Maritime Neutrality Covention

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Resolution History

Overview

This proposal was written following the author, Cobdenia, watching the film Battle of The River Plate and noticing that this particular aspect of warfare had not been covered previously by other resolutions, namely Wolfish Convention on POW and Rights of Neutral States. The proposal originally included a definition of offensive weapons and many other expansions of the various clauses, but fell foul of the proposal word limit. The resolution mirrors the RL Hague Convention.

Proposal Campaign

The telegram campaign was largely successful, drawing the required number of approvals within three days of the proposal's submission. Bob Flibble was awarded the CRC for being the first delegate to approve the proposal.


UN Debate

Whilst a number of nations were in favour, many were opposed due to the flexibility caused by terminology that open to interpretation, largely due to word count limitations. Other objections were raised due to concerns over who paid for the repairs as laid out in artical 7. Other objections were made by those who didn't bother reading the proposal in it's entirity, or who were unable to read between the lines, causing Prince Tang of Allech-Atreus to resort to shouting, which itself became a subject of hot debate. Another hot point was the misspelling of convention as covention. But luckily for the author, not too many people noticed


Resolution Text

UNITED NATIONS RESOLUTION #208
Maritime Neutrality Covention
A resolution to restrict political freedoms in the interest of law and order.

Category: Political Stability Strength: Mild Proposed By: Cobdenia

The United Nations,

REALISING that merchant shipping is considered a legitimate target in warfare,

BELIEVING, however, that unrestricted attacks on merchant shipping, particularly neutral shipping or within neutral waters, can lead to international repercussions or otherwise hazard non-belligerent shipping and civilians,

NOTING that belligerent warships may require the use of neutral ports for repairs and maintenance,

The UN hereby,

1) a)DEFINES “neutral shipping” as merchant vessels registered in non-belligerent nations during a time of war;

b) FURTHER DEFINES "merchant vessels" as non-offensively armed/unarmed vessels carrying cargo or passengers,

2) DEFINES “national waters”, for the purposes of this document, as the seas or ocean within the 12 nautical miles adjoining a national coastline; where a body of water is less then 25 nautical miles wide, a one nautical mile channel equidistant from the coastlines is to be considered as international waters,

3) DEFINES a “warship” as an offensively armed vessel, be it surface vessel or submarine, operating under the authority of a national government or international alliance;

4) PROHIBITS a warship, except in the case of persistent refusal to stop on being duly summoned, or of active resistance to visit or search, from intentionally sinking or rendering incapable of navigation a merchant vessel, be it belligerent or neutral, without having first placed passengers, crew and ship's papers in a place of safety. For this purpose the ship's boats are not regarded as a place of safety,

5) DECLARES all merchant shipping, be it neutral or belligerent, within the national waters of a neutral nation to be inviolable,

6) PROHIBITS attacks on neutral shipping, except in the following circumstances:

a) When neutral shipping is within the national waters of an enemy nation;

b) When there is reasonable cause to suspect that the neutral ship is proceeding to an enemy port;

c) When there is reasonable cause to suspect that a merchant ship or warship of an enemy nation is displaying the ensign of a neutral mercantile marine or naval force.

7) PROHIBITS belligerent warships from entering the national waters of a neutral nation under threat of internment, except in cases of extremely inclement weather, or when entering a neutral port in order to undergo repairs urgent for seaworthiness, in which case the following must be adhered to:

a) A team of nautical experts from the neutral nation are to assess the damage to the ship and estimate the maximum time required to repair the ship;

b) No repairs are to be made that will in anyway increase the fighting efficiency of the warship. This includes, but is not limited too, repairs the weaponry, re-armament, radar, sonar and asdic equipment. Only repairs to ensure seaworthiness are permitted;

c) A belligerent warship may not leave a neutral port until twenty-four hours after the departure of a merchant ship of an adversary;

d) Should a warship be discovered not to require any repairs, overstay the time period set for repairs, or be in neutral waters without good cause, the warship and it’s complement are to be interned;

e) Should prisoners of war be present on the warship when it docks in the neutral port, the prisoners of war are to be handed over to the neutral government and interned. Such internees are not to be considered prisoners of war, however they will be entitled to the rights entitled to prisoners of war.

Votes For: 6,547
Votes Against: 3,727
Implemented: Tue Apr 24 2007

Gameplay Impacts

This resolution had no significant impacts on the way NationStates is played.

Additional Materials