Repeal "Habeus Corpus"

[Gulliver]

Description: WA General Assembly Resolution #67: Habeas Corpus (Category: Human Rights; Strength: Significant) shall be struck out and rendered null and void.

Argument: The Assembled Nations of the World,

CONVINCED of the right of individuals to be free from illegal or unjust detention;

APPLAUDING the intent of this body to uphold that right when it passed General Assembly Resolution #67, "Habeas Corpus;"

however, DEEPLY TROUBLED by several flaws in the aforementioned resolution that render it ineffective in several areas;

TERRIBLY VEXED that the aforementioned resolution explicitly allows double jeopardy, the practice of trying an individual more than once for the same offense;

FURTHER VEXED that the aforementioned resolution imposes minimal obstacles to the unfettered use of double jeopardy, merely requiring the approval of a person who is "duly authorised by the legal system" to grant a "full legal authorisation for a retrial," essentially allowing for indefinite retrials, continuing to detain the individual all the while, until the court hands down a verdict favorable to the state;

DISTURBED that the aforementioned resolution allows the arbitrary detention, with no suspicion of wrongdoing, of an individual for up to twenty-four hours in any week, with minimal restrictions and with nothing to prevent repeated arbitrary detention for twenty four hours during every week indefinitely as a form of harassment or extra-legal punishment;

STUNNED that the aforementioned resolution does absolutely nothing to prohibit the continued detention, possibly indefinitely, of an individual after an acquittal;

FLABBERGASTED that the aforementioned resolution does absolutely nothing to prohibit the continued detention, possibly indefinitely, of an individual after his or her criminal sentence has been completed;

NOTING WITH CONSTERNATION that the aforementioned resolution does not actually require member states to allow detained individuals to challenge their detention, much less set any standards for such challenges;

DESIROUS of a resolution that effectively grants the right of habeas corpus to every individual under World Assembly jurisdiction, but cognizant that such a resolution cannot be passed until GAR67 is repealed;

hereby REPEAL General Assembly Resolution #67, "Habeas Corpus."