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Bill: Refugee Act 2226
Details
Submitted by[?]: Growth and Prosperity Party
Status[?]: passed
Votes: This is an ordinary bill. It requires more yes votes than no votes. This bill will not pass any sooner than the deadline.
Voting deadline: May 2229
Description[?]:
| Jelbania currently only welcomes refugees of "extreme circumstances." As a nation of compassionate people, we feel that Jelbania should extend this aid to the "slightly less screwed" refugees as well. People do not make the decision to abandon their homes, with all their family, friends and belongs lightly. A National refugee policy based on arbitrarily strict standard is not only cruel, but unfair as well. By international law, people fleeing a civil war are considered refugees but not those fleeing a widespread drought and famine. Refugee status is granted to groups, which means groups that are geographically widespread or difficult to define (ex: gypsies) are ignored as well. "By 2010 the number of environmental refugees could grow to 50 million, the UNU-EHS predicts. According to other estimates, there could be as many as 150 million by 2050. That's why nations and aid groups urgently need to recognize and help this new category of refugee, UNU-EHS says. " (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/11/1118_051118_disaster_refugee.html) The lack of asylum policy options in Particracy means that Jelbania has no way of aiding individuals in desparate situations either (ex: daughter fleeing sexually abuse father). (ooc) Ideally, we would extend Jelbania's refugee policy to cover environmental refugees and propose to establish asylum policies as well, whether it be on a national or regional level. However, Particracy has no regional options and the rest cut financial aid or further restrict access. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refugee) Refugees are a subgroup of the broader category of displaced persons. They are distinguished from economic migrants who have left their country of origin for economic reasons, and from internally displaced persons who have not crossed an international border. Environmental refugees (people displaced because of environmental problems such as drought) are not included in the definition of "refugee" under international law. Strictly speaking, a refugee is someone who seeks refuge in a foreign country because of war and violence, or out of fear of persecution "on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group" (to use the terminology from U.S. law). Some countries, such as the U.S., make a legal distinction between a "refugee" (who is awarded refugee status offshore, based on membership in a particular group, such as war refugees) and an "asylee" (whose case is decided individually, usually from within the U.S.). Other countries, such as Canada, make no such legal distinction between the two, whether status is granted from within, by courts, or overseas by consular officials. |
Proposals
Article 1
Proposal[?] to change The national refugee policy.
Old value:: Only refugees that are victims of extreme circumstances are welcome; they are given integration-aid.
Current: All refugees are welcome but no financial aid is given to them.
Proposed: All refugees are welcome, regardless of their reason, and given aid in integrating them into the country.
Debate
These messages have been posted to debate on this bill:
| Date | 19:31:29, May 12, 2006 CET | From |  Free Conservative Party | To | Debating the Refugee Act 2226 |
| Message | That is a lot of people. |
| Date | 21:40:09, May 12, 2006 CET | From | Growth and Prosperity Party | To | Debating the Refugee Act 2226 |
| Message | This is true, and hence the reservation of the GPP in proposing this bill. However we feel that a constructive debate over this topic was possible, considering the numerous tragedies recently, such as the 2004 Tsunami and Hurricane Katrina. |
| Date | 21:56:20, May 12, 2006 CET | From | Free Conservative Party | To | Debating the Refugee Act 2226 |
| Message | But the tsunami was an extreme case. |
| Date | 23:35:08, May 12, 2006 CET | From | Growth and Prosperity Party | To | Debating the Refugee Act 2226 |
| Message | exactly, but because of international law, environmental refugees are NOT considered refugees! |
| Date | 02:35:52, May 13, 2006 CET | From | Free Conservative Party | To | Debating the Refugee Act 2226 |
| Message | According to the current law, environmental refugees(ie. the tsunami) are allowed in. |
| Date | 01:01:15, May 14, 2006 CET | From | Growth and Prosperity Party | To | Debating the Refugee Act 2226 |
| Message | Highly unlikely beacuse the whole concept of environmental refugees has only been considered relatively recently. No country in the (real) world considers victims of climate change to be "refugees". "By 2010 the number of environmental refugees could grow to 50 million, the UNU-EHS predicts. According to other estimates, there could be as many as 150 million by 2050. That's why nations and aid groups urgently need to recognize and help this new category of refugee, UNU-EHS says. " (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/11/1118_051118_disaster_refugee.html) |
| Date | 23:08:07, May 14, 2006 CET | From | BigBoss Party | To | Debating the Refugee Act 2226 |
| Message | we support the current policy that will be alot of people that the government will have to tend to and we first need to handle our own people and problems. |
| Date | 19:58:50, May 15, 2006 CET | From | Free Conservative Party | To | Debating the Refugee Act 2226 |
| Message | I would not call a tsunami a "climate change." |
| Date | 01:15:05, May 16, 2006 CET | From | Growth and Prosperity Party | To | Debating the Refugee Act 2226 |
| Message | ooc - Sorry my bad, a tsunami definitely isn't "climate change." I'm actually somewhat skeptical about the number of refugees created by "climate change" as well. That said though, there are plenty of examples wherethe current refugee policy seemed lop-sided because there are many people who are as worse off as having a civil war in their country yet can't claim refugee status. |
| Date | 00:10:54, May 18, 2006 CET | From | Free Conservative Party | To | Debating the Refugee Act 2226 |
| Message | "Current: Only refugees that are victims of extreme circumstances are welcome; they are given integration-aid." Extreme Circumstances. Civil war is extreme. The bill says nothing about blocking civil war refugees. |
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Voting
| Vote | Seats | |||||
| yes | Total Seats: 237 | |||||
| no |
Total Seats: 170 | |||||
| abstain |
Total Seats: 218 |
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