Esquarian Charter of Human Rights

Esquarian Charter of Human Rights

Flag of the Esquarian Community
Type	International human rights instrument
Drafted	March 26, 2016 (2016-03-26)
Effective	August 7, 2016 (2016-08-07)
Parties	Member States of the EC
Depositary	Esquarian Secretariat

The Esquarian Charter of Human Rights is an international human rights instrument that applies to all Member States of the Esquarian Community. It requires states to respect and uphold their citizens' fundamental rights in six broad areas: Life and personal integrity, Liberty, Justice, Family, Labor, and Education and culture. The Esquarian Court of Human Rights has jurisdiction to hear cases arising from alleged breaches of the Charter.

There are two optional protocols to the Charter: the Optional Protocol on the Regulation and Progressive Abolition of the Death Penalty, and the Optional Protocol on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

History

The draft Charter was introduced at the Council of Esquarium on 26 March 2016 and approved by the Council with amendments on 30 July 2016 by a vote of 13 in favor to 0 opposed, with 0 abstentions. The Esquarian Parliament subsequently brought the Charter to a vote on 31 July and approved it by a vote of 225 in favor to 61 opposed, with 4 abstentions. It came into force on 7 August 2016.

Voting results

Council of Esquarium
	Member State	+	-	0
	Ainin	1
	Template:Country data Arkiasis	1
	Aucuria	1
	Britanno	1
	Template:Country data Codifin	1
	Daecon	1
	Template:Country data Freyhill	1
	Template:Country data Geadland	1
	Katranjiev	1
	Template:Country data Lyonsland	1
	Template:Country data Masseau	1
	Montecara	1
	Pavonistade	1
Total		13	0	0
Result: Approved
Esquarian Parliament
	Group	+	-	0
	Social Democrats	67
	Esquarian Democratic Union	51	8	2
	Freedom and Sovereignty Union		25
	Esquarian Liberal Alliance	20		2
	Progressives	44
	Party of Esquarian Nationalist Movements		24
	Greens	22
	Confederation of the Esquarian Left	12
	Alliance of Regions	7	1
	Non-Inscrits	2	3
Total		225	61	4
Result: Approved

Text

Esquarian Charter of Human Rights

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The Member States of the Esquarian Community,

Recognizing the need to enumerate the fundamental rights of their people,
Proclaiming the inviolable nature of these rights, and
Pledging to uphold and defend these rights,

Hereby establish this Esquarian Charter of Human Rights.

Life and personal integrity
1. No one may be subject to torture or to cruel or unusual punishment.
2. Slavery and the slave trade are prohibited.
3. Everyone has the right to access medicine and health care.
4. Medical treatments and medical experimentation are subject to the informed consent of the patient.

Liberty
5. Everyone has the right to be free from arbitrary arrest or detention.
6. Everyone has the right to express their opinions through speech and in writing.
7. Everyone has the right to practice religion or to refrain from doing so.
8. Everyone has the right to privacy in their home and correspondence.

Justice
9. Everyone has the right to be recognized as a person before the law.
10. Everyone has the right to a fair and public trial when accused of a crime, and to be presumed innocent until proven guilty.
11. Everyone has the right to access legal remedies for crimes against them.
12. Everyone has the right to compulsory process for obtaining evidence and testimony in their favor.
13. Everyone has the right to adequate time and resources for preparing their defense when accused of a crime.
14. Everyone has the right to refrain from self-incrimination.
15. Everyone has the right to representation by competent counsel in judicial proceedings.
16. No one may be punished under a retroactive law.
17. Everyone has the right to be informed promptly upon arrest, in a language which they understand, of the reasons for their arrest and of any charge against them.

Family
18. Everyone has the right to marry and to found a family.
19. Eugenics and compulsory sterilization are prohibited.
20. Children have the right to a name and an identity. They have the right to be cared for and materially supported until reaching the age of majority.

Labor
21. Everyone has the right to work and to be paid fairly for their work.
22. No one may be forced to work.
23. Everyone has the right to work in safe conditions.
24. Children should be protected in their working conditions and hours.
25. Everyone has the right to form and to join an association for the protection of their interests at work.
26. Everyone has the right to social protection in conditions of disability or old age.

Education and culture
27. Everyone has the right to an education.
28. Everyone has the right to participate in cultural life.

Application
29. Member States agree to apply this Charter equally to all people and territory under their jurisdiction, so long as such jurisdiction is within the Esquarian Community.
30. Violations of this Charter are subject to effective remedy under national or Community law.
31. The enumeration of certain rights in this Charter does not imply the lack of other rights.
32. No one may use any right enumerated in this Charter to deny any right to another person.
33. Nothing in this Act shall perjure the ability of member-states to provide for the public order, general welfare or common defence through reasonable measures justifiable in a democratic civil society, as determined by the Esquarian Court of Human Rights.

First optional protocol

The Optional Protocol to the Esquarian Charter of Human Rights on the Regulation and Progressive Abolition of the Death Penalty is intended to limit the worst excesses of capital punishment and to aim toward the eventual abolition of the death penalty. It was proposed on the initiative of Montecara, a state known for its ardent opposition to the death penalty, in the Council of Esquarium on 14 August 2016 and approved on 19 September 2016 by a vote of five in favor to one opposed, with three abstentions. It progressed to the Esquarian Parliament, where it was approved on 30 September 2016 by a vote of 137 in favor to 110 opposed, with two abstentions. It was opened for ratification and entered into force immediately.

Voting results

Council of Esquarium
	Member State	+	-	0
	Ainin			1
	Template:Country data Arkiasis	1
	Aucuria			1
	Daecon		1
	Template:Country data Freyhill			1
	Katranjiev	1
	Montecara	1
	Pavonistade	1
	Template:Country data Ultima Borealia	1
Total		5	1	3
Result: Approved
Esquarian Parliament
	Group	+	-	0
	Social Democrats	45	8	1
	Esquarian Democratic Union	32	35
	Freedom and Sovereignty Union		18
	Esquarian Liberal Alliance	3	11
	Progressives	26	16	1
	Party of Esquarian Nationalist Movements		17
	Greens	15
	Confederation of the Esquarian Left	9
	Alliance of Regions	6	2
	Non-Inscrits	1	3
Total		137	110	2
Result: Approved

Text of the first optional protocol

Optional Protocol to the Esquarian Charter of Human Rights on the Regulation and Progressive Abolition of the Death Penalty

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Preamble
Whereas the death penalty presents grave and unique risks to human rights,
Whereas the Esquarian Community, through the Esquarian Charter of Human Rights, is committed to upholding and defending the human rights of its peoples,
Whereas the need for justice must be tempered with respect for human dignity,

Therefore,
The states ratifying this Protocol agree as follows:

Conditions for application
1. The death penalty may be imposed only for the most serious crimes, namely those which result in grave and irreparable harm to the physical integrity of another person or persons and which are of an exceptionally aggravated character. It is specifically prohibited as a punishment for crimes which are:

a. Minor or common;

b. Economic, for instance embezzlement or tax evasion;

c. Political, for instance espionage, treason, and lese-majeste;

d. Religious, for instance apostasy and blasphemy;

e. Drug-related;

f. Moral, for instance prostitution and offenses related to sexual orientation.

2. The death penalty may not be imposed retroactively.
3. The scope of offenses punishable by the death penalty may not be expanded.
4. The death penalty may not be an automatic, mandatory, or minimum sentence.
5. Persons are not subject to the death penalty if they are:

a. Under the age of majority at the time of the alleged capital offense or at the time of execution;

b. Elderly, the definition of which shall be an age not older than seventy;

c. Pregnant or have a dependent infant;

d. Permanently mentally incapacitated at the time of the alleged capital offense or thereafter, or temporarily mentally incapacitated at the time of the alleged capital offense or execution.

6. The death penalty may not be carried out in cases where the rights of the accused under the Esquarian Charter of Human Rights, this Protocol, or national law were found to have been violated.
7. In cases where the accused is a citizen of a state different from the one conducting the trial, the accused must have access to the consular assistance of his or her state of citizenship before, during, and if convicted of the capital offense, after the trial, as well as during all appeals.
8. States ratifying this Protocol may refuse extradition of an accused criminal in cases where he or she would, after extradition, be subject to the death penalty.

Methods of execution
9. The method of execution may not inflict gratuitous pain or indignity on the person to be executed. Specifically prohibited methods include, but are not limited to:

a. Beating;

b. Burning;

c. Crushing;

d. Cutting;

e. Dismemberment;

f. Drowning;

g. Electrocution;

h. Poisoning, whether by gas or other means;

i. Stoning;

j. Strangulation;

k. Suffocation.

10. The person to be executed may not be compelled to assist in his or her own execution.
11. Executions of more than one person at a time are prohibited.
12. Executions may not be public.

Right to appeal and petition
13. Persons sentenced to the death penalty must be allowed to appeal their sentence to a higher domestic court or to the Esquarian Court of Human Rights. They must be allowed to seek clemency, pardon, or commutation of their sentence.
14. Adequate time must elapse between sentencing and the carrying out of the death penalty. The time must, at minimum, allow for the person sentenced to exhaust all appeals and petitions for clemency, pardon, or commutation.
15. Officials responsible for carrying out executions must be kept informed of the status of appeals and petitions made by persons awaiting execution who are under their jurisdiction to ensure that no execution is carried out prematurely.
16. Persons awaiting execution, their legal counsel, and their families must be informed in advance of the scheduled date of execution.
17. Persons awaiting execution may not be held in conditions which are materially harsher than those in which other prisoners at a similar degree of security are held and may not be denied regular access to their legal counsel.

Abolition
18. Once abolished, the death penalty may not be reintroduced. States ratifying this Protocol which do not apply the death penalty may not introduce it.
19. A state which abolishes the death penalty may not execute those who had previously been sentenced to death.
20. States which have abolished the death penalty may not export instruments of execution to states which retain its use, including but not limited to drugs used in lethal injection.

Rapporteur on the Death Penalty
21. The position of Rapporteur on the Death Penalty is hereby created.
22. The Rapporteur on the Death Penalty will be within the Esquarian Secretariat for administrative purposes. He or she will be impartial with respect to nationality in carrying out the duties of the office.
23. The Rapporteur on the Death Penalty will report to the Council of Esquarium at least annually on the status and application of laws regarding torture and the death penalty within Member States and on the status and application of this Protocol.
24. All Member States of the Esquarian Community are requested to inform the Rapporteur on the Death Penalty whenever they sentence a person to the death penalty or carry out an execution.

Jurisdiction, ratification, and denunciation
25. The Esquarian Court of Human Rights has jurisdiction to hear cases arising from the application of this Protocol.
26. No state may make any derogation or reservation with respect to this Protocol.
27. This Protocol will remain permanently open for ratification by any Member State of the Esquarian Community.
28. States ratifying this Protocol may denounce it by notifying the Council of Esquarium to that effect. In such cases, the state will cease to be bound by this Protocol one year from such notification. Denunciation will not release a state from any obligation that it had under this Protocol when it was in effect in that state.

Second optional protocol

The Optional Protocol to the Esquarian Charter of Human Rights on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights was proposed by the delegation of Ultima Borealia on 1 October 2016 and approved by the Council of Esquarium on 19 November with 13 votes in favor, 1 against, and no abstentions. It was approved by the Esquarian Parliament on 3 December by a vote of 186 in favor and 48 opposed, with no abstentions. It was opened for accession immediately.

Text of the second optional protocol

Optional Protocol to the Esquarian Charter of Human Rights on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

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Preamble
Whereas the peoples of Esquarium should enjoy freedom from want and fear,
Whereas the free exercise and protection of cultural rights is integral to the fullest exercise of human rights,
Whereas the Esquarian Community is firmly committed to securing these rights to all our peoples to the fullest degree,
Whereas these freedoms may only be secured when a certain set of economic, social and cultural rights are enumerated and protected,

Therefore,
The States Parties to this Optional Protocol agree to support, protect, and promote the following economic, social and cultural rights:

Freedom from want
1. The right to nutrition necessary to sustain human health and well-being.
2. The right to sufficient and readily accessible clean water.
3. The right to shelter in the form of housing.

Freedom from fear
4. The right to readily available and freely provided emergency services in cases where the life or the security of the person is in danger.
5. The right to be secure from the proliferation of or any attack by weapons of mass destruction wherever possible.
6. The right to live in a society protected from crime by community-based policing.

Labour rights
7. The right to an adequate amount of rest and leisure, including the right of remuneration during designated public holidays and periods of ailment.
8. The right to enjoy the fruits of one's labour through a fair and just wage that is granted irrespective of gender or sex, race, creed, caste or class, or ethnic or national origin.
9. The right to paid parental leave to care for one's children.
10. The right to strike, provided that strike action does not pose a threat to human life or the sovereignty or democratic nature of the state.
11. The right of equal opportunity in employment, including in hiring and promotion.
12. The right of every producer to create and sell their products at a return which will provide a decent and meaningful living.
13. The right of every farmer to be protected during droughts or periods of blight, and the right of every farmer to use modern and scientific agricultural techniques.

Collective and cultural rights
14. The right of all peoples to collective equality; all peoples shall enjoy the same respect and rights, and no group may dominate another.
15. The right of all generations to intergenerational equity.
16. The right of all peoples to existence and self-determination.
17. The right of all peoples to sustainable economic, social and cultural development in the manner they have chosen, and the right to freely dispose of their wealth and natural resources in the equal enjoyment of the common heritage of mankind.
18. The right of all peoples to speak their own languages free from suppression and punishment.

Enforcement and ratification
19. All cases pertaining to this Protocol shall fall under the jurisdiction of the Esquarian Court of Human Rights.
20. Any state that is a party to this Protocol shall apply the Protocol in its entirety, without any qualification, derogation or reservation.
21. This Protocol shall remain permanently open for ratification by any Member State of the Esquarian Community.
22. This Protocol shall take effect when it has been ratified by three Member States. States Parties to this Protocol shall have the right to rescind ratification at any time following all procedures required to rescind ratification of an international treaty established by all relevant binding legislation in that state. This rescission of the binding status of this Protocol shall take effect one year after the rescission has been approved by all relevant bodies.

States parties

All Member States of the Esquarian Community are automatically bound by the Charter from their date of admission. Member States which have acceded to one or more of the Optional Protocols are as follows:

Member State	1st Protocol	2nd Protocol
Ainin		2016-12-24
Aucuria		2016-12-03
Champenia	2016-09-30	2016-12-03
Katranjiev	2016-09-30	2016-12-03
Luziyca	2016-10-23	2016-12-03
Montecara	2016-09-30	2016-12-03