REPEAL "NATIONAL ECONOMIC FREEDOMS"
Description: WA General Assembly Resolution #68: National Economic Freedoms (Category: Free Trade; Strength: Strong) shall be struck out and rendered null and void.
Argument: The World Assembly,
Acting in the course of its duty to continue reviewing its passed Resolutions for areas of conflict and concern,
Wishing to retain only those Resolutions that are necessary and practical for the furtherment of world progress,
Seeking to strike out those Resolutions whose past merits no longer justify their present effects,
and,
Hoping to clarify the burden of compliance of international law and restrictions for prospective sponsors of international law,
does hereby:
- Take note of the promise enshrined in WA Resolution #68, "National Economic Freedoms", that national governments be allowed "to regulate commerce within their jurisdiction";
- Observe that numerous subsequent Resolutions have ignored or restricted this promise by denying national governments their rights to regulate commerce within their jurisdiction, such as "International Postal Union", "Universal Clinical Trials Act", "Responsible Offshore Drilling", "Clean Water Act", "Nuclear Waste Safety Act", "Reducing Problem Gambling", "Essential Medication Act", "Concerning Financial Fraud", "Freedom to Contract", "Reducing Automobile Emissions", "Stopping Invasive Species", "Uranium Mining Standards Act", and "Cultural Site Preservation";
- Consider the requirement of "National Economic Freedoms" that "no commerce be generally restricted by the WA unless ... [t]he enterprise causes an extreme hazard to national populations"
- Document that numerous subsequent Resolutions have in fact imposed restrictions on commerce without a justification in terms of extreme hazard to national population, such as "The General Patent Charter", "Medical Research Ethics Act", "The Gem Trading Accord", "Against Conflict Minerals", "On Genetically Modified Foods", "Transboundary Water Use Act", "Ban Profits on Workers' Deaths", "Biological Warfare Convention", "Stopping Suicide Seeds", "Sensible Limits on Hunting", "Protecting Migratory Animals" and "Reducing Spills and Leaks";
- Recall numerous other proposals considered by the WA that would have had the effect of regulating or restricting commerce and which were considered to be within the competency of the WA, rather than of individual nations;
- Conclude that the guarantees of "National Economic Freedoms" have been rendered utterly worthless by virtue of revisionist reinterpretation of its mandates and that the Resolution in fact does nothing whatsoever to defend national rights to regulate commerce, nor to check the powers of the WA to restrict commerce;
- Understand that the WA will undoubtedly continue to legislate on matters of commerce in the name of social justice, environmental protection, and other areas of legislation it deems worthy of consideration, while functionally ignoring the existence of "National Economic Freedoms";
- Identify "National Economic Freedoms" as a Resolution whose noble intentions have proved completely ineffective in practice;
- Recognise as undesirable the situation of a Resolution remaining on record while no longer having the legal effects intended at time of its passage;
- Resolve the situation with this procedural Resolution, repealing WA Resolution #68, "National Economic Freedoms";
- Reassure that a motion of repeal will in no way reduce national economic sovereignty, because it is not actually protected by the original Resolution.
Official Debate Thread:
Link"Repeal "National Economic Freedoms"" was defeated 6,685 votes to 2,036
