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Dispatch → Account → Diplomacy
Sophia recommends a vote FOR End Blood Sports

WORLD ASSEMBLY VOTING RECOMMENDATION
General Assembly: End Blood Sports, by

Recommendation: FOR
Rationale: Written by Sophia's own Philosopher-Queen, the proposal aims to establish a better version of ban on forced blood sports previously striken out by GA #677. The resolution begins by defining blood sports as a type of "competitive activity" where a goal is "severe injury or death upon at least one" participant, excluding sports restricted by World Assembly law. The exclusion prevents duplication with other resolutions, such as GA #4 or GA #535.
Then we get to the main operative clause: Section 2. This prohibits all blood sports from taking place, except where all participants are "sapients who have given their free and informed consent to taking part". This is a vital protection Sophia naturally supports: it is against basic human rights to force someone to, say, gladiate against their will; and it is simply animal cruelty to engage in blood sports with non-sapients, such as in bullfighting or cockfighting.
However, the resolution goes further than just this one vital protection. Section 3 bans the holding of persons in captivity against their will for the purpose of blood sports. Section 5, likewise, establishes common-sense requirements to ensure that animals that formerly endured blood sports, or were in captivity for one which would otherwise occur, are treated with the appropriate dignity. Section 4, however, goes further than the rest of the resolution: it bans the trade of blood sport participants (without said participants' consent) where such trade involves member nations. This is important as it does not always fall under human trafficking laws: barring member nations from selling bulls for a bullfight in a non-member nation helps prevent such cruelty where the World Assembly lacks the jurisdiction to directly ban forced blood sports.
All in all, this is a well-written resolution which establishes a set of comprehensive mandates to protect the dignity of both sapients and animals from forced blood sports. We strongly hope to see this resolution's passage.
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This recommendation was written by The Ice States, an Honoured Guest of the President.
This resolution reached vote on the major update of 24 August 2023, and will finish vote on today's major update.