General Assembly

The General Assembly's primary mission is to improve the world, one resolution at a time. It does so through the collective action and in accordance with the collective will of World Assembly members.

Such efforts should not come at the undue expense of national sovereignty. If anything, upholding and protecting members' sovereignty is one of the purest goals this body can aspire to.

Therefore, the General Assembly hereby recognizes World Assembly member nations to be competent to manage their own affairs, and to possess sovereignty over matters within their jurisdiction unless ceded, including:

1. Authority over internal affairs, such as promulgating and enforcing internal policies.

2. Free engagement in external affairs, including entry into international agreements and association with regional and other supranational units.

In order to better uphold national sovereignty, the General Assembly hereby declares the following to be obligations of the World Assembly to its member nations in executing its responsibilities and functions under World Assembly law:

1. The World Assembly must afford its member nations a presumption of regularity; it must assume its member nations act in good faith and properly execute their obligations under World Assembly law absent clear evidence otherwise.

2. In promulgating policy or resolving ambiguity that affects a given member nation, the World Assembly must extend due deference to the interests and reasonable interpretation of that member.

3. The World Assembly may not impose undue or impractical burdens on its member nations.

4. In exercising authority within a member nation's jurisdiction, the World Assembly must, where appropriate and practical, interface with the member's government rather than commandeering internal government processes or sub-jurisdictions.

Additionally, the General Assembly urges:

1. Member nations to collaborate in good faith on issues of a cross-border or borderless nature, such as public health, environmental policy, and trade.

2. This body's legislative efforts to focus on issues of international character or relevance.

While member nations can and do cede their sovereignty through their participation in the World Assembly, national sovereignty remains a bedrock principle of this body. Member nations should have discretion in how they exercise and cede their sovereignty, and this body should aim to preserve it where practical.

The World Assembly,

Seeing that slavery and the trade of sapient beings is a significant threat to the well-being of individuals, communities, and worlds throughout the multiverse,

Recognizing that noble efforts were undertaken in outlawing these barbaric practices since nearly the beginning of the historic General Assembly,

Now hoping to follow in those footsteps and ban such practices once more in a concise and straightforward manner,

Definitions:

1. “Slavery” is a state of servitude in which a natural person or other entity exercises the powers of ownership over another person;

2. “Forced labour” is a system of labour which is forced upon a natural person under threat of harm or penalty and against the will of the labourer, excluding the following cases:

   1. National service applying to a large fraction of the national population, using conscription based on objective factors, and limited in period to at most half of an individual's life expectancy;

   2. Dire and particular circumstances, where not working significantly risks danger to others;

   3. If the labourer agrees with informed and prior consent to labour for a fixed and finite term or quantity;

3. “Trafficking” as the sale or transfer of persons for the purpose of forced or slave labour, or the facilitation of such a transfer;

Mandates:

1. Slavery, trafficking, and forced labour are prohibited in all member states;

2. Ownership of any person is not legally recognized in member states;

3. Member nations shall facilitate the consensual repatriation of trafficked persons to other member nations;

4. The World Assembly is to impose comprehensive sanctions against states recognizing legal slavery and trafficking.

The World Assembly,

Recognizing that issues of transboundary nature, of which environmental degradation is among the most consequential, are a salient concern for this Body to address, as no member state alone can fully address damages arising therefrom, and

Convinced that the long-term sustainability of shared ecosystems and the pursuit of economic development are inalienable rights of this Assembly’s members best considered as complementary, not competing, objectives to be navigated according to each member’s individual circumstances and capabilities, and

Noting that, following the annihilation of the body previously occupying this space, no extant WA entity serves to coordinate endeavors of environmental concern nor facilitate the international exchange of environmental information, hereby enacts as follows:

1. The World Assembly establishes the following guiding principles, in the hope that they will be respected and upheld by all members:

   1. Pursuant to international law, each member has the right to exploit the resources within their jurisdiction and the responsibility to ensure that such exploitation does not cause undue environmental harm to the jurisdiction of other members without their consent;

   2. Where there is a risk for significant or long-term environmental damage from state action or inaction, uncertainty of the possibility of such damage should not preclude reasonable efforts to prevent environmental damage;

   3. In cases where a member causes undue or preventable transboundary environmental harm to a neighboring member’s jurisdiction, the member responsible is also responsible for the cost of the infringement, accounting for feasibility, public interest, international trade, and other circumstantial considerations;

   4. When undertaking environmental initiatives, members ought to endeavor to equitably consider the needs of the current generation and future generations;

   5. Due to the varying circumstances, needs, and capabilities of members, each individual member has different and corresponding responsibilities to prevent and mitigate global environmental degradation;

   6. Individuals in members are entitled to be made aware of environmental proceedings which may reasonably affect them, including but not limited to health, safety, and quality of life risks from environmental degradation of any scale;

   7. Member-driven exploitation of the environment ought to be undertaken in a manner that maintains the long-term ecological viability of its components and does not cause significant degradation to adjacent, dependent, or intertwined ecosystems; and

   8. Members and their people ought to work together in good faith on environmental initiatives, especially where transboundary implications are entailed.

2. The Environmental Coordination Office (ECO) is hereby founded to aid members in their pursuit of environmental endeavors and response to environmental events. ECO shall be bound by the following duties and obligations, but shall not have the ability to compel a member into action or inaction unless further empowered by future resolutions:

   1. Regularly monitor global environmental markers, including but not limited to greenhouse gas emissions, ambient air quality, freshwater availability, and global biodiversity, and shall provide these measurements free of charge to all member governments;

   2. Coordinate with member governments on national and subnational environmental monitoring endeavors, striving to standardize environmental data measurement and reporting guidelines;

   3. Provide reasonable technical and logistical assistance to member governments suffering environmental damages or working on environmental projects upon request;

   4. Facilitate the exchange of pertinent information between members who may otherwise have difficulty exchanging such information, for example due to diplomatic tensions;

3. Upon becoming aware of an event within their jurisdiction that poses a credible risk of significant transboundary environmental harm, such as the large-scale release of pollutants, acute ecosystem collapse, or hazardous contamination of waterways or airsheds, members will notify ECO and any other potentially affected parties under World Assembly jurisdiction as soon as possible.

4. Any body established by future World Assembly legislation to address environmental matters should, unless that legislation specifies otherwise, either operate as a subsidiary body under ECO's administrative coordination or maintain a formally coordinated relationship with ECO, and shall work to ensure coherence among World Assembly environmental policy and the principles established herein.

The World Assembly,

Understanding the connection between a nation's capacity for innovation and the future prosperity of that nation, and believing in the ardent bolstering of national pursuit of innovation in order to support both its members and their citizens, and

Noting that nations which are still in the process of their development may find it harder to support the pursuit of knowledge by their denizens, which can exacerbate global socioeconomic inequities as nations which must spend the majority of their budget on, say, fundamental welfare programs, are kept from supporting the prospects of their rise on the global stage, therefore

Enacts as follows:

1. The World Assembly shall establish the World Assembly Science and Innovation Foundation (WASIF), which shall be tasked with encouraging and promoting basic and applied scientific research and scientific education in members.

   1. WASIF shall have the authority to initiate and support diverse research in members through the establishment of scientific grants, contracts, loans, and other forms of monetary or infrastructural support, as allowed by the WASIF budget. Forms of support must be awarded through a competitive process, based on the scientific merits of the proposal, the current infrastructure in the jurisdiction the request is coming from and the prospect for creating long-term improvements of that infrastructure, and educational outcomes for researchers on the project. No grant may be awarded to a non-citizen or non-resident of a World Assembly member.

   2. WASIF shall be empowered to provide scholarships and fellowships to promising students and early-career researchers, on a basis of financial need, merit, and available funds of the WASIF budget.

   3. WASIF shall have the authority to create relevant sub-branches, subject to World Assembly legislation, to aid in the pursuit of knowledge of specific research disciplines, including the physical sciences, social sciences, medical sciences, engineering, mathematics, or any other subject areas deemed relevant.

   4. WASIF shall work with national scientific agencies, where appropriate, to foster the exchange of information between scientists who reside in different World Assembly members.

   5. WASIF shall publish a semiannual report of finances, research proposals supported, geographical areas supported, and impacts resulting from WASIF-funded research. WASIF shall also be empowered to publish information on a more regular basis, as their mission so requires.

2. The World Assembly shall establish Global Research & Development Centers (GRDCs), which are to be administered by WASIF or a sub-entity thereof, which shall perform scientific and technological research in disciplinary priorities of the World Assembly. GRDCs may be established by WASIF in response to research priorities, and shall be established either in international territory, or individual members (including entities therein) may submit proposals for the site to be located in their jurisdiction, which shall be reviewed by an independent entity.

3. WASIF shall host the World Assembly Research Consortium, which shall be a forum for the international exchange of information and research. The Research Consortium shall establish relevant journals for each discipline, as needed. Any scientist or researcher in a member nation may publish rigorous, peer-reviewed research articles in a Research Consortium journal free-of-charge, and scientists or researcher in a non-member nation may publish peer-reviewed, credible research articles in a Research Consortium journal for an affordable and fair price. An appropriate portion of revenue generated from published research in Research Consortium journal shall be given to the scientist or researcher in the form of a royalty.

4. Any research funded with World Assembly monies under the provisions of this resolution must be made available free-of-charge to all individuals residing in a member nation, and must be findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable. The information may be kept behind a paywall for individuals residing in non-member nations. This clause may be waived upon a determination by WASIF or individual members that the research performed poses a substantial risk to local, national, or international security, or otherwise has dangerous applications in the hands of bad actors.

The General Assembly,

Alarmed by the destruction, neglect, and deliberate erasure of culturally significant sites across the world,

Affirming the significance of protecting and preserving the cultures and histories of all peoples, and the World Assembly’s duty to work to uphold this importance,

Recognising that culturally, historically, religiously, and scientifically significant sites constitute both a vital piece of the world’s shared cultural heritage and an irreplaceable component of the identity and traditions of local peoples and civilisations,

Defending the freedom of World Assembly nations to safeguard places meriting such preservation on the Assembly’s behalf,

Hereby,

1. Defines “places of cultural significance” as locations holding exceptional and irreplaceable cultural, historical, or scientific value, such that their preservation is of common concern to the international community. Such categories of places which may warrant preservation include, but are not limited to:

   1. Those where artificially created structures stand or have historically stood,

   2. Those where a singular or multiple historical events of significance have taken place,

   3. Those which are of particular importance to religious or cultural traditions.

2. Establishes the World Landmarks Oversight Board (WLOB) as a body managing the “World Cultural Landmarks” registry of defined protected places, charged with:

   1. Overseeing the evaluation, selection, establishment, and removal of World Cultural Landmarks,

   2. Ensuring the proper protection, administration, and maintenance of World Cultural Landmarks,

   3. Monitoring the distribution and usage of all designated funds put forth for the appointment, establishment, and upkeep of World Cultural Landmarks,

   4. Maintaining an updated list of World Cultural Landmarks at risk, consisting of all World Cultural Landmarks that are threatened by significant dangers, such as military conflict, environmental degradation, and neglect,

   5. Encouraging the further expansion and continued proper conservation of World Cultural Landmarks for future generations.

3. Allows member nations to nominate locations within their jurisdictions to the WLOB for designation and removal as World Cultural Landmarks. This is the sole process by which World Cultural Landmarks may be established.

4. Requires member nations with World Cultural Landmarks to take reasonable measures to identify, protect, and preserve all World Cultural Landmarks within their own jurisdiction, while providing the WLOB information regarding the condition and preservation of such sites.

The World Assembly—

Recognizing the increasing threat to global agriculture posed by climate change, deforestation, and conflict,

Alarmed that overreliance on limited varieties of agricultural crops increases vulnerability to disease, pests, and continued changes to the environment,

Recalling previous efforts to safeguard global food networks,

Noting the new absence of a dedicated, sustainable, and scientifically managed seed preservation framework,

Affirming the importance of preserving agricultural biodiversity for both present and future generations as a necessity for life,

Hereby—

1. Establishes the International Seed Preservation Initiative (ISPI) as an independent, nationless body operating under the authority of, and funded by, the World Assembly, tasked with the collection, organization, preservation, and protection of agricultural seed diversity;

2. Mandates that the ISPI:

a. Maintain secure, climate-controlled seed storage facilities;
b. Develop redundant storage systems across multiple geographic regions to prevent catastrophic loss;
c. Prioritize the preservation of staple, cultivated crops, regionally significant plant species, and endangered flora;
d. Maintain records sufficient to ensure that distributed genetic material is used in accordance with this resolution;

3. Encourages all member nations to voluntarily contribute seeds, particularly those unique to their ecosystems or agricultural traditions;

4. Affirms that all contributed genetic material remains the sovereign property of the originating nation;

5. Provides that contributed genetic material shall not be patented, claimed as exclusive intellectual property, or commercially exploited in any way without the originating nation's consent, and may be used solely for preservation, research, and humanitarian restoration purposes;

6. The ISPI may temporarily suspend access to preserved genetic material for nations found to have knowingly violated Article 5 until such violations have been remedied.

7. Authorizes the ISPI to distribute preserved seeds at no cost to nations experiencing agricultural collapse due to disaster, conflict, or environmental crisis, in a manner that respects regional agricultural practices and ecological compatibility;

8. Prohibits the monopolization or restriction of access to preserved seed resources in ways that would undermine global food security;

9. Encourages international cooperation in agricultural research, including the development of resilient crop strains, while respecting ethical and ecological considerations;

10. Directs the ISPI to publish regular reports on the state of global agricultural biodiversity and risks to food systems.

The World Assembly understands there to be fundamental rights to life, dignity, and legal recognition for all persons within its jurisdiction. From these basic rights, a right to freedom from torture can be extrapolated. In pursuit of a strong international solution to ensure that all peoples are guaranteed this right, the World Assembly hereby enacts the following:

1. For the purposes of this resolution, “torture” is defined as any act which seeks to inflict severe psychological or physical pain or trauma against an individual for an interest in:

   1. coercing persons into providing information or consent, or complying with demands that are not strictly necessary to the conduction of law enforcement or military action; or

   2. punishing persons or using their pain or trauma to coerce or influence others.

2. Subjecting a person to torture is to be treated as a serious criminal offence in individual member-states’ jurisdictions and, when done in large scale against a civilian population, a crime against humanity as covered by international law. Aiding the execution of these crimes and complicity in torture must also be criminalised, with sanctions to be set proportionately to involvement.

3. The prior clause shall be interpreted as mandating the criminalization of significant involvement in the planning, ordering, or execution of torture; and as mandating the criminalization of compliance with an order to torture, except where:

   1. compliance was necessary to avoid grave punishment upon the complying person or another person known to the complying person, and

   2. that punishment is not merely financial or on the basis of reputation.

4. Member-states must provide educational materials for persons directly or indirectly serving them in roles that involve interrogation, criminal investigation, or the handling of prisoners or detainees, including instruction on the international prohibition of torture and the rights of persons regarding it.

5. It is the duty of every member-state to combat the practice of torture in its institutions and among its inhabitants. Member-states' governments are required to thoroughly investigate any credible report or accusation of torture within their jurisdiction, and prosecute it.

6. Confessions, testimonies, statements, and any other piece of evidence acquired by means of torture shall be considered inadmissible in every court proceeding, national or otherwise. Evidence an accused produced against themselves by torturing another person is admissible exclusively for the purpose of facilitating proceedings against them. The victims of torture may also use evidence produced by their torturing to prove the innocence of themselves or others on related accusations.

7. Member states may not retaliate against persons via direct or indirect means for reporting or attempting to report a violation of this resolution's mandates that is credible to the best of the reporter's knowledge, and must take effective action to curtail any retaliation which occurs in the jurisdiction of their state.