Description: AWED by the progress the World Assembly has made in Civil Rights;

AWARE that in spite of said progress, there are still persons who, while free from discrimination, are denied their basic self-sense of personhood & identity, an abuse often beginning in the earliest infancy;

FURTHER AWARE said denials are a source of untold countless horrors, among them depression & suicide;

DESIROUS of eliminating those horrors;

IT IS ESTABLISHED:

1) Definitions:

• “Majoritarian genders (MG)”: The most prevalent genders found on any given sapient species (e.g. female & male) defined not only by genetic and/or anatomical features, but also by cultural roles each culture usually ascribes them. This resolution does not in any way deny that many sapient species do not have dichotomy in gender; but may differ in number of prevalent genders;
• “Intersex persons”: Due to genetic variations, cannot be assigned to any MG by evidence of genetic and/or anatomical features;
• “Transgender persons”: Born in a given MG, their basic self-sense of personhood & identity belong in another MG;
• “Intergender persons”: Self-identify as belonging to more than one MG at once, or not belonging to any MG at all; may express combinations of MG attributes, or none at all; also may have any MG features;
• “Gender-adequation procedure (GAP)”: Medical procedures seeking to assign to intersex, transgender or intergender persons gender-related anatomical and/or genetic features needed to fit in a person-centered adequate gender.

2) No intersex, transgender or intergender person shall be considered diseased by the sole reason of being intersex, transgender or intergender;

3) No nation can prohibit GAPs to intersex, transgender or intergender persons; nor can they be prohibited to travel to other nations for the sole reason of seeking GAPs in said nations; nor can return be denied for the sole reason of having had GAPs;

4) No intersex, transgender or intergender person shall be forced to choose to fit in any gender; persons are free to keep whatever life-compatible features Nature gave them. They shall be recognized as “intersex” (or culturally equivalent gender terms) if documents require gender identification;

5) Full recognition shall be given to gender changes & intersex/gender status in international/national personal documents, if they mention gender;

6) No intersex, transgender or intergender persons of any age shall have GAPs until they are mature enough to make an informed decision regarding their own future;

7) Intersex, transgender & intergender persons shall be:

a) Provided access to a list of expert GAP providers, as well as peer support, before & after GAPs. Said support shall also be provided to intersex, transgender & intergender persons who choose not to have GAPs;

b) Consistently told the truth, within the limits of their advisors’ knowledge and belief (including providers’ honesty about uncertainty) & given copies of their medical records as soon & as often as they ask for them;

c) Allowed to have GAPs after they have been informed of the risks & benefits (plus evidence, or lack thereof, for both).

Votes For: 3,363
Votes Against: 2,560

Implemented: Wed Apr 28 2010

Description: BE IT RESOLVED THAT THESE PEOPLES OF THE WORLD ASSEMBLED

CONSIDERING scientific research and advancement to be vital to the well-being, progress and development of sapientkind,

ASTONISHED that no provisions have been made for the international sharing and coordination of scientific research,

I. HEREBY task the WA Scientific Programme with the following responsibilities:

1) To collect, disseminate, and review such research as the governments and scientists of its member nations choose to release to public scrutiny, in compliance with all appropriate national and international laws regarding intellectual property and national security;

2) To coordinate scientific studies and research projects of international scope, which scientists from many WA nations may choose to participate in under the auspices of the WASP and in concert with their nations of origin or residence, such projects to be funded directly by grants from the governments, public research institutions, privately owned foundations, corporations, or other concerned entities, and donations from concerned individuals, at the discretion of these individuals and organizations;

3) To provide a public forum for free and unhindered debate on scientific research and issues which scientists from all member nations may participate in.

II. STRONGLY URGE all member states to contribute to scientific research and advancement, to the best of their ability, and to release any and all scientific research conducted under the auspices of their governments and public bodies for consideration by the WASP, save only for studies deemed directly related to national security and similar considerations.

Votes For: 5,033
Votes Against: 997

Implemented: Sun May 2 2010

Description: SEEKING to establish international laws for:
• The mutual recognition of patents issued by member countries;
• The protection of the rights of patent holders within a member country;

The World Assembly,

DEFINES for the purpose of this resolution:
• Invention: a contrivance or construction of something which has not before existed, proven to be workable, useful and non-obvious;
• Patent law: any legislation that provides for issuing of Patents in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention; an official right allowing the Patent Holder to exclude unauthorised individuals or private entities from making or marketing an invention for a certain period of time, after which the invention enters the public domain;
• Patent Holder: a person, their assignee or an entity who holds the patent, regardless of whether they were the inventor or not;
• Public domain: patents that are not subject to protections of patent law or specific state ownership, making the invention freely available for use by anyone;
• Biological patenting: where research methods, specific sequences, chemical compositions or the process for creation of genetically engineered biological matter are patented;

1. MANDATES that national patent laws must grant the following rights to patent holders, whose patents are granted and filed at their patent office: to have their patents recognized in all member countries; and to exclude unauthorised persons or private entities from making, using, selling, offering for sale, or importing the patented invention;

2. SPECIFIES that the minimum term of the patent shall be at least 20 years, subject to renewal eligibility and fees as determined by the issuing member country, and member countries that require a payment of a renewal fee to keep a patent, or patent application in force, must ensure that the renewal fee is fair and sensible, and that the interval for the payment of such renewal fee is a year or longer;

3. CALLS FOR national patent laws to grant active patent applications that have been filed but not yet granted a "Patent Pending" status, which shall provide no legal protection unlike a granted patent, but will provide for protection in case of intentional infringement later, if that patent application is granted;

4. SPECIFIES that where no action is taken to renew a patent, even if renewals are permitted, when the patent term expires, that patent will automatically enter the public domain;

5. RESTRICTS biological patenting to the methods for creation of genetically engineered biological matter only;

6. CREATES the Universal Patent Archive (UPA), a branch of the Universal Library Coalition, and invites member countries to submit their patents to the UPA; inclusion of date & time stamps will determine who patented what first, for posterity and preservation of knowledge.

7. REQUIRES member countries to provide for patent holders to seek damages from anyone who can be proven to have intentionally infringed their patent(s), but states that the existence of such patents in the UPA is not a valid argument for infringement;

8. ALLOWS patent holders to licence; mortgage; assign, transfer, or give away the patent; place the patent into the public domain; or allow the patent to expire.

ASSURES that nothing in this resolution will affect the right of member countries to accept/reject patent applications or allow/disallow patent renewals after expiration.

Votes For: 4,435
Votes Against: 1,701

Implemented: Thu May 6 2010

Description: BELIEVING that through focused initiatives and international cooperation, poverty and suffering can be ended,

NOTICING that microfinance allows the impoverished access to much-needed financial assistance,

RECOGNIZING that those living in poverty may be targeted by unfair, deceptive, and fraudulent lending practices,

SEEKING to protect those persons from predatory lending through specialized, safe credit opportunities,

The World Assembly therefore

DEFINES microcredit as the extension of loans for small sums of money, by lenders to those in poverty, for the purpose of sustaining livelihood and encouraging entrepreneurship;

DEFINES microgrant as a gift of a small sum of money, for the purpose of sustaining livelihood and encouraging entrepreneurship;

DEFINES solidarity lending as practice of lending microcredit collectively to a group of persons, to decrease risk for lenders by increasing the probability of debt repayment;

DEFINES a defaulted loan as one that the borrower has failed to make scheduled debt payments for at least one year;

DEFINES borrower insolvency as the inability of a borrower to make scheduled debt payments, after all reasonable payment plans have been tried;

ENCOURAGES nations to strive to eliminate poverty through microcredit, social welfare programs, and other forms of assistance directed at the impoverished;

ESTABLISHES the World Microcredit Foundation (WMF) as a global resource for microcredit lenders and the world’s impoverished persons, which is tasked with establishing WMF chapters in willing nations and ensuring the safety and efficiency of microcredit by:
- Determining credible, honest, and fair microcredit lenders and authorizing such lenders to participate in the WMF initiative, a global effort to provide microcredit and stimulate entrepreneurship;
- Forming lending standards to which all authorized WMF lenders are bound, and routinely inspecting the practices and finances of authorized WMF lenders;
- Disseminating information about WMF lenders, the WMF initiative, and microcredit in general, to microcredit lenders and borrowers;
- Educating the general populace about the safe and responsible use of credit;
- Working with borrowers to ensure the repayment of loans;
- Reimbursing lenders the balance of the principle investment in cases of defaulted loans and borrower insolvency;

CLARIFYING that the WMF shall not be the originator of any loans;

ENCOURAGES WMF lenders to practice solidarity lending, believing it to be a building block of successful microcredit lending;

ENCOURAGES nations with areas of large numbers of impoverished citizens to inquire about and establish WMF chapters in those areas;

ENCOURAGES credit lenders to research and participate in the WMF initiative;

ESTABLISHES the Microgrant Institute as a subset of the WMF, which shall:
- Accept monetary donations from individuals, governments, organizations, corporations, or other entities;
- Determine individuals living in extreme poverty who are too risk-averse to seek out a loan or have been denied access to microcredit;
- Review applications and determining if those individuals genuinely require assistance;
- Distribute a microgrant, through the monies obtained through donations, to those persons, for the purpose of sustaining livelihood and encouraging entrepreneurship.

Votes For: 3,830
Votes Against: 2,215

Implemented: Mon May 10 2010

Description: The World Assembly,

RECOGNIZING the vital role that petroleum products play in the economies of many World Assembly states;

RECOGNIZING that significant amounts of the world's oil lies offshore;

REGRETTING the resultant need many nations have for offshore drilling;

DEFINES offshore drilling as the discovery and development of oil and natural gas resources which lie underwater;

DEFINES an oil producer as any corporation, association, group, or state which engages in offshore drilling in the waters of any World Assembly member state;

DEFINES a safe drilling depth as that sea floor depth at which an oil producer has the technology to ensure the safety of the involved workers, and to contain, to a reasonable extent, the environmental effects should an offshore drilling system become compromised by fire, explosion, natural disaster, or other cause;

ESTABLISHES the World Assembly Responsible Offshore Drilling Administration, or WARODA, with the following purposes:
1. To assess the safe drilling depth of the oil producers operating in World Assembly member states,
2. To research methods and tactics for preventing the compromise of offshore drilling systems by fire, explosion, natural disaster, and other causes,
3. To research methods and tactics for containing and reducing the effects on the environment should such a compromise occur,
4. To establish reasonable limits on the release of contaminated water from offshore drilling systems,
5. To review proposed drilling sites with regard to the sensitivity of the surrounding environment,
6. To restrict drilling in areas determined to have extremely sensitive environments,

REQUIRES oil producers to be in compliance with the limits, rules, and regulations made by the WARODA;

REQUIRES oil producers to maintain insurance and/or an emergency fund to be used in the event of the compromise of one of their offshore drilling systems;

REQUIRES this insurance and/or emergency fund to be of sufficient size to provide for the cleanup operations should a drilling system be compromised

REQUIRES oil producers to attempt, to the best of their ability, to reduce the severity of the environmental impact in the event of a compromise of one of their offshore drilling systems;

PROHIBITS any oil producer from operate an offshore drilling operation at any unsafe depth;

REQUIRES oil producers whose origin is within a World Assembly member state to keep their operations in compliance with the provisions of this act, regardless of whether the operation is within the territorial waters of a World Assembly member state, those of a non-member state, or international waters.

REQUIRES all offshore drilling operations in the territorial waters of World Assembly member states to be in compliance with the provisions of this act, regardless of the origin of the oil producer overseeing the operations;

AFFIRMS that this act does not prohibit offshore drilling at a safe drilling depth, provided that all provisions of this act are met;

STRONGLY RECOMMENDS that World Assembly member states restrict offshore drilling beyond the requirements of this act, or ban it outright.

Votes For: 3,803
Votes Against: 2,562

Implemented: Sat May 22 2010