Jan 12, 17 / Aqu 12, 01 07:36 UTC

Emergencies and conscription- your thoughts?  

I propose that Asgardia adopts a conscription policy for times of great peril to Asgardia and her people. However, i would note that said conscription is ONLY for assistance in evacuation and/or rescue operation. The spirit of this policy would be that for one month a person or persons may be conscripted into the self defence force (or security, or police etc) Conscripts would be trained on how to assist and would forever bear the right to reject future conscription after their one month tenure. If you feel you can add, alter, or even have thoughts against this proposal, please join in this proposal thread! For those who have actual law knowledge, i whole heartedly invite you to tear holes in my proposal so it may be a proposal worth its salt!

1- In times of great civil (1a), environmental (1b), or national emergency (1c), Asgardia and her appointed authority figures may enforce temporary conscription of her appropriately skilled and able citizens for the sole purpose of assisting with evacuation and rescue efforts. No conscription may last longer then 1 (one) months time without the free and willing co-operation (1d) of the citizen in question. Conscripted citizens have the right to refuse deployment to areas of danger at their own disgression. Conscripted citizens have the right to refuse voluntary service at the end of their conscription period. Citizens have the right to refuse conscription if physically or mentally (through trauma or illness) unable to perform rescue or evacuation acts.

1a- civil emergency is defined as periods of extreme social unrest such as but not limited to, riots, insurection, terrorism, and other such events causing with or without delberate attempt panic and/or violence.

1b- Environmental emergency is described as any force of nature or unavoidable mechanical failure that results in panic or harm. Such natural emergencies can be, but are not limited to- meteor storms, solar flares, dangerous debris, etc. Unavoidable mechanical failure is defined as- but not limited to- damaged components catastrophically failing to no individuals fault. Catastrophic failure due to outside influences and criminal sabotage resulting in emergency, etc

1c- National emergency is defined but not limited to coups, invasion, wars, or other such threats to Asgardia and her people at a national scale.

1d- willing and free co-operation is not subject to interpretation. Threats of physical harm to the subject or to those they care for, blackmail, unjust coercion, physical or mental abuse are unjust and punishable.

(There we go, thoughts? Improvements?)

  Updated  on Jan 16, 17 / Aqu 16, 01 15:52 UTC, Total number of edits: 2 times
Reason: [Justice section Admin] that topic was moved to the Military/Security forum, which is a more suitable section for that question. Thank you for your understanding.

Jan 13, 17 / Aqu 13, 01 18:56 UTC

Hi Barazen. I find this topic very interesting and usefull, because, sorry for the expresion, s* happens. I have an idea that might be usefull, a national volunteer agency could be created. People would sing up as volunteers, and remian as civilians not military, and they would recive training like for example in first aid, firemen , mechanics, security, food production, anithing that could be usefull for Asgardia. This volunteers might be only part time or full time working for the state, but I think it would be good if this was part time and the citizens just being called when they are needed or need to do some more training, and of course they should be payed for their services. This way instead of conscripting people when a real emergency takes place the state already has people who know exacly what to do and are motivated to work. Of course if the problems realy escalate then maibe it is needed to conscript people following the rules you wrote on the post before, which look great to me, but I hope Asgardia is fine with the voluntiers. One of the most important parts of any state here on Earth is its security forces. Asgardia definetly needs police, and probably at least one inteligency agency, this bodies in my opinion should be professional, but volunteers could be recruited if their fit for it. In the case of an army I dont realy know what would be best, I think it should be professional, have as little people as possible, and with high technology equipment that could be possible. As well I dont think any country on Earth would want to attack us (they might try to spy us being the first space nation we are in a realy strategic position), and our army should be solely for self defence purposes. It could be good to have a voluntary military service so that if somebody would like to recive training it could and maybe later even join the Armed Forces as a professional. The ones who dont join the defence forces could become reservists. The military service could be obligatory in case of need, and if an army of evil, human eating, aliens (for example, who knows what can happen in space) tries to invade Asgardia, well I think obligatory conscription is the least we can do. This topic is very important and it needs to be developed with time. Trainig programs for the volunteers are needed, and the time that people remain as volunteers should be set, their salaries too and the emergency plans have to be made. Luckily there are probably some asgardians who could help because probably some have already got experience with this kind of organizations on Earth. The same could be done for the Armed Forces, the police, and the inteligence services if there are asgardians with experience on those fields. But with time I think the only way Asgardia can do well is if it trains its citizens and offers them good carrers working for the state. Thank you very much and I hope this post is helpfull.

Jan 13, 17 / Aqu 13, 01 19:00 UTC

Hi Barazen. I find this topic very interesting and usefull, because, sorry for the expresion, s* happens. I have an idea that might be usefull, a national volunteer agency could be created. People would sing up as volunteers, and remian as civilians not military, and they would recive training like for example in first aid, firemen , mechanics, security, food production, anithing that could be usefull for Asgardia. This volunteers might be only part time or full time working for the state, but I think it would be good if this was part time and the citizens just being called when they are needed or need to do some more training, and of course they should be payed for their services. This way instead of conscripting people when a real emergency takes place the state already has people who know exacly what to do and are motivated to work. Of course if the problems realy escalate then maibe it is needed to conscript people following the rules you wrote on the post before, which look great to me, but I hope Asgardia is fine with the voluntiers. One of the most important parts of any state here on Earth is its security forces. Asgardia definetly needs police, and probably at least one inteligency agency, this bodies in my opinion should be professional, but volunteers could be recruited if their fit for it. In the case of an army I dont realy know what would be best, I think it should be professional, have as little people as possible, and with high technology equipment that could be possible. As well I dont think any country on Earth would want to attack us (they might try to spy us being the first space nation we are in a realy strategic position), and our army should be solely for self defence purposes. It could be good to have a voluntary military service so that if somebody would like to recive training it could and maybe later even join the Armed Forces as a professional. The ones who dont join the defence forces could become reservists. The military service could be obligatory in case of need, and if an army of evil, human eating, aliens (for example, who knows what can happen in space) tries to invade Asgardia, well I think obligatory conscription is the least we can do. This topic is very important and it needs to be developed with time. Trainig programs for the volunteers are needed, and the time that people remain as volunteers should be set, their salaries too and the emergency plans have to be made. Luckily there are probably some asgardians who could help because probably some have already got experience with this kind of organizations on Earth. The same could be done for the Armed Forces, the police, and the inteligence services if there are asgardians with experience on those fields. But with time I think the only way Asgardia can do well is if it trains its citizens and offers them good carrers working for the state. Thank you very much and I hope this post is helpfull.

Jan 14, 17 / Aqu 14, 01 03:03 UTC

Conscription generally is a poor solution to a problem, making someone do something they don't want to do will just make them hate you. If they don't want to be there they will become a liability for everyone else. Volunteer is the only way to go, it needs to be a choice. Remaining as a citizen is also critical to conform to the founding ethics of a "demiliterised free base of scientific knowledge".

You say Asgardia definitely needs police, what makes you so sure? We're not going to be able to build anywhere to enforce our law for some time. The infrastructure alone to make that work would be an unwise direction to attribute resources until that point. Considering the size of our population, and the sort of mass required to safely support this, by solving this little problem we shall at the same time solve almost every problem that is a contributary cause of crime. There will be literally no excuse for it. Ofc, there's still some things that may remain, but what deals with that isn't likely to reflect any police force that's currently in existence.

Intelligence agencies isn't an overly intelligent suggestion. We should basically have no need to spy on other nations, or our citizens - Influencing other nations of Earth outside of diplomatic channels is of no interest - and by defacto of open sourcing ourselves there's nothing for others to spy on - it's all in public domain.

For any country on Earth to consider attack, once we actually have something to attack, is rediculous. The energy cost of lifting troops - which face a well prepared enemy - the time it will afford to respond, the vulnerable position enroute etc. etc. Most unwise. Then if they get there, and somehow get in, they're drastically outnumbered. For ballistics based projectiles, mitigation as or soon after leaving atmos is assured. An army would definitely not conform to "demiliterised". We should have no need to place ourselves on anyone's soil without express invite. And we cannot get involved with the conflicts of Earth, beyond diplomatic encouragements of better behaviours. Defence forces are another matter entirely. Fire response, medical services, search and rescue... these things are to be of more need.

Jan 15, 17 / Aqu 15, 01 08:58 UTC

I do like and agree with the idea of swapping conscription for a volunteer list. Like you say, this way regular citizens can receive useful training while carrying on with their normal lives and then should something happen we will be able to effectively respond.

If we did end up with conscription then it would be important to give everyone a level of training for these situations or potential inability could actually just make things worse.

Jan 18, 17 / Aqu 18, 01 01:22 UTC

Thank you for your replies! I'm very happy about the positive attention this proposal recieved.

The more i think about it the more i see volunteers being a better suited force to the problems proposed, with conscription being for only those in the volunteer pool? More or less how volunteer firefighters work i think.

Police force however i actively disagree with, that will be something that will be needed once our population makes its way into space as we will still have laws that need upholding, for example, assault- doestic or public.

Does anyone have any other ideas to refine this proposal? Ill put some edits in later tonight.