom of a nation to take whatever methods needed to protect the sovereignty of the homeland, such as in cases of suspected terrorists, separatist leaders, private militia leaders, and drug dealers,
Deeply worried that revealing the location of these individuals would constitute an unacceptable risk to law enforcement agencies and officers within prisons, or any other security compound which detains persons of national security interest as listed above,
Confused by the requirement of “consent” in section 4, which renders it impossible for a state to act preemptively to ensure the safety of witnesses and their families in permitted programs, and further exacerbates the significant national security problems described above,
Horrified by section 5, which requires public confirmation of the existence of permitted programs, thereby rendering it impossible for member states to completely ensure the safety of individuals in the program by requiring enough information about its operations to be made public so as to ensure compliance with this resolution,
Arguing that the resolution does not do an adequate job of protecting citizens’ civil liberties and safety, and instead accentuates a lack of safety in several different areas,
Hereby repeals GAR#84 “A Ban On Forced Disappearances” .
