Ma'at Kheru: Protection of Sapient Rights

[Koth]

Protection of Sapient Rights
by Excidium Planetis Description: The General Assembly,

Applauding the efforts to secure rights for all sapient beings, regardless of race, and the many efforts not to limit such rights to only beings of the homo sapiens species;

Nevertheless Concerned at the many attempts to restrict the rights of sapient beings for purely racial reasons, including but not limited to attempts to restrict the rights of sapient machines and an attempt to make human decisions necessary in the warfare of non-human species;

Reminding the members of the WA that legislation applying only to humans has been passed before, such as the now repealed GA#16 "Sexual Privacy Act";

Believing that to secure once and for all the rights of sapient beings everywhere, a resolution is needed to affirm these rights;

Defines:

"Sapient Being" as any entity possessing both a) the ability to reason and act with appropriate judgement and b) sentience.

"Sentience" as the ability to feel, perceive, or experience subjectively.

"Existing international laws" as any passed World Assembly Resolutions which are extant and not void at the time an individual may read this resolution, whether those resolutions have been passed before or after this resolution was passed.

And Hereby Declares that any sapient beings found inside member nations are not to be denied any of the rights guaranteed to humans or sapient beings by existing international laws, and that no member nation may discriminate against sapient beings for reasons of race or species alone.

Clarifies that it is the responsibility of individual member nations to determine whether a given entity is a sapient being, but that such methods of determination must apply equally to humans and any other entities examined.

Further Affirms that sapient beings shall be recognized in the eyes of the World Assembly as living beings, regardless of biological status.

[Ainocra]

I am ambivalent about this one. On one hand it would protect all non humans, but on the other hand it could play hell if a nation has advanced AI in some of the machinery. But given the clause that allows nations themselves to determine I don't feel it will do any great harm.


I suggest Abstaining

[Koth]

I'm AGAINST personally. Sapience is a dangerous concept to be messing with in legislation.

[Jakker]

I will be abstaining

[Koth]

Protection of Sapient Rights was passed 8,489 votes to 2,438.

[War Wombat]

I abstained