The ESTO Charter

When I became the first minister of foreign affairs of the Republic of Talossa, my first project had been to try to negotiate a peace treaty with the Kingdom of Talossa. My second was to create ESTO, the Ephemeral State Treaty Organization to become a sort of UN of Micronations.

Here is the last draft of the ESTO charter, as it is going to be published in my book, the “Resident Miracle Worker and his downfall”.

1. Preamble

To be determined

2. Purposes and Values

2.1 Purposes

The purposes of the Ephemeral State treaty organization are:

2.1.1 To maintain intermicronational peace and security, and to that end: to take effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace, and for the suppression of acts of aggression or other breaches of the peace

2.1.2 To develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples, and to take other appropriate measures to strengthen peace in the micronational community

2.1.3 To exchange ideas, knowledge, technologies, human and financial resources in order to help increase the quality of each of the member states

2.1.4 To achieve co-operation in solving intermicronational problems of an economic, social, cultural, technological or humanitarian character, and in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion

2.1.5 To raise the awareness of the world about the micronational community

2.1.6 To be a centre for harmonizing the actions of micronations in the attainment of these common ends.

2.2 Values

The organization and its members shall act in accordance with the following values:

2.1.1 Peace : All Members shall settle their intermicronational disputes by peaceful means in such a manner that intermicronational peace and security, and justice, are not endangered

2.2.2 Respect: All members shall respect the sovereignty of other member states, of the privacy of its citizens and of the particularities of each member.

2.2.3 Growth: All Members shall help the improvement of other member states when they request help and when such help may be given.

2.2.4 Cooperation: All Members shall give ESTO every assistance in any action it takes in accordance with the present Charter, and shall refrain from giving assistance to any state against which ESTO is taking preventive or enforcement action.

3 Membership

3.1 Member States

3.1.1 Membership in ESTO is open to all micronations devoted to peace which satisfy the following requirements:

3.1.1.1 Size: Every member state must have and maintain at least 7 voting and active citizens, counting only those whose identity has been verified to the satisfaction of the general assembly.

3.1.1.2 Age: To be admitted as a member of ESTO, a micronation must have been in existence for at least 2 years, including at least 1 year since its oldest constitution.

3.1.1.3 Nature: Every member state must be peaceful in nature and accept and carry out the obligations contained in the present Charter

3.1.1.4 Presence: Every member state must have a permanent presence of the Internet. This means a clear and informative web site which states the nation’s policies and history. A forum doesn’t qualify as a permanent presence.

3.1.2 The admission of any such state to membership in ESTO will be effected by a decision of the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Executive Council.

3.2 Associate Member States

3.2.1 Micronations may request to join ESTO as an associate member if they do not fulfil either the Age or the Size requirement of full member states, provided they fulfil all of the other requirements for membership.

3.2.2 Full member states losing citizens and having less than 7 voting and active citizens do not lose their full member status.

3.2.3 Associate member states have the same rights and obligations as full member state with the following exceptions:

3.2.3.1 They do not have a vote in the general assembly

3.2.3.2 They cannot be a member of the executive council

3.2.3.3 The Secretary general may not be from an associate member state, unless he or she is also citizen of a full member state

3.2.4 The procedure for Joining ESTO is the same for associate members and full member, but one or both of the restrictions (Age and Size) are explicitly specified in the membership proposal for associate members.

3.2.5 The age restriction of an associate member is automatically lifted when the state is 2 years old and at least a year elapsed since the adoption of its oldest constitution.

3.2.6 The size restriction is lifted when the executive council confirms that there are at least 7 voting and active citizens in the associated member state.

3.2.7 Once both restrictions have been lifted from an associate member state, it automatically becomes a full member.

3.2.8 Membership of associate member states must be reviewed every year by the general assembly until they become full members.

3.3 Suspension

3.3.1 A Member of ESTO against which preventive or enforcement action has been taken by the Executive Council may be suspended by the general assembly from the exercise of the rights and privileges of membership in ESTO upon the recommendation of the Executive Council.

3.3.2 The exercise of these rights and privileges may be restored by the Executive Council or the General Assembly.

3.4 Expulsion

A Member of ESTO may be expelled from ESTO by the General Assembly for violation of the principles contained in the present charter.

3.5 Inactivity

A Full Member of ESTO may be summarily expelled from ESTO by the Secretary-general if they do not vote in any general assembly for a period of one year, not taking into accounts periods during which the member was suspended from voting rights.

4 Organs

4.1 Principal organs

There are established as the principal organs of ESTO:

4.1.1 A General Assembly

4.1.2 An executive council

4.1.3 A Secretariat

4.2 Creating new organs

New subsidiary organs as may be found necessary may be established in accordance with the present Charter, by a vote of the general assembly.

5 The General Assembly

5.1 Role

5.1.1 The General Assembly may discuss any questions or any matters within the scope of the present Charter or relating to the powers and functions of any organs provided for in the present Charter, and, except as provided in Article 5.3, may make recommendations to the Members of ESTO or to the Executive Council or to both on any such questions or matters.

5.1.2 The General Assembly may call the attention of the Executive Council to situations which are likely to endanger intermicronational relations or the rights of the citizens of a member state.

5.2 Composition

5.2.1 The General Assembly shall consist of all the members and associate members of ESTO.

5.2.2 Each member state shall not send more than 3 representatives in the general assembly.

5.2.3 Each representative may only officially represent a single micronation, but may be citizen of several member state.

5.3 Restriction

5.3.1 While the Executive council is exercising in respect to any situation the functions assigned by the present charter, the General Assembly shall not make any recommendation with regard to that situation unless the Executive Council so requests.

5.3.2 The Secretary-General, with the consent of the Executive Council, shall notify the General Assembly at each session of any matters which are being dealt with by the Executive Council and shall similarly notify the General Assembly, or the Members of ESTO if the General Assembly is not in session, immediately the Executive Council ceases to deal with a situation.

5.4 Executive council reports

5.4.1 The General Assembly shall receive and consider trimesters and special reports from the Executive Council;

5.4.2 These reports shall include an account of the measures that the Executive Council has decided upon or taken as part of their operation.

5.5 Voting

5.5.1 Each full member state shall have one vote.

5.5.2 When members of the general assembly fail to vote on a motion of the assembly, they are counted as having abstained.

5.5.3 Decisions of the General Assembly on important questions shall be made with a two-third absolute majority of the general assembly including the concurring or abstaining votes of the permanent members of the Executive council. These questions shall include:

5.5.3.1 Admission of a new full or associate member in ESTO

5.5.3.2 Suspension of the rights and privilege of membership

5.5.3.3 Expulsion of members

5.5.3.4 Creation of a new permanent member of the executive council

5.5.3.5 Amendments to the present charter

5.5.3.6 Budgetary questions

5.5.4 Decisions on other questions reserved for the general assembly; including the determination of additional categories of questions to be decided by a two-thirds majority, restoration of a suspended member state and annual renewal of an associate member state; shall be made by an absolute majority of the general assembly, including the concurring or abstaining votes of the permanent members of the Executive council.

5.5.5. The concurring or abstaining votes of the permanent members of the Executive council are not required for any type of election.

5.5.6 For the purpose of counting the required number of vote to reach an absolute majority or a two-third absolute majority, member states who have not voted in the past 6 months shall not be counted.

5.6 Sessions

5.6.1 The General Assembly shall meet in regular trimester sessions or in special sessions as occasion may require.

5.6.2 Special sessions shall be convoked by the Secretary-General at the request of the Executive Council or of a majority of the Members of ESTO.

5.7 Procedures

The General Assembly shall adopt its own rules of procedure, including the method of selecting its President.

6 The Executive Council

6.1 Role

6.1.1 The Executive council makes all of the decisions about ESTO between sessions of the general assembly, with the exception of decisions reserved for the general assembly.

6.1.2 Any actions taken by ESTO itself not otherwise reserved for the general assembly shall only emanate from the executive council.

6.2 Composition

6.2.1 The Executive Council shall be consisting of minimum of 3 and up to 11 members of ESTO.

6.2.2 It shall be composed of approximately a third of the number of full member states of ESTO, within the bounds of the previous article.

6.2.3 The Republic of Talossa, as founder of ESTO, shall be a permanent member of the Executive Council.

6.2.4 The non-permanent members of the Executive Council must always outnumber the number of permanent members of the Executive Council.

6.2.5 The term of non-permanent members of the Executive Council shall be fixed to 1 year, with approximately half of the non-permanent members elected via a single transferable vote ballot every 6 months in a general assembly.

6.2.6 A non-permanent member of the executive council may not serve more than 2 consecutive terms on the council, but can be a candidate again on the following election.

6.2.7 Each member of the Executive council shall have one representative, which may be replaced at any time by the member state. Each representative in the Executive council may only be citizen of a single member state.

6.3 Scope

The executive council decisions are binding for all member states.

6.4 Chairperson

6.4.1 After each non-permanent member of the executive council election, the executive council shall elect amongst its members a chairperson to organize the agenda of the council.

6.4.2 The Chairperson is only responsible for keeping the order in the executive council and to speak to the general assembly in the name of the whole executive council when a decision has been made.

6.4.3 The chairperson of the executive council has no official capacity outside of the general assembly or the executive council.

6.5 Voting

6.5.1 Each member of the executive council shall have one vote

6.5.2 Decisions of the Executive Council on procedural matters shall be made by an affirmative vote of two-third of the members.

6.5.3 Decisions of the Executive Council on all other matters shall be made by an affirmative vote of two-third of the members, including the concurring or abstaining votes of the permanent members;

7 The Secretariat

7.1 Role

7.1.1 The General Secretary of ESTO is in charge of the administration of ESTO itself. He or she is also the spokesperson of the General Assembly, of the Executive council or of ESTO.

7.1.2 He or she is personally responsible for the maintenance of the various ESTO documents, such as its charter, the content of its websites, its reports or its publications, even if some of these functions are delegated to other officials or an outside firm by the general assembly.

7.1.3 He or she is personally in charge of all ESTO non-elected officials.

7.1.4 Any of the tasks of the General Secretary may be delegated to a non-elected official of ESTO, by the General Secretary or by the General Assembly.

7.2 Selection

7.2.1 The General Secretary of ESTO and all non-elected officials must be at all time citizen of at least one of the member states. The General Secretary of ESTO cannot represent a member state in the General Assembly or the Executive Council at any time in his or her mandate.

7.2.2 The General Secretary of ESTO and all non-elected officials may not be the head of state of any micronation

7.2.3 Notwithstanding any other rules of ESTO regarding discrimination based on age, the General Secretary of ESTO must be at least 18 years old

7.2.4 The General Secretary is elected for 1 year using a ranked ballot method by the general assembly. The General Secretary may not be elected from the same micronation twice in a row.

7.2.5 The initial General Secretary of ESTO will be selected by the Republic of Talossa until the first general assembly of ESTO will elect its first General Secretary.

8 Citizenship

8.1 Citizenship rights

8.1.1 Citizenship in a member states can only be revoked by the following methods:

8.1.1.1 By voluntary resignation

8.1.1.2 By a court of law

8.1.1.3 By violating a clear and universal mandatory activity law

8.1.2 Citizens of member states that are less than 14 years of age must have at least one of their parents as a citizen of the member state

8.1.3 Immigration laws of member state must require either an oversight of the legislature of the state or a referendum to officialise new citizens, as well a requiring a proof of identification

8.1.4 A bill or charter of rights shall protect the basic rights, freedoms and protections guaranteed to the citizens of member state.