BILL FOR THE PROTECTION OF THE REALMS INHABITANTS APPROVED was
Following several weeks of consultation which included a randomly selected Citizens Senate the nations "Humanity Bill" has been signed by the Queen. The document which is officially named the Bill for The Protection of the Realms Inhabitants was drafted by Queen Atalanta after consultation with the various Oracles and aims to outline in law the rights of anyone inside Cassiopeia. The document was first scrutinised by the Celestial Council, then the National Assembly before the Queen took a rather unique step of allowing the creation of a 500 person, randomly selected, Citizens Senate, the first in around 120 years. The Queen sat in on the five days process and made several changes to the document based on the consultations. Finally a vote of the Citizens Senate took place and approved the document 431 to 69. Following the Citizens Senate approving the document the Queen signed it making it law, she however then took the unusual step of inviting every member of the Citizens Senate, Celestial Council and National Assembly to add their own signature. Following the signing the Queen addressed the nation saying, "Under the military Junta people lost their rights and the rouge elements of our military, intent on only furthering their own fortune and influence, left people only with what they thought they needed. Many nations across Mundus hold up the MCUR as the true defender of individuals rights however to the best of my knowledge no consultation on the scale of that undertaken by us has ever been done on Mundus to approve a human rights charter. Over 700 individuals have added their signatures representing every single person who resides in our Realm. From this day forward the rights of every resident within the Realm, be they Cassiopeian or a foreign national, they will be protected by law and we shall do everything we can to ensure every single individual recieves the full support of the crown in enjoying them."
The key parts of the document are summarized below.
* Any individual over the age of 18 who has resided in the nation for more than 5 years may vote unless they are a convicted criminal.
* Ex-Members of the Armed Forces have the right to own firearms and carry them concealed in public.
* The Death penalty may be utilised for the crimes of rape of a minor, murder and treason
* Education shall be compulsary from ages 4-18 and funded by the government if required.
* Equal Pay for Equal Work
* Arranged marriages may take place at 16. Non-Arranged marriages may take place at 18.
* Prostitution shall be permitted only in licensed buildings
* Discrimination on the grounds of race, religion, gender, sexuality or age is outlawed.
* Same Sex couples may not marry but may have legally recognised civil unions.
* Individuals may change gender but this shall not be funded by the government.
* Government will not recognise changes in gender on official documents.
* Trials will be determined by jury for all but capital offenses. Capital offences are determined by three judges and two members of the Priesthood.
* All non-cosmetic health care is to be funded by the government through taxation.
* Anyone born within the Realm with at least one Cassiopeian parent is considered a citizen. Anyone born with two Cassiopeian parents is considered Cassiopeian. Following living in the Realm five years and passing a citizenship test an individual may apply to be a Cassiopeian citizen.
The full document is published on government websites.
In other news it is announced that the Queen has sent invitations to the nations of Chistopol, Paracambi and Denovia to visit in order to discuss co-operation. It is understood that the Queen has targeted co-operation with these nations as they, like the Realm, have refused to sign a vast array of international agreements. The Queen is said to hope that "by standing together those of us who value our own individual sovereigty above all can ensure our strength should the internationalists try and enforce their own ideals and values upon us. So far I have been privledged to meet several nations, such as East Moreland, who are signatories of every major international agreement. Those talks progressed well and I believe they understand we are a nation that is not some evil monster simply because of our stance. We can not however run the risk that one day things may change so I would prefer to be in a position to maintain strong friendships with like minded nations."