Countries of this Assembly,
Officiously praising this body's excellent efforts to ensure that warfare be conducted more respectably, particularly where civilians are concerned, through resolutions such as
GA 317 "Wartime Looting and Pillage,"
Recognizing, however, that the utter ineffectiveness and irredeemable flaws of GA 136, a resolution intended to protect the deceased from defilement in wartime, transform what should have been a worthwhile if highly specific component of international wartime conduct law into a pointless homunculus dragging it down,
Perplexed that of the resolution's five operative clauses, its only two actually binding ones are cripplingly weak to the point of near uselessness, due to:
- Not actually defining or elaborating on "appropriate measures" when demanding "that states take appropriate measures to prevent the desecration of deceased civilians, military personnel, and any others who may fall on the field of battle," thereby leaving members' actual obligations under the target up in the air, an issue compounded by the definition of "desecration" lacking any explanation of what "undue trauma" is, and
- Outlawing "the needless dismembering of deceased combatants on the field of battle" without actually defining what "needless dismembering" is, which is problematic for similar reasons in addition to the implied circumstances in which dismembering fallen combatants is necessary being left undefined as well,
Saddened that this resolution’s three nonbinding clauses fall far short of what they could have been, seeing that:
- Broadly condemning actions of desecration follows the right sentiment but is rendered meaningless without effective measures to prevent such actions,
- A mere suggestion to “make provisions for [...] post-death rituals” is utterly disappointing when the target would have benefited from an actual attempt to legislate such, especially since doing so would have helped address the recurring issue of critical terms such as "needless dismembering" being undefined, and,
- Doing nothing more than recommending states facilitate repatriation of the deceased completely fails at ensuring those policies are actually put into place, and it would not have been complicated to instead require states make such preparations where practical, and
Embarrassed that thanks to the target's stubborn vagueness, its prohibition of "needless dismembering" and definition of "desecration" potentially ensnares ritual burials entirely in line with national customs, as well as voluntary organ harvesting and the like, an issue that could have easily been averted had the target bothered to expand on essential terminology,
Solemnly repeal this depressingly bad shibboleth.
Co-author:
Voopmont
