Articles of Colonization

This treaty deals with the claiming of individual celestial bodies, for the claiming of systems and jump points, see the 2035 Articles of Colonisation.

2027 Articles of Colonization

• Heavenly bodies that are not found to contain non-human ruins as defined in the Treaty of Mars and are not subject to any individual treaty regarding their ownership and sovereignty may be annexed into the sovereign territory of individual nations or supranational organizations (SNOs).
• In order for an annexation to be legal under international law, the following must obtain:
  • The body in question must not already be the legal possession of another nation or SNO.
  • In the case of inhabitable worlds, the body must have been provably, continuously inhabited for three standard years.
    • Continuous habitation shall mean that the body has had an uninterrupted colonial presence of at least two million citizens of the nation or SNO making the annexation claim.
  • If multiple nations and/or SNOs have settlements on the body, the nation or SNO invoking the annexation must have at least twice the population as the second-most populous polity on the body.
  • Uninhabitable bodies may be annexed by the first nation or SNO to establish a commercial or industrial outpost on the body.
  • Colonies not meeting all of these criteria are not eligible for annexation.
• In the case of a body with settlements from multiple nations and/or SNOs, each individual settlement is the sovereign territory of the nation or SNO which organized its founding, but the body as a whole belongs to no nation or SNO.
• In the event a body is legally annexed while it contains a settlement belonging to another nation or SNO, the following procedures must be observed:
  • Citizens of the non-owning nation and/or SNO settlement are considered to be an enclave of their parent nation or SNO, with full international rights accorded to them.
  • The annexing nation must allow the citizens of non-owning nations and/or SNOs to remain in their settlements for a grace period of one year.
  • Following the grace period, the annexing nation may allow the non-owned settlement to remain as a foreign enclave (with all attendant international rights), relocate off the body (with the expense shared evenly between the annexing and settlement-owning nations and/or SNOs), or become citizens of the annexing nation (with all attendant rights).
• Annexed bodies may be sold or traded between nations and/or SNOs subject to the terms of an individual treaty governing that sale.
• An International Commission on Colonization and Settlement will be established with oversight over the following domains:
  • Establishing a set of criteria by which nations and/or SNOs will be granted the capability to annex bodies.
  • Legal suits regarding heavenly body ownership and sovereignty.
  • Enforcing the terms of the annexation process, including the post-annexation welfare of citizens of settlements of non-owning nations or SNOs.