Abstract

Independent nations should voluntarily enter into a treaty obligating themselves to shift their authority and ability to wage military war to an international military organization that is itself committed to enforcing the simple principle declaring the right of significant culturally distinct groups of people to independently govern themselves. The actions taken by this international military organization would be both in accordance with this principle and decided by a democratic vote of a proportionate number of representatives from each of the member states to this treaty. This treaty would also set up an international territorial court so that a mechanism for the peaceful resolution of territorial disputes exist.

For its success, it is imperative that this treaty and the international military organization it creates be limited to defending the member states against all military threats (both internal and external) as well as enforcing progress on only these stated principles relating to the self-determination for distinct people groups existing within the member states. Every other sphere of human activity including political, economic, social, etc., must not be infringed upon. For example, trade wars, the closing of borders, etc., should all be permitted without any interference by this organization. This international military organization would only interfere if a military threat exists against any member state.

Adoption of this treaty would impose limitations on the nature of the approved weapons that member states can own without any restrictions.
This would result in a much lower potential for violence, especially across international borders, between member states as well as between member states and non-member states. The ability to carry out surprise inspections is the most critical enforcement tool that would help put the rest of the world at ease. By the member states pooling together all of their intelligence, military, and financial resources, this international military organization can threaten or actually carry out more accurate, more forceful, and all-together more effective enforcement efforts and military campaigns than any state individually could possibly have hoped for doing on its own.

Treaty Principles

No state should be admitted into this treaty unless it first agrees to abide by and support the following several points inherently related to the fair treatment of significantly distinct cultural groups and, ultimately, to a peaceful coexistence among nations.

1. Agree to Principle of Self-Governance
   Member states must agree, in principle, to the idea that distinct cultural groups (as defined below) must have the right to independent self-governance exercised within their historical territories.
   1. The potential separatists must possess a culture which is distinctly different from that of the rest of the population of the country. Possible cultural differences may include one of the following: language, religious history, political evolutions, etc.
   2. The potential separatists must be native to the land which they wish to form into their country.
   3. The potential separatists must have been living on the land which they wish to form into their country continuously for at least the last 200 years and must not have forcibly displaced the previous population.
   4. The potential separatists must win at least 50% of the votes cast by all permanent residents which live on all parts of the land which the separatists wish to incorporate into their country. Forced immigrants and their descendents within the last 200 years may not vote. Forced emigrants and their descendents within the last 200 years may vote. Immigration resulting from government policies expressly designed to encourage people to settle on lands currently in dispute would be classified as forced immigration. (People with a native blood quantum of at least 1/4 qualify as voters.)
   5. The potential separatists, including emigrants, must currently number at least 250,000 people of any age.

    

2. Territorial Dispute Court
   Member states must agree to resolve any territorial disputes within the assembly of representatives of this international military organization. They must also agree to take concrete steps to resolve any domestic independence movements or separatist activities and, whether a decision is for or against independence for any particular group, convincing reasons must be given for such a decision.
3. Offensive Military Ban
   Member states must agree to relinquish their sovereign right to offensive military capabilities. Maintaining an army, navy, air force, etc., would only be allowed if, in the eyes of the other member states (through the assembly of representatives), they do not constitute a significant offensive military force. States may retain such forces which could primarily serve other important social purposes like security during civil unrest, support aid operations during times of emergencies, etc. Member states would be allowed to possess sufficient small arms, riot gear, police aircraft, and any other weapons which are designed for policing its own population, including under conditions of mass uprising.
4. Delegates
   Member states are entitled to send one delegate for every 10 million residents of the state to the international military assembly to take part in the proceedings. Each member state, regardless of how small its population, will be entitled to have at least one delegate. These delegate would not be chosen by a direct vote of the people, but by the national legislative branch, or it’s equivalent, of each member state’s government from a pool of people deemed qualified by that government to work in such a capacity. These delegates would also function as treaty compliance inspectors, so they would need to be professionals in the fields of history, weaponry, and diplomacy so that they would be able to quickly and accurately understand territorial disputes, identify potential violations, and communicate effectively with their colleagues and the public, when necessary. This job would be a lifetime appointment and these people would need to agree to live under constant surveillance due to the sensitive nature of the job. The penalty for spying or divulging unauthorized information should be death.
5. Allow Inspections
   Member states must agree to allow a team composed of any number of members of this treaty’s governing body (inspector representatives) free, unrestricted, and unannounced visits to every square meter of its territory and at any time, including all research labs, manufacturing facilities, storage locations, and all other places such a team may wish to visit. Though every representative of every member country would be eligible to go on these inspection trips, for convenience and logistical reasons, this body could assign a certain, limited number of individuals from among themselves to go on such trips. The only authority for authorizing any given inspection trip would be by a majority vote of all the inspector representatives themselves. No country, including the country who is the target of such an inspection trip, has any right to veto or in any way restrict the movement of the inspectors.This body of inspector representatives must be sworn to secrecy and not divulge any information to the public concerning findings gathered during a mission, unless this body votes that such findings prove or cause great suspicion about treaty violations. Any violation of this commitment to secrecy by any inspector would be punishable by death. Any refusal by a member country to allow free, unfettered access to any site or any proven violations that are uncovered would automatically result in sanctions and the initiation of planning for military actions designed to force inspections or otherwise bring about compliance.Member states may perform military-related classified experiments or activities provided that members of the international military organization body of inspector representatives deem such activities as non-threatening to the peace and security of the region. Experiments that may be detected by neighboring countries may require that those countries (at least just the high ranking political and military officials) be notified of any relevant effects they may detect so as not to be surprised. Generally, merely conducting experiments would not pose a security risk. Though actually manufacturing significant numbers of weapons based on the technology gained through those research experiments may pose a security risk, generally, the gaining of information should not be restricted.
6. Funding
   Member states must agree to assume a portion of the cost of maintaining this international military organization according to a progressive and smooth algebraic formula based on a percentage of each state’s per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP). While this exact ‘tax’ rate would be agreed to by a vote of all the states who are members of this treaty, the funding schedule should reflect something similar to that shown below.
7. Proposed International Military Organization Funding Rates
   

   Maximum GDP	Tax Rate
   $100 billion	0.25%
   $250 billion	0.5%
   $500 billion	1.0%
   $1 trillion	1.5%
   $2.5 trillion	2.0%
   $5 trillion	2.5%
   $7.5 trillion	3.0%
   $10 trillion	3.5%
   $15 trillion	4.0%

8. Military Base Requirement
   Every member state must allow at least one military base for every 20,000 square kilometers of territory under the ownership of that state. However, other than providing this land and paying the required treaty tax, no state would be required to directly support, in any way, any military installations on their territory or military operations undertaken by this international military organization.
9. Right to Refuse Military Operations
   Member states reserve the right to refuse any military operations within their boundaries, so long as those objections do not infringe on the normal military operations of any base or so long as those objections do not significantly interfere with the duty of the international military force to keep peace and stability in the area.
10. Military Service Requirement
    Member states would not be obligated to provide personnel to participate in the armed forces, except under emergency situations as declared by a majority vote of the international military organization representatives.
11. Preemptive War
    This international military, under the control of the member states, would have the right to enforce its obligation to provide security by conducting preemptive offensive military actions to disable an aggressor, whether that aggressor is a member state or non-member state.
12. Prohibition On Entering Other Military Agreements
    Member states may not enter into any form of military alliance with any other state.
13. Autonomy Retained In All Other Areas
    Member states would still retain autonomy in all areas except those specified under the terms of this treaty.
14. Ratification & Withdrawal Vote Threshold
    It would require a majority vote of at least 75% of a state’s total eligible voters to ratify this treaty, and a 75% majority to withdraw from this treaty.