Description: The General Assembly,

BELIEVING that being detained unlawfully is a serious affront to an individual's liberty and right to freedom,

CONCERNED that some nations may not have the pathway of habeas corpus to rectify such illegal detentions,

CONVINCED that habeas corpus is a legal remedy that must be available to those who are detained,

Hereby

MANDATES that any individual detained by the state, or a state actor, shall have the right to appeal the legality of that detention before an impartial judicial body, or its equivalent, by oneself or through proxy;

DEMANDS that detention shall neither be arbitrary nor shall continue if deemed illegal;

REQUIRES that nations employ the usage of time limits on detention so as to avoid the unnecessary breach of an individual's liberty and right to freedom.

Votes For: 9,126 (81%)
Votes Against: 2,096 (19%)

Implemented: Sat Jun 9 2012

Description: The World Assembly,

CONSCIOUS of the possibility of innocents being wrongfully convicted of crimes which they did not commit,

BELIEVING that anyone wrongfully convicted of a crime should have a chance to appeal that conviction,

Hereby

DEFINES "convict" as a person who has been declared criminally responsible for one or more illegal acts,

DECLARES that all member-states shall create a legal mechanism by which convicts may appeal their conviction,

REQUIRES member-states to allow such appeals when one or more of the following is true;

• evidence has emerged that was previously unavailable which suggests the conviction was factually false,

• it can be shown that proper legal procedure was not followed in the course of the trial,

• there is reason to believe that the court decided a question of law incorrectly,

• there is compelling evidence suggesting improper bias on the part of the judge or jury,

PLACES the duty of deciding whether there are sufficiently compelling grounds for an appeal with the judiciary,

PROHIBITS the limitation or restriction of the right of convicts to appeal their convictions based on time passed since conviction,

AFFIRMS the right of member-states to grant broader appellate rights than those mandated by this resolution and to place a reasonable ceiling on the number of appeals that a convict may lodge.

Votes For: 9,075 (83%)
Votes Against: 1,902 (17%)

Implemented: Wed Jun 13 2012

Description: WA General Assembly Resolution #104: Nautical Pilotage Act (Category: International Security; Strength: Mild) shall be struck out and rendered null and void.

Argument: The World Assembly,

RECOGNIZES the importance of ensuring the safety of travelers at sea.

BELIEVES that the term “pilotage”, which is left undefined in this resolution, is best defined as “the act of navigating a ship”.

ACKNOWLEDGES that effective pilotage is important for travelers due to the presence of underwater hazards which may cause ships to run aground or capsize.

NOTES that while oversight zones, defined as the sum total of “international waters that are known to be traveled annually by at least a small, but steady subsection of the traveling population”, are required to be “equipped with proper buoyage, lighthouse or mark systems as defined by the World Assembly”, no agency or member nation is held responsible for creating these navigational markers.

QUESTIONS the ability of member nation authorities to sufficiently protect pilotage “from harm, vandalism or theft” in international waters, as WA member nations lack jurisdiction over vessels originating from non-member nations.

POINTS OUT that, since authorities and citizens of member nations “do not have the right or duty to pilotage an area that is within an Oversight-Zone”, voyagers from member nations will, in international waters designated as "Oversight Zones", either have to engage unregulated pilots from non-member nations or alternatively sail without any form of pilotage whatsoever, thus paradoxically increasing the perils of sailing in oversight zones.

REPEALS GA Resolution #104.

Co-authored by Mousebumples

Votes For: 8,927 (82%)
Votes Against: 1,898 (18%)

Implemented: Sun Jun 17 2012

Description: The World Assembly:

AFFIRMING that all people have a fundamental right to liberty, which includes the freedom to choose, think, and act as an individual within the confines of socially acceptable behavior;

CONVINCED that a person's freedom to voluntarily and willfully make agreements with others is an important part of their fundamental right to liberty;

BELIEVING that recognition of the freedom to form contractual agreements would improve and promote commercial and social interactions between and within world nations;

HEREBY:

1. DEFINES a "contract" for the purposes of this resolution as "an agreement between two or more persons containing specific terms that the parties intend to be legally binding and enforceable;"

2. DECLARES that any person who a member nation regards as competent to manage his or her own affairs shall be permitted by that nation to freely enter into binding contracts;

3. CLARIFIES that while a person must generally be permitted to contract freely, member nations - either individually or through collective WA action - may regulate certain contracts or agreements within their jurisdiction if doing so is necessary to meet some compelling public policy interest;

4. OBLIGATES Member Nations to provide an enforcement mechanism for valid contracts;

5. PERMITS Member Nations - either individually or through collective WA action - to establish reasonable rules regarding the form required for contracts, including whether certain contracts must be in writing, signed by the parties, and/or notarized by a government official.

Votes For: 8,806 (83%)
Votes Against: 1,748 (17%)

Implemented: Mon Jun 25 2012