World Assembly HQ – The likely upcoming defeat of the vote to award the nation of Auralia a commendation is due, in part, to significant lobbying on the part of the Sanctarian WA Mission, this paper can reveal. The vote, which at time of print is losing by almost 6,000 votes, has been widely controversial.
Dr. Katherine Saunders, the Sanctarian Ambassador to the World Assembly, largely stays out of Security Council matters, but sources have confirmed to this paper that she has devoted all of her attention for the past week on ensuring the measure is defeated. Auralia, a highly theocratic nation, is on Sanctaria’s trade sanctions list for its persistent and unapologetic breaches of World Assembly law, particularly those on human rights related to LGBT and female issues.
Sanctaria, through its membership of the geographic region of the International Democratic Union is a part of a large voting bloc in the World Assembly called the World Assembly Legislative League, and is considered a leading and influential nation within that loose association of World Assembly member states. Sources from various nations within the WALL have confirmed that Saunders and the Sanctarian WA Mission were one of the most vocal opponents to the motion to commend Auralia and helped convince many nations, as well as the World Assembly regional delegates within the voting bloc, to cast votes in the negative.
“Though the Auralian WA Mission has written many pieces of worthwhile internationaL legislation, their persistent rule-breaking and flouting of international law runs contrary to Sanctarian ideals, and ideals of the World Assembly itself”, Saunders said in a press release the morning of the vote. “I will therefore cast Sanctaria’s vote against this measure, and hope all right-thinking nations join us in doing so.”
Kim Towers, World Assembly Correspondent
