IMPORTANT NOTE: I DO NOT HAVE A LEGAL BACKGROUND. I AM MERELY TRYING TO HELP THE PROCESS ALONG.

Would anyone like to help with this project? Post in the thread any comments or suggestions, and I will edit the document accordingly. Not really sure where to go from here, as I am not a lawyer, but merely a citizen who wants to help get this constitution off the ground.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/15mQDlfFC7f4OIs8gN9nlD52PiruH1idcW8qW2FiFzzA/edit?usp=sharing

Responsibility to Never Harm Another Asgardian (it's better to change the word asgardian with the phrace living being)

The Responsibility to Question in article 6 gives me some doughts. How to you know whether those beliefs help you in life? What kind of life are we aiming at? I think this nation is too pluricultural to include the second part of this article.

Another idea could be the Social Responsability. We must understand that everything we own and have, is given by the community and society we live in. That's why Asgardians should have the Responsability of analizing what they do with their private property and belongings. If it harms someone else's rights, it should not be done.

Thanks for the feedback, guys. I wrote a ton more stuff, check it out!

EDIT: Not sure how to quantify quality of life. Personal happiness? I truly am not sure. To answer that, you would have to answer what life itself actually is supposed to be. So perhaps that last part should be removed, and just have it be "Responsibility to Question Personal Beliefs".

So far so good it is a lot of work and here is some more ...I will deal with the expansion of Art 1-8 as I can see a lot of issues with items after that.

Referencing the Constitution of Japan Articles 10 to 40 ONLY we can see what was decided appropriate from a post war country in 1947 committed to peace. We can then see what is already covered and add what has been omitted if appropriate and probably have some further ideas on what should be included . We can use the same process for other Constitutions taking whats good anbd leaviing wehat is bad or not relevant.

"example of other guarantees:

Right to petition government (Article 16)
Right to sue the state (Article 17)
Freedom of thought and conscience (Article 19)
Freedom of expression (Article 19)
Freedom of religion (Article 20)
Rights to change residence, choose employment, move abroad and relinquish nationality (Article 22)
Academic freedom (Article 23)
Prohibition of forced marriage (Article 24)
Compulsory education (Article 26)
Protection against entries, search and seizures (Article 35)
Prohibition of torture and cruel punishments (Article 36)
Prohibition of ex post facto laws (Article 39)
Prohibition of double jeopardy (Article 39)"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_Japan#Individual_rights_.28Articles_10.E2.80.9340.29

add........ there have been 34 new Countries formed since 1990 and we might learn more from looking at how they dealt with Constitution. I had a quick look at Estonia

"The current Constitution contains fifteen chapters.

The first chapter makes general provision for the nature of the state. It contains seven articles.
The second chapter sets out the people's rights, liberties and duties.
Chapter 3 defines the people and citizenship of Estonia.
Chapter 4 deals with the Estonian Parliament (Riigikogu).
Chapter 5 pertains to the President of Estonia, and his or her duties, responsibilities and rights.
Chapter 7 addresses the process of legislation.
Chapter 8 addresses financial issues and the budget.
Chapter 9 addresses international relations and treaties.
Chapter 10 addresses military affairs.
Chapter 11 pertains to the function and the role of National Audit Office, and the Auditor General.
Chapter 12 pertains to the rights, functions and appointment of the Chancellor of Justice.
Chapter 13 pertains to the structure and operation of the judicial system and the courts.
Chapter 14 pertains to the jurisdictional, administrative and budgetary aspects of local government in Estonia.
Chapter 15 pertains to mechanisms and procedures related to amending the Constitution."

I should clarify: I am writing this draft only on the topic Asgardian citizenship and the rights and the responsibilities of the Asgardian citizen in the context of the constitution. I feel like me working on the constitution on any scale larger than that would be inappropriate. As I said in the original post, I am not a lawyer: I'm just a citizen interested in law.

It also came to my attention that a number of people with law and politics training are working on a draft that's entering its final stages, so a new constitution draft would be counter-productive and potentially harmful to the other project. I think it's better to work in pieces, then bring it together.

Because my domain is primarily community service and social work, I figured that I may be able to offer some of my knowledge when it comes to citizenship difficulties.

In Canada where I'm from, the immigration and refugee system--with due respect--is a confusing mess. Our wait lists are long, the citizenship criteria is far too complicated, and even native speakers of the English / French languages have difficulty decoding it. I work with individuals who have said that social workers need special training just to be able to provide basic citizenship services! Ridiculous!!!

We do not need a "scoring system".

We do not need a complicated classification system.

We do not even need immigration ID cards.

All we need to do is ensure that potential citizens can read and write ONE Asgardian language; are healthy; are conscious and aware of their surrounding; and have skilled or unskilled job skills that they are willing to immediately use. Basically, if you want to come to Asgardia to work hard and help all of us achieve our goals--and you aren't dangerous to others or to yourself--you should be allowed to join. New citizens being medically / psychologically screened and asked about their needs will be an important component of caring for immigrants/refugees/new citizens. However, we must also be careful to treat each citizen similarly if not the same to avoid the stigmatization associated with being a "non-citizen" within a country.

Responsibility of Liberating from Hardship

What does this mean in practice? It sounds like mandatory personal charity, which could lead to a ban on welfare through normal legislation.

Right to Feel Safe and Secure

How can this be measured? I'm American, so I am having of visions of people demanding the permanent incarceration of someone else whose speech has "made me feel insecure". Illegal political opinion laws come to mind.

Right to Be Respected

How can this be measured? I'm American, so I am having visions of people demanding the permanent incarceration of someone else whose speech "offended me." Lese majeste laws come to mind.

Article 5

This could be interpreted as a requirement to have children involuntarily and criminalizing unemployment.

Responsibility to Question their personal beliefs.

What does this mean in terms of government policy?

Firearms

I do not think it is prudent to have personal firearms on a space station. An accidental misfire becomes a literal hole in the country which becomes an immediate community issue. Changing the phrasing to "weapons" leaves the option to restrict firearms through normal legislation.

QUALIFICATIONS TO ACHIEVE ASGARDIAN CITIZENSHIP (2, 3, & 4)

These terms excludes people with severe mental impairments, such as people with Down's Syndrome. It would seem prudent at first to exclude such people, but as written any child born on Asgardia with such a medical condition would be permanently ineligible for citizenship and that leaves the possibility of, um, immediate exile of babies through other legislation. Parents of such children would probably demand immediate redress.

CITIZENSHIP EXCEPTIONS

As written, this empowers the government of Asgardia to strip citizens of their citizenship. This is not a policy that should be implemented lightly and I would prefer for it to be separately discussed.

An Oath is defined as, “any statement, pact, agreement or contract of an official nature, made by one being to an entity (political or otherwise), stating that that being is loyal to that entity at that time”.

The international standard of an oath is typically a public statement made under the penalty of perjury if the oath is made falsely or in bad faith. Traditionally, an oath is specifically a request to a divine power to punish the swearer if the oath is broken and modern jurisdictions often allow a secular equivalent, such as an affirmation.

REFUGEE

It would probably be prudent to instead have Asgardia operate under the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees as part of our hopeful UN membership.

Responsibilities in general

Mandating citizen action by the government shouldn't be done lightly and these proposal contain many such mandates. I think it would be wiser to have any such duties handled through normal legislation. It is difficult to amend a constitution by design and constitutions are vague by design.

This is cool. But from the perspective of laws, the most horrible I have ever read. There are a lot of definitions missing. The term "Asgardians" can be interpreted as "some", "many" or "all" for example.

there are some typos