Statement on the Concert of Democracy
At Questions for the Crown, Empress Serenity stated that there would be a response to the proposed Concert of Democracy, we have since that session seen a response to the concerns raised by the Empress provided by the Kōshaku. While we acknowledge that the Kōshaku is attempting to provide a view that the proposal is workable, it is not workable under the current text for the reasons Empress Serenity raised, we can assure the Kōshaku that she and the Empress were reading the same text and we would strongly encourage the Kōshaku to read it more closely, the concerns and reasoning stand as follows:
The first concern mentioned is that the proposal essentially has its members give up the right to defend themselves - this is raised in regards to the following two articles:
1. The Parties pledge never to use military force, and never to plan to use military force, against one another except in the event of a coup or revolution within a specified member nation.
7. Action pursuant to article four and consistent with the purposes of presently existing international law, including the use of military force, may be approved by a two-thirds majority of the parties.
Article one clearly rules out the possibility for a member to defend itself against armed attack by a fellow member, the article relies entirely on good faith something which organisations throughout Mundus's history have proven incapable of fostering. It is also evidenced in Mundus history that nations have signed treaties and then disregarded, or sought to disregard them when they became inconvenient. The existence of an organisation is not sufficient deterrent in this respect.
Article seven puts the ability of a nation to deploy military force in certain circumstances in the gift of an international organisation, which invokes foreign political agendas and to some extent means member nations would be giving up command authority over their militaries, that's not an acceptable set of circumstances. Ultimately there should be no mention of military elements in this proposal whatsoever.
The second concern raised by Empress Serenity is that the Concert ""impose(s) by proxy conformity to international treaties that its members may not be signatory to" we would at this point refer the Kōshaku to article 3 of the proposal:
3. The Parties commit to uphold internationally recognized civil and political rights for all their citizens and to make these rights enforceable by an independent judiciary, including rights recognized by the MCUR and Abrahamic Declaration.
The final part of article 3 is what raises the concern as presently worded it states that rights guaranteed under international law are to be enforced by the judiciaries of member states and that these include rights under the MCUR and the Abrahamic Declaration. Let's consider a nation such as Tytor which is not signatory to either of those treaties, if Tytor signed up to the Concert then by the current phrasing of that article Tytorian Courts would be required to enforce the rights of the MCUR and the Abrahamic Declaration despite the sovereign right of the Tytorian Government to determine which treaties it does and does not sign. In effect signing up to the Concert means a nation is by proxy signing the MCUR and the Abrahamic Declaration.
In the Imperial Address the Empress spoke about wanting to return to the Common forum, if the Concert is an attempt at that it presently falls short because it isn't open to all which a common forum must be. We would strongly encourage the Rokkenjiman Government to recognise the issues that exist and for them to do the necessary leg work to address concerns that they know exist if they wish their aims to come to fruition.