February 27th 2088
Charter of the Union of Sovereign Human States
Preamble -
WE THE PEOPLES OF THE UNION OF SOVEREIGN HUMAN STATES DETERMINED
- to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which has brought untold sorrow to humankind, and
- to regain faith in fundamental sapient rights, in the dignity and worth of the sapient person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small, and
- to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of law can be maintained, and
- to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,
AND FOR THESE ENDS
to practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbours, and
to unite our strength to maintain peace and security, and
to ensure, by the acceptance of principles and the institution of methods, that armed force shall not be used, save in the common interest, and
to employ international machinery for the promotion of the economic and social advancement of all peoples,
HAVE RESOLVED TO COMBINE OUR EFFORTS TO ACCOMPLISH THESE AIMS
Accordingly, our respective Governments, through representatives assembled in the city of Jakarta, who have exhibited their full powers found to be in good and due form, have agreed to the present Charter of the Union of Sovereign Human States and do hereby establish a pan-national state to be known as the Union of Sovereign Human States.
Article 1 - Purpose of the Union of Sovereign Human States
- The Union of Sovereign Human States (USHS) shall serve as the governing body of all Humanity, with the explicit goal of furthering the freedoms and rights of the human race throughout both the Solar System and the new frontier of Outer Space which is yet to be widely explored or settled.
- The Union of Human States shall seek to represent Humanity on the galactic scale, and shall seek to establish friendly relations with any and all sapient species present throughout.
- The Union of Human States shall aim to achieve cooperation throughout its member states and by extension all human peoples.
Article 2 - Governance
- The USHS shall be a federal government comprised of two houses. An Electoral house of 4000 voting members elected by the population of each of the 4000 districts every 10 years. Districts are to based around an area of approximately 2,750000* people and are to be adjusted once every 25 years. Statorial representatives if their state does not contain 2,750000 people may apply for a non-voting member of the Electoral house to represent their interests.
- District elections are to be overseen by USHS officials and may not be interfered with or run by Statorial governments.
- The Electoral house is responsible for the proposal of laws* and the election* of the USHS Secretary General.
- The Electoral house may dismiss the heads of USHS Judicial, Military and Civilian organisations and branches by a majority vote.
- The Secretary General is the Head of State for the USHS and possesses the power of Veto on matters of external relations*, war, Statorial member disputes* and may declare a State of Emergency in certain circumstances*
- The functions of government are to be delegated to chosen ministers with portfolios, these ministers may be selected by the Secretary General.
- The Statorial house is to be comprised of the appointed representatives of the States which make up the USHS. Representatives may be appointed or dismissed at will by member nations. The Statorial house may pass* laws from the Electoral house but may not propose laws of its own.
- The Statorial house is responsible for the election of the World Security Councils 8 non-permanent members, (Permanent members being the United States of America, Russian Federation, Peoples Republic of China, Republic of India, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Republic of France and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan).
- The World Security Council possesses the right of Veto unless overruled by all 7 permanent members.
- The Statorial house may refuse a representative if the representative has been / is being charged with being guilty of Human Rights Violations*.
- Non-voting members are permitted to attend and give opinions on Statorial and Electoral meetings, are to be appointed at the discretion of the World Security Council, and may advise said Council on matters of relevance. The following individuals and organisations are non-voting members.
Both Houses: Urdnot Wrex (Advisor of Alien Affairs), USHS Secretary General, WHO representative.
Electoral House: Vatican City, Old Jerusalem Council, Dalai Lama, Custodian of Mecca*, Ayatollah of Iran, Representative of the World Council of Churches, Sovereign Military Order of Malta.
Statorial House: Special Representatives of Nations with less than 275,000 people.
Article 3 - Military
- The armed forces of the USHS shall be under a unified command structure. The highest officer in the command structure* shall be selected from available high ranking military personnel by the Statorial house, though this appointment may be struck down by a vote from the Electoral house.
- The armed forces of the USHS shall be referred to as Union forces.
- The Union Forces answer to the Secretary General and relevant cabinet ministers.
- Union ground forces shall be comprised of the pre-existing State forces* who can be called or volunteered for extra terrestrial duty. In a state of war all State forces shall be under unified command. Blue water navies and atmosphere limited aircraft are counted as part of State forces.
- Space capable vehicles* are under the authority of Unified Command at all times, and answer to the Union Naval Command. Individual Statorial members of the USHS or private individuals who fund the construction of a vessel may name said vessel as they wish.
- Ground forces not on Earth always answer to Unified Command via the Union Marines, this includes Colonial garrisons and security detachments upon Naval vessels.
- The budget for Union forces is determined by members of the World Security Council.
Article 4 - Judicial
- The USHS administrative branch does not possess the ability to interfere in judicial matters that are not of grave importance* to the USHS. All non-critical judgments are to take place according to State law* unless otherwise* noted.
- The USHS upon state request, a vote by the Electoral house, or upon the recommendation of the World Security Council, may hold a vote to pass legislation which all states are expected to comply with.
- The World Court shall deal in matters of grave importance (Treason, Crimes against humanity, cases which have gotten through all previous levels of the court system and are deemed important by the World Court, etc)
- Judges on the World Court are to be selected by the USHS Secretary General, this may be overturned by vote of the Electoral House.
- Off of Earth the Colonial Charter* and relevant laws shall apply
- Enforcement of law is to be undertaken by USHS Police Forces, who coordinate with State level police forces. State Level police forces may organise themselves at their own discretion.
Article 5 - Intelligence
- CLASSIFIED
Article 6 - Colonisation
- All off-Earth colonisation is to be undertaken according to the "Colonial Charter" agreement of 2080. With appropriate respect given to any native life and the wellbeing of the planet in question.
- No Colony may associate itself directly with a State or district, nor may it discriminate against migrants based on Ethnicity, Sexuality or any other reason.
- All colonies fall under the "Colonial Administration Bureau" and may eventually progress to a full member state*.
- Colonies are entitled to a non-voting member upon reaching a population of 100,000 individuals.
Article 7 - Foreign Relations
- No State, individual, organisation, arm of the government or non-profit organisation may negotiate or interact with a foreign power without prior vetting by the USHS. No State, Commercial or Non-Profit organisation or individual person may negotiate with a foreign power on behalf of the USHS or a member State of the USHS without USHS mediation or permission.
Article 8 - Rights
- All sapient beings posses rights underlined by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948.
-Document continues on from here-
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Report to USHS Marshal Hu from Colonel Irene Vega (DATE CLASSIFIED)
Subject - Project Ancients
Sir, thanks to several breakthroughs in recent weeks Project Ancients is proceeding far ahead of schedule. Reverse-engineering estimates that they can reproduce a working baseline ship (Sadly no progress has been made by Archive team on weapons or shielding technology) within a decade, and mass production can begin as early as 2102.
It should be noted that despite all attempts we cannot replicate the hull strength of the original vessel, even after 50,000 years of motionless decay on Mars, Professor Ramirez suggests that an attempt to refurbish the original hull, combined with some of Source 1's information on preeminent weapons technology in the wider galaxy before cutoff, could result in a warship that would be at the least a deterrent in the event of contact, I am inclined to believe his assumption as Source 1 indicated that Prothean technology was superior to that of the wider galaxy by a large margin even 2000 years after its discovery.
Of far greater importance however, is the fact that Archive records indicate that Charon, Europa, Deimos, Ceres and several hundred asteroids (most of which are unidentifiable due to 50,000 years of movement) contain minor or in the case of Ceres, major Element Zero stocks, enough to power even our largest naval size projections for two to three decades. Combined with the Mars deposit and we may actually get commercial space-mining to a viable level within several decades.
In addition there are faint references to a mass relay either in this system or in the Kuiper belt. If the linguists make further progress we may determine where exactly but much of the data is corrupted.
All information can be found here.
This is Colonel Irene Vega, signing off.
Authors Note:
* denotes superfluos information.
World Government! Get out your (actually not so inaccurate in this case) Illuminati conspiracy theories people!
The refurbished hull of the Prothean Ship ( a former cargo vessel abandoned on Mars after the Protheans left the system) is perhaps the only vessel that will be able to challenge a council one on even ground by the time first contact roles around, albeit it would have to challenge a ship below its weight class.
Anyways, this is something of a change of format compared to my other chapters, so what do you guys, gals and Cthuluoids think?