[A Little Legalese] Revision to the Charter of Rights



Revision to the Charter of Rights
Senate Debates the Charter of Rights

Written by Tane











Have you ever wondered what the basis of the Republic of Europeia is? Some would answer that it is our Senate, others will argue that it is our citizens or our policies. But have you considered Europeia’s Charter of Rights? The Charter of Rights is the act that determines our rights in terms of democracy, freedom, and justice. As Senator Malashaan detailed in his campaign, this document must be revised and converted into a modern format, which is why a discussion has been commenced about specific articles the Charter. Four main points have been raised throughout the discussion of the Charter.

The first point raised in the debate was Legal Right 01, which talks about the restriction of rights to citizens who abuse the law. Malashaan’s concern revolved around how long a potential restriction of rights should be and whether the length of it should be broadened, considering the example of a user that consistently repeats prohibited behavior. Several factors were considered, including which definition of spamming would be used and whether the admin team would be able to carry out this broadening of restrictions. The solution to this issue was, in the words of Senator Aexnidaral, 'to broaden the restriction time slightly'.

Another important point raised was Democratic Right 01, which states that all Europeian citizens: “shall have the right to vote and stand in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret ballot or by equivalent free voting procedures.” The concern with this article was the specificity of the kind of elections included in the scope of a citizen's rights. Opposed to Senator's Forilian proposal of using the term “Europeian elections", Senator Darkslayer proposed adding a clause to the Charter of Arhelm that allowed Arnhelm councilors to stand and vote in Arnhelm. That was the solution chosen for this issue, as senators agreed that the term proposed by Forilian could be confusing.


Thirdly, Malashaan brought Fundamental Freedom 03 to the table looking for consensus on the definition of "public" used in the article: “Citizens shall have the right to unrestricted access to all public areas within Europeia”. While all senators agreed to conduct the task of defining "public", not all of them were in agreeance regarding the definition of the word. After revising the clause carefully "public" was defined as“forums used for social or informal activities by the community; forums necessary for the exercise of rights guaranteed by this Charter or elsewhere; and forums necessary for basic access to the Government and Forum Administrators.”

The final point discussed was Equality Right 01, which states that there shall be no discrimination towards any citizens under any circumstances. This clause states several conditions for which citizens cannot be discriminated, but allows for exceptions under the category of "other statuses". The concern was to specify what this phrase meant and in what situations would it apply. For example, non-senators cannot post in the Senate which is a kind of discrimination that the article does not want to cover. An ongoing proposal is to define “other statuses” by stating the exceptions to it rather than defining each status. Nonetheless, there is no final word on this issue.

In conclusion, this was yet another enriching debate, where almost all of the main points raised by Senator Malashaan were solved. However, there are still certain points to be specified, which is expected to be done on further occasions.
 
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I just want to say how great of a summary this is so far. For a review of everything that is happening, this is particularly detailed. Thanks for the great write-up!
 
This was a great article! I haven't been keeping up on this discussion super carefully, so this article was a great recap of what the Senate's been up to lately, very helpful!
 
This was a great article! I haven't been keeping up on this discussion super carefully, so this article was a great recap of what the Senate's been up to lately, very helpful!
This. Great recap article
 
Hopefully the first of many successful articles @tane!
 
This is not an easy subject to write about, and you've tackled it very well. I look forward to reading more of your work in the future!
 
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