Article
I - Definitions
1. In this Charter, the following words are defined as follows:
i. "micronation" means a nation-state which has seceded from a canon country
or otherwise declared independence but, for one reason or another, has failed to achieve
recognition by canon countries.
ii. "canon country" means a nation-state whose independence is generally
recognized in the common culture.
iii. "secession" means a formal declaration of independence made by a
micronation.
iv. "independence" means the claim, by a nation-state, of territory, a
permanent population, the capacity to enter into relations with other nation-states, and a
government.
v. "territory" means an actual or virtual area which is formally claimed as
the physical component of a nation-state.
vi. "permanent population" means a person or persons who owe allegiance to,
and who have citizenship in, a given nation.
vii. "government" means a political structure which exercises dominion over a
nation-state.
viii. "member-state" means a micronation which has successfully petitioned
for and obtained membership in the LOSS.
ix. "website" means a hypertext document available for public view on the
World Wide Web.
x. "e-mail" means:
a) a message sent over the electronic mail service of the Internet;
b) this means of communication, or
c) to send a message using this means of communication.
xi. "delegate" or "ambassador" means either of the agents which
each member-state of LOSS sends as its representatives to LOSS.
xii. "secretary-general" means the leader of the LOSS, elected as prescribed
in Article III, section 2, Subsection ii.
xiii. "vote" means a vote of the General Assembly, as provided for in Article
III, Section 1, Subsection iv.
xiv. "the mailing list" refers to the official LOSS mailing list, conducted
by e-mail, of which all ambassadors and the secretary-general are members thereof, and
official LOSS business is discussed on.
2. The feminine pronoun shall be construed to include the masculine.
Article
II - Membership
1. The following steps must be taken by a micronation in order to acquire membership in
the LOSS.
i. The authorized agent of the micronation to conduct diplomatic affairs (hereinafter
referried to as the "petitioner") shall inform the secretary-general by e-mail
to her official e-mail address, of their nation's intention to join the LOSS. The
petitioner's request must include the following: a link to their nation's national
internet site, the e-mail address and proper name of their proposed Ambassador to the
LOSS, and a written statement that presents in detail the reasons as to why the nation
should be admitted as a member-state and how the peitioner's nation will contribute to the
ultimate goals and values of the LOSS. This request to the secretary-general must be
forwarded to the General Assembly's mailing list.
ii. The petitioning micronation must be sponsored by a current member-state in good
standing.
iii. The secretary-general shall call a vote asking whether the petitioner's nation
shall be admitted into LOSS.
iv. If the vote be affirmative, the petitioning micronation shall immediately become a
member-state of LOSS, and the person stated in the email sent to the mailing list via the
secretary-general shall become the petitioning nation's delegate to LOSS.
v. A vote shall be taken on the petition only if the petitioning micronation has been
independent of its canon country for more than six (6) months.
vi. Subsections ii-v of this section do not apply to former member-states who have
voluntarily withdrawn or whose membership was rescinded due to inactivity. Should such a
state reapply, observing all conditions named in other sections of this Charter, this
state shall acquire membership automatically.
2. The following steps shall be taken by the LOSS to rescind the membership of a
member-state.
i. A member-state may have its membership rescinded if:
a) it acts in a fashion prejudicial to the security of a member-state nation of LOSS;
b) it acts in a fashion prejudicial to the security of LOSS;
c) it fails to vote in either at least six consecutive ballots or any ballot during a
period of four months, without prior notice as to why it should be unable to vote, or
d) it acts in another fashion which is determined by the secretary-general to be
grounds for expulsion.
ii. A report shall be filed by email to all LOSS delegates, reporting on the nature of
the offence. This report shall be filed by:
a) in the case of an offence under subsection i, paragraph a), the delegate for the
member-state wronged; or
b) in the case of all other offences, by the secretary-general.
iii. After this report has been filed, the delegate of the member-state whose expulsion
is being considered (the "defendant") shall file a rebuttal by email to all LOSS
delegates, reporting on any mitigating circumstances and/or making other defenses to the
accusations.
iv. After these reports have been filed:
a) in the case of an offence under subsection i, paragraph c), if the defendant has
failed to respond to the accusation named in the secretary-general's report, his
membership is rescinded automatically. If the defendant has responded and declared his
will to remain an active member, the procedure to rescind his membership is abandoned.
b) in the case of all other offences, the secretary-general shall call a vote as to
whether the defendant shall be expelled. The defendant and the party listed in subsection
ii shall not be permitted to vote. A quorum of at least 75% (seventy-five percent) of the
membership shall be required. A simple majority of affirmative votes shall constitute an
affirmative result.
v. In the case of an offence under subsection i, paragraph a), b) or d), after an
affirmative result, the defendant shall be stripped of LOSS membership and not be
permitted to reapply for one (1) year.
vi. Notwithstanding subsections i-v, a member-state may withdraw when it wants to,
unless a process to rescind that state’s membership is in progress.
3. If a member-state merges or is annexed by another nation the fate of their
member-state status shall be as follows:
i. If a member-state legally merges or unites with a non-member-state nation then their
status as a member-state can be transferred to the whole of the newly-formed nation. If
this is desired, the following steps must be taken by the member-state's General Assembly
Ambassador immediately upon the merger. Otherwise, member-state status is lost
automatically.
a. Report to the secretary-general and the entire General Assembly that they have
merged with a non-member nation.
b. Report the name of the newly-founded nation.
ii. If the new nation follows this procedure and the transfer of the member-state's
LOSS status to itself is made official, then it shall be recognized as a member-state and
the former member-state's ambassador shall resume regular business only representing a
different nation.
iii. If two or more member-states legally merge or unite with each other then the whole
of the new nation may share one member-state status. The following steps must be taken by
the member-states' General Assembly Ambassadors immediately upon the merger in order to do
so. Otherwise, if the new nation decides to resign from the LOSS at this time, it should
communicate its wishes to the secretary-general and the entire General Assembly to
formally renounce its status as a member-state.
a. All General Assembly Ambassadors of the merging member-states must contact the
secretary-general and the entire General Assembly stating their wishes to merge or unite
as one and share one ambassador in the LOSS.
b. The nation created by the merger of two or more member-states must decide upon
either a person that has not yet served as a LOSS Ambassador or one of the ambassadors
from the member-states now merged together to serve as its General Assembly ambassador.
iv. If a member-state is annexed by a non-member-state or a member-state the
member-state being annexed must announce to the secretary-general and the entire General
Assembly that they have agreed to be annexed and are now resigning from their status as a
member-state and that their ambassador shall no longer serve in the LOSS.
4. If a member-state wishes to admit a new delegate (voting or otherwise), the
following procedures shall be taken.
i. Any outgoing delegate shall issue a memorandum by email confirming her resignation.
ii. The incoming delegate, appointed by the proper procedure according to the laws of
her micronation, shall issue a memorandum by email confirming her appointment.
iii. The secretary-general shall issue an updated list of LOSS delegates' email
addresses to all delegates.
Article
III - Organs
1. The General Assembly
i. The General Assembly shall be the voting body of the LOSS.
ii. It shall be composed of one (1) voting delegate from each member- state, appointed
internally by the member-state
iii. Each member-state may appoint a secondary delegate, who shall not have the right
to vote.
iv. All communication within the General Assembly shall be done by posting to the
mailing list, except as provided for elsewhere in this Charter.
v. Whenever a resolution comes to a vote, the following procedure shall be used.
a) Any delegate may raise a resolution to be voted on.
b) The secretary-general must call a vote on the resolution.
c) The delegates shall then have fourteen (14) days in which to vote.
d) Each delegate shall vote by email sent to all delegates and to the
secretary-general, voting once and only once, choosing one of the following:
i) "for", representing support for the resolution;
ii) "oppose", representing opposition to the resolution;
iii) "abstaining", representing no vote on the resolution.
iv) If a member-state abstains, it does not count towards expulsion under Article II,
Section 2, Subsection i, paragraph c)
v) An abstention counts towards establishing quorum up to a total of three (3)
abstentions on a single vote.
e) After the fourteen (14)-day voting period, the secretary-general shall count the
votes and announce the results.
f) A quorum of 50% of the delegates voting shall be necessary for the vote to be valid.
g) If quorum is reached and the majority of the delegates who vote, vote
"for", the resolution shall pass.
h) If quorum is not reached or if the majority of the delegates who vote, vote
"oppose," then the resolution shall fall.
2 - The Secretariat
i. The secretary-general shall be the leader of the LOSS, elected from and by its
member-states.
ii. The secretary-general shall be elected as follows:
a) The outgoing secretary-general shall announce her resignation to the delegates, in
the case her term has not yet ended.
b) Within fourteen (14) days of the resignation of the outgoing secretary- general,
citizens of the member-states may announce their candidacy to the delegates. No more than
three citizens of each member-state may declare her candidacy. The outgoing
secretary-general may become a candidate, unless she shall have been dismissed by means of
subsection iii.
c) After this period, the delegates shall vote for a candidate. Each voting delegate
shall vote once and only once.
d) The candidate for whom the majority of votes are cast shall become the new
secretary-general. If no candidate receives a majority, there shall be a drop-off race, in
which in every round the candidate with he least amount of votes is removed from the
ballot. In case of a tie, the candidates who are tied shall run again, alone, and be voted
on according to paragraph 3.
iii. In case of gross abuse of powers, the secretary-general may be removed from office
by a seventy-five percent (75%) affirmative vote of the General Assembly.
iv. An election for secretary-general must be called within a period of twelve (12)
months from the last election.
3 - The Undersecretariat
i. The undersecretary-general shall be an assistant to the secretary-general and shall
assume the office of secretary-general if there is no secretary-general.
ii. The undersecretary-general shall be elected on a slate with the secretary-general.
iii. The undersecretary-general shall serve at the good pleasure of the
secretary-general. The undersecretary-general may be impeached in the same manner as the
secretary-general.
iv. The secretary-general and the undersecretary-general shall be of different nations.
v. If there is an absence, for any reason, in the office of undersecretary-general, the
secretary-general shall nominate a replacement who shall be ratified by a simple majority
in the Assembly.
4 - Supreme Court of LOSS
i. Membership
a) The Court of Justice shall consist of 3 justices selected by the General Assembly
from a list drawn up by the Secretary-General from the ambassadors of member states of
LOSS that are in good standing. The term for membership on the Court of Justice shall be
two years. The secretary-general shall appoint the Chief Justice.
b) If a justice wishes to retire from her seat on the Court on behalf of her nation
prior to the expiration of the term for her seat, or if the justice's micronation ceases
to exist, the secretary-general shall appoint a justice to serve the remainder of the
un-expired term, from member-states not currently serving.
c) If a justice retires from the League and is replaced by another justice through the
lawful procedures established by her member-state during her tenure on the Court, the new
justice shall assume the seat on the Court vacated by the retiring delegate.
ii. Jurisdiction
a) The Court of Justice shall be the court of original jurisdiction for all disputes
within the League.
b) The Court shall be the final arbiter of decisions pertaining to resolutions which
may violate the spirit or the letter of the Charter of the League of Secessionist States.
c) A decision of the Court may be overturned by a properly introduced resolution which
receives an affirmative vote of 2/3 of the delegates except as noted in Article III,
Section 4, Subsection ii, Paragraph b), in which case the decision may only be overturned
by amending the Charter as specified in Article VIII.
d) Any delegate may present a case to the Court, but in no case shall a delegate
presenting a case participate as a justice of the Court. In the event that a justice of
the Court shall be presenting a case, the secretary-general shall assume the member's seat
on the Court until the conclusion of the case so brought before the Court.
5 - Committees
i. If and when the secretary-general should decide that a piece of legislation or other
matter requires a group to investigate it, she shall form a committee to perform this
function.
ii. The committee members shall be chosen from among the delegates by the
secretary-general.
iii. The size of the committee shall be at the discretion of the secretary-general.
iv. The committee members and the secretary-general shall agree upon a deadline for the
committee's report.
v. After the committee has given its report to the General Assembly, at the discretion
of the secretary-general the committee shall be left standing, or dissolved.
Article
IV - Settlement of Disputes
1. Any war or threat of war is to be considered of grave concern to the LOSS, whether
immediately affecting any member-state of the League or not, and the League shall take
such action as it may deem wise and prudent to safeguard the peace of Nations. If the
secretary-general deems it necessary she may call an emergency session of the General
Assembly to review the matter.
2. It is the right and duty of each member-state of the League to bring to the
attention of the General Assembly any situation or circumstance which may adversely affect
the peace thus far nurtured within the micronational community.
3. Arbitration
i. The member-states of the League agree and covenant that if there should arise
between them any situation or circumstance likely to disrupt the peace so established and
diplomacy having failed to alleviate the disagreement, they shall submit to judicial
review or arbitration.
ii. Circumstances suitable for submission to judicial settlement or arbitration shall
include interpretation of a treaty, questions of international law, breach of
international obligation, extent and nature of reparations for any such breach, or any
other matter to which a party determines may be injurious to the peace or general welfare
of the micronational community.
iii. The court of original jurisdiction for such disputes shall be the Micronational
Court of Justice as established in Article III, Section iv of this Charter or any tribunal
or arbiter agreed upon by the parties to the dispute or stipulated in any convention or
treaty existing between them.
iv. Member-states of the League agree and covenant that they will carry out in good
faith any award or decision that may be rendered by the Micronation Court of Justice,
tribunal, or arbiter as a result of any dispute herein discussed and will not resort to
war or threat of war against any member-state which complies therewith. In the event of a
failure to comply with such justly determined awards or decisions, the General Assembly
shall establish what steps should be taken to give effect thereto.
Article
V - Recourse to Breach of Peace or Acts of Aggression
1. Disputes between Member-States
i. Should there arise a dispute between member-states of the League which is not
submitted to judicial settlement or arbitration in accordance with Article IV, Section 3,
Subsection i, the member-states agree that they will submit the matter to the General
Assembly. Any party to the dispute may effect such submission by giving notice to the
secretary-general who shall make the necessary arrangements for a full investigation and
consideration thereof.
ii. The parties to the dispute shall forward to the secretary-general within thirty
days of request, statements of their case with supporting facts and documents which the
secretary-general shall cause to be published to the delegates of the League.
iii. Settlement
a) The General Assembly shall attempt to effect a settlement of the dispute and, if
successful, publish a statement of the facts and explanations as well as the terms of the
settlement. These finding shall become a part of the public records of the League.
b) The General Assembly shall take into account any procedures for the settlement of
the dispute which have already been agreed to by the parties involved.
c) Member-states who are not a party to the dispute not supporting the decision of the
General Assembly may include a dissenting opinion that shall be included as a part of the
public record.
2. Should any member-state of the League resort to war or threat of war in disregard of
its covenants under the present Charter, it shall be deemed to have committed a
declaration of war against all member-states which hereby undertake to immediately subject
said aggressor to the severance of all trade and relations between itself and the said
aggressor.
3. Dispute Involving Non-Member State
i. In the event of a dispute between a member-state and a state which is not a member
or between states which are not members of the League, the dispute shall be settled by the
means outlined in Article IV, Section 3.
ii. Upon acceptance by the non-member state or states of the offer of dispute
resolution as outlined above, the General Assembly shall carry out an investigation as
outlined in Article V, Section i of this Charter.
iii. If the non-member state or states shall resort to war or threat of war as a means
of dispute resolution said state or states shall be subject to the provisions outlined in
Article V, Section 2.
iv. If both parties to the dispute are non-members states and refuse to accept the
measures outlined above for the purposes of resolving said dispute, the General Assembly
shall take such measures and make such recommendations as it deems prudent and proper to
prevent hostilities and result in peaceful settlement of the dispute.
Article
VI - Regional Arrangements and Treaties
1. All member-states are free to negotiate, ratify, and conduct separate treaties or
covenants with other micronations and canonical nations whether they are LOSS members or
not, as long as the stipulations of the treaty do not require the signatories who are LOSS
members to behave in a way contrary to the LOSS charter.
2. Separate treaties should be registered with the signatories involved.
3. Should the LOSS, or any LOSS member, wish to view any treaty or regional arrangement
made by a LOSS member, that member should be willing to procure a copy of the treaty for
the LOSS or the nation requesting.
Article
VII - Miscellaneous Provisions
1. The LOSS, being an organization that conducts business over the Internet, shall have
no fixed physical seat per se. For practical purposes, the seat of the LOSS will be
considered to be the city, province, or micronation the secretary-general resides in.
Article
VIII - Amendment
1. If a member-state desires to amend, change, revoke, or add to a portion of this
Charter, its delegate shall prepare a motion to that effect.
2. The motion shall be put forward and voted on in the General Assembly according to
Section III, Subsection i.
3. In order for the motion to pass, a quorum of seventy-five percent (75%) and a
sixty-six percent (66%) majority shall be required.
4. Once the motion is passed, the Charter shall be amended accordingly, all obsolete
official copies destroyed, and the new version ratified according to Article IX.
Article
IX - Language
1. The official, and first, language of the League of Secessionist States shall be
English.
2. The secondary official language of the League of Secessionist States shall be
Esperanto, but anyone who posts a message in Esperanto must provide a translation into
English, so that both languages can be read in the same message. The secretary-general may
also appoint an official translator, who may translate Esperanto messages into English on
behalf of members who request assistance. In such cases, the initial post may be in
Esperanto, followed by an official translation in a subsequent post.
3. Members may also post in other languages, but in such cases the one who posts must
provide a translation into English, so that both languages can be read in the same
message. If a translation into English is not provided, the message is invalid and the
secretary-general may delete it.
4. In a conflict between languages, the one in the English language is final and
conclusive.
Article
X - Ratification
1. Once the draft of this Charter is finished, it shall be e-mailed to all delegates by
means of the mailing list.
2. Within a period of 30 days after the draft is submitted, delegates may respond with
suggestions for amendment.
i. If an amendment is suggested, all delegates shall vote according to Article III,
Section i. If the resolution is passed, the draft shall be amended accordingly and the
revised draft e-mailed to all delegates.
3. The charter shall be signed by having each official delegate from the member states
affix their name, nation represented, and current e-mail address to the charter.
4. This article shall be in full force as soon as the initial draft of the Charter is
submitted.
Whereas we, the Delegates of the Member-States of the League of Secessionist States,
hereby approve of, ratify, and confirm the force of this Charter, we have affixed our
several marks and seals hereto. |
