Bowman Acts: Difference between revisions
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Other known statutes in the ''Acts'' are the specific regulations dealing with the use of mystical and telepathic citizens and their abilities by private companies/corporations and the governments of ''Bowman Act''-signatory countries, the conduct of mystical and telepathic citizens within their home societies and the specific laws and penalties involved with the illegal/unsanctioned usage of their abilities (the infamous ''Article Ten'' of the Bowman Act of 1982, later amended to encompass all metahumans and any use of advanced technology, regardless or the source and/or origin of said technology). An equally controversial (yet lesser-known) provision is ''Article Eleven'' of the Bowman Act of 1982, which sets up the framework for metahuman conscription provisions for involuntary federal/national service in both the civilian (including the intelligence services of the nation where the metahuman citizen hails from) and military sectors. (It must be noted that since this was ratified, no nation has attempted to use this for its stated purpose - primarily because doing so would require notification of the oversight committee (see below), and because attempting to do so would be seen as an overt act of military aggression by that nation.)
Article Three of the ''Bowman Act of 1983'' provides protocols in order to handle the international problem of transient metahuman children with active abilities (identified as '[[Ferals]]'). Because of the very real and ongoing possibility that such children may pose an active threat to the communities they exist within (due to simply acting out in order to survive) or expose the existence of metahuman beings to the general population, Article Three possesses a provision that instructs any signatory country to allocate resources to assist 'Ferals' when located, and provide them with appropriate physical, emotional, medical and remedial educational care and resources so at to lessen the possibilities that they will become potential threats. This provision also allows specific provisions for the relocation of such children, if deemed necessary for the best interests of the 'Feral', to a First World signatory nation that has appropriate means for such care and education; the wishes of the 'Ferals' involved (regardless of age) must be taken into consideration in such cases.
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Article Eight of the 1982 Bowman Act is a unique section in the Acts, as it allows for the creation of federally-operated and funded basic-level educational facilities (for metahumans between the ages of twelve to eighteen) within each of the five nations that are permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. These facilities, or ''Metahuman Academic Complexes'', will be established to provide any metahuman youth the means in order to learn about their abilities, how to safely control them and gain a measure of competence in the use for purposes of self-defense and mundane utility, and to re-integrate into society with minimal risk of doing harm to themselves or others. Students enrolled at a M.A.C. are expressly forbidden to be trained for the purpose of using their powers for military or law-enforcement purposes (however, they are free to enter the military forces or law-enforcement agencies of their countries after they leave a M.A.C. and receive additional training once there). The reason why Article Eight is unique is that it is one of the 'sunrise provisions' of the Acts, written with the understanding that the existence of metahumans would one day become public knowledge and thus, legal statutes legislating their status in their respective and global society would need to be already set in place to deal with the challenges of their status in society.
One of the more potentially sinister parts of the Acts is ''Article Twenty-Five'' of the 1982 Bowman Act, which allows (in a case of extreme emergency or eminent threat) for a metahuman citizen or citizens to be declared a ward of the government of said citizen's nation, allowing for that citizen to be remanded to the state, who will be responsible for the physical custody and care of said citizen '' 'until such time as said citizen(s) are no longer demonstrated to be a danger to themselves or the society in which it is hoped that they may be able to someday re-enter.' '' Because of the clear violation of legal rights that application of Article Twenty-Five entails, any citizen who is detained under such status is immediately subject to both overview by the Bowman Oversight Committee, and given 'special detainee status' by the International Red Cross (both of whom must receive written notification of Article Twenty-Five activation status '''and''' return written confirmation of such action within twelve hours for every specific citizen detained under such circumstances. Failure to comply will be considered a clear violation of international law and dealt with by extremely harsh measures (as agreed upon by all signatory nation-stated upon acceptance of the Acts).
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Equally as controversial is the following article - ''Article Twenty-Six'', which provides the exact same protocols as ''Article Twenty-Five'', but towards non-powered citizens of signatory nations and citizens of non-signatory nations who are seen as being a direct threat to international security through the overt threat of revealing information covered by the ''Acts''. As with ''Article Twenty-Five'', ''Article Twenty-Six'' provides incarceration and containment protocols, as well as means of nullifying that citizen's means of legal recourse, until such time as that citizen is not seen as a danger to the state or to him/herself. ''Article Twenty-Seven'' provides blanket coverage and language as voiced in the previous two articles, but in relation to any and all beings that are not covered by the previous articles.
The most controversial section of the Bowman Acts in general is ''Article Nineteen'' of the 1985 Bowman Act - which is an equivalent to the fictional ''Article 14, Section 31'' of the original Earth Starfleet charter). ''Article Nineteen'' specifically establishes that the United Nations if bound by a fundamental duty to ' ''actively consider, plan and if necessary, implement and maintain unusual and extreme measures that may seem to exist beyond the boundaries of the current legal structure of any signatory nation, but can be construed to be within the boundaries of the law during times of extraordinary foreign or domestic threats to the interests and people of the planet Earth and all future political and physical holdings forthwith'' '. Article Nineteen also allows for the establishment of temporary special action organs to deal with 'any recognized threat to global security by metahuman threats of any type from any quarter', and allows them diplomatic immunity in the dispensation of their duties while enforcing Article Nineteen and related support duties or operations. Any operations considered under Article Nineteen status must be presented to a meeting of the Permanent Members of the U.N. Security Council before such actions are taken in order to be ratified by the members; in such cases where immediate action is necessary and such meetings cannot be held before said action must be taken, the lead members on such operations must appear before the Permanent Members within seven days of the operation's conclusion in order to present comprehensive verbal reports on any said operation, the rationale behind the operation and all results relating to such.
A curious statistic noted is that all countries that have hosted the Olympic Games since its resurgence in the modern era are also signatories to the ''Bowman Acts''. It is also considered tradition that any country that hosts the Games becomes a signatory beforehand. On two occasions, nations that were believed certain to host the Games lost to other nations; it is believed (by those aware of the connection) that this occurred because they refused to sign. Also, several nations who were seen as having slim chances of winning their bids were 'rewarded' with advancement into final rounds of consideration by recognizing the Acts (it is widely believed that this is the reason That [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rio_de_Janeiro_bid_for_the_2016_Summer_Olympics Brazil won host city status for the 2016 Olympic Summer Games]).
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