Conference of Santiago
The Conference of Santiago (Portuguese: Conferência de Santiago • Spanish: Conferencia de Santiago • French: Conférence de Santiago), also abbreviated as CS, is an intermicronational organisation and supranational union whose main objective is to promote relations between secessionist (also called derivative) micronations and the development of secessionism/derivatism by formulating rules, accordances and treaties and providing micronationalists with the proper support to engage in secessionist micronationalism.
History
The CS was founded in 7 April 2020 by the Treaty of Santiago on the initiative of King Thomas I of Quinta Velha as a direct consequence of the process that led to the splitting of the simulationist-dominated Lusophone Sector and the creation of the Brazilian sector. Although formally established by the Treaty of Santiago, the CS has its premises established by the Treaty of Persenburg nd follows the definitions detailed in the Protocol of Goetha, both documents authored by the Emperor Oscar I of Karnia-Ruthenia and which became requirements for the admissions process to the organization. Subsequently, the Convention of Mauritsstad, which identifies micronations that do not claim geographic territory as sovereign entities analogous to secessionist states (they were labeled virtualists), also became a key document and requirement for the admission process to the CS.
During its first year and a half, CS self-identified as a regional organization and became the most relevant intermicronational organization in South America and in the Lusophone and Spanish-speaking worlds due to its relationship development, intersectoral activity, intermicronational recognition and content production, which eventually led CS to abandon its regionality and become an organization with a global reach, with a presence in North America, Europe and Asia.
Goals
According to the Treaty of Santiago, the namesake Conference aims to "promote the derivative micronationalism [secessionism] among practitioners of micronationalism wether they be Brazilians or speakers of the Portuguese language [and] [...] support new derivative projects, regardless of political system, religion or government" observing the definition of the Protocol of Goetha. The Conference's ultimate goal is to provide secessionist micronations a safe heaven and a political stage where to act in consensus with its peers.
Further, as amended by the Conferential Statute in 1 August 2021, the Conference of Santiago's goal expanded to include not only Brazilians and Portuguese-speakers, or Hispanics, as de facto already included by then, but to promote secessionist micronationalism everywhere, while respecting other forms of micronational practices and even simulationism, still regarded as a different practice than micronationalism.
Structure
The Conference of Santiago works as an intergovernmental elective direct democracy headed by the Secretary-General of the Conference of Santiago who is elected by the Heads of State of the member states for a term of 6 months with possibility of re-election. The Secretary-General is the chief administrative officer and speaker of the Conference of Santiago Plenary, which is the main administrative body of the organization, formally composed by the Heads of State of the member states of the conference which may be represented by duly appointed members of his or her respective government.
Formal plenary sessions may be convened by any CS member state; in them, representatives of member states vote to approve or reject proposals previously discussed and listed, as well as can introduce new bills and policy proposals for future voting. The approval or rejection of proposals is subject to a simple majority vote with a minimum quorum of three votes either in favor or against, within the time period determined for the vote.
Requirements for membership
Following the promulgation of the Statute of the Conference of Santiago, the criteria for membership was padronized. It has since abbandoned the geographical requirement for a micronation to have its territory based in South America. Instead, it is required for a micronation to ratify the four main documents issued by the Conference, which are the Treaty of Persenburg, the Protocol of Goetha, the Convention of Mauritsstad and the Treaty of Santiago, to have a verifiable existence for at least 2 months, to not adhere to simulationism or geofiction, to not be at war with any other micronation, to have a stable government and population.
The criteria according to the Statute of the Conference:
- Ratify the Treaty of Persenburg;
- Ratify the Protocol of Goetha;
- Ratify the Convention of Mauritsstad;
- Ratify the Treaty of Santiago;
- Have a verifiable territory;
- Have verifiable existence for at least 2 months;
- Participate at the Plenary for two months without right to vote, in a propositive and positive way, being this disposition able to be suspended through approval by verified majority of the members of the Plenary;
- Don't be imaginary, fictional or classified as “exercise of historical modelism”
- Don't being involved in intermicronational conflicts;
- Have stable government, population and act of foundation.
Summits
Since establishment there have been eleven formal head of state summits. They were called on the Conference of Santiago's discord server, but usually, the capital of the micronation whose head of state presides over the summit (or, later, presides over the Conference as Secretary-General) is formally entrusted with hosting the summit, as the principle of extraterritoriality has been applied to the virtual space where the conference summits has taken place. Nonetheless, the capital of Quinta Velha, the city of Santiago do Sacramento, is the formal location of the Conference of Santiago's headquarters, as implicitly established by the Treaty of Santiago. So far, Persenburg, capital of Karnia-Ruthenia, has hosted the most summits, eight in total.
Two Physical Summits have taken place since the founding of the CS in 2020. The first, that same year, between the Emperor of Karnia and King of Ruthenia and the King of Luna, accompanied by his wife, in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. The second Physical Summit took place in Montreal, Canada, between the Minister-President of Saint-Castin and the Sovereign Princess of Sancratosia.
In addition, the Santiago Conference participated in other events with other intermicronational organizations, such as the ASAM-GUM-CS summit hosted by The Radiator micronation, between representatives of the Association of South Asian Micronations, the Grand Unified Micronational. In August 2022 the CS was represented at the MicroCon 2022, the biggest micronational event in the world, which took place in Las Vegas, United States, becoming the first South American [origin] representation in the history of MicroCon.