European Universities Debating Championships

Athens EUDC 2019

R1

THBT Greece should introduce significant financial incentives for companies and individuals currently based in Athens* to relocate to other Greek cities Over a third of the Greek population lives in Athens. ### R2 #### THBT it is in the interest of the Chinese Communist Party to cease attempts to infringe on “”One Country, Two Systems”” in Hong Kong, rather than continuing its current approach. ### R3 #### THW encourage women to be selfish ### R4 #### THBT it is in the interest of dominant organised religions for their leaders to declare more progressive interpretations of traditional dogma *e.g. on dietary and pilgrimage requirements, the acceptability of contraception, same-sex relationships ### R5 #### THBT consumers should predominantly aim to buy locally produced goods and services ### R6 #### THW break up Disney

The Walt Disney Company owns Pixar, Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, 20th Century Fox, ABC and dozens of other studios, media networks, amusement parks and merchandising rights.

R7

THBT schools should teach children to be skeptical of parental authority

R8

In circumstances where a unanimous decision is currently required, THP majority voting as the European Council’s decision-making approach

In matters of high sensitivity and complexity, the European Council requires unanimous decision-making. These matters include, but are not limited to foreign policy decisions, granting new rights to EU citizens and suspending the rights of current member states.

R9

THW make police commanders personally criminally liable for instances of police brutality committed by their subordinates

ESL Quarter Finals

In situations where deliberate economic policies by another state have caused substantial economic harms, THBT international law should reeognise that-mlitary-retaliation can be-justified e.g. restricting access to important trade routes or straits, aggressively increasing the price of vital commodities, limiting access to strategic resources

ESL Semi Finals

THBT the US Democratic Party should prioritise emplyment issues, even at the expense of significant harms to the environment.

ESL Grand Final

TH Opposes the Defining Decade norm

The ‘Defining Decade’ is a cultural norm which urges young adults to persistently persue life goals, even at the expense of significantly neglecting immideate desires. As part of this approach it is common to seek to maximise educational value from most activities, seek more responsibility at work, seek instrumental value from social relationships, and stigmatise idle time.

Partial Double-Quarter Finals

THBT local governments ih developing countries should allocate significant portions of their budget via Participatory Budgeting

Participatory Budgeting’ is a process in which ordinary civilians decide how to allocate part of a municipal or local public budget. Citizens propose and prioritize spending projects within a predefined amount of funding, and the government is bound by the decisions they made, e.g, local transportation projects, subsidies, and educational and cultural programs

Quarter Finals

THBT it is in the interest of the Kremlin to take measures to reduce Russian dependency on China* *e.g limit the selling of raw materials to China, reduce the share of Yuan in Russia’s currency reserves, not allowing Chinese companies to develop strategic infastructure such as 5G in Russia ### Semi Finals #### THBT communities that have been victims of atorocities should emphasis the narrative of the ‘banality of evil’ when interpreting those atorocities

The concept of ‘banality of evil’ claims that great act of evil can be committed by ordinary indivisuals within a bureacracy. Under this theory, most perpetrators of great evil are ordinary people, with no motive for their actions other than promoting thier own advancement in the system.

Grand Final

THBT the Greek government should have rejected the 2015 bailout deal and sought to negotiate further concessions, even at the risk of not receiving a bailout.

EUDC 2018 Novi Sad

R1

THBT the US Democratic Party should move to the left in candidate selection and policy platform

R2

THBT State Health Services should allow private companies to run hospitals for profit

R3

THBT the State should fund the creation of, and access to, realistic androids that simulate romantic relationships.

R4

THR the glorification of the immediate postcolonial leaders in Sub-Saharan Africa.

R5

THBT South Korea should abandon the goal of, and all policies which aim at, Korean reunification

R6

ESL SF

THR the decline of labour union power in the West

ESL GF

TH supports the promotion of collective guilt after large scale crimes against humanity

EUDC 2017 Tallin

R1

THBT the US should ban extremist groups (e.g. the KKK and neo-nazi groups).

R2

THBT the WTO should allow developing countries to impose policies aimes at protecting domestic industries, even at the expense of harming international trade.

R3

THR the rise of the ‚Sharing Culture’ (a culture which encourages the frequent posting of both mundane and intimate details of one’s life on social media platforms, and the commenting on and reacting to others posts of this nature).

R4

THBT states should significantly fund female-only tech companies.

R5

TH, as Israel, supports the Jewish People’s Intelligence Service Doctrin.

The Jewish People’s Intelligence Service Doctrin is a proposal which states that the Israeli Intelligence service should have a significant responsibility not only to Israeli’s citizens’ security, but also to the security to the Jewish communities abroad. If this doctrin were adopted, Israel would use significant resources and launch potentially violent operations in order to keep Jewish people safe internationally.

R6

TH supports universities treating students like customers (e.g. by allocating significant ressources to improving students’ lifestyles, and granting students influence over university decisions and the content and delivery of the course curricula).

R7

THBT Western medical institutions should neither cooperate with, nor use the data produced by, non-Western medical institutions that do not meet Western standards on human clinical trials.

Non-Western medical institutions are becoming increasingly competitive within the field of human clinical trials and now constitute a major share of the world’s scientific output. These trials operate under local medical standards that are less stringent than Western ones.

R8

THBT LGBT groups should actively seek to include Side B christians.

Side B christians are christians who identify as experiencing same sex attraction but nevertheless believe that homosexual sex is sinful, and therefor attempt to remain celibate.

R9

TH supports the creation and use of Lethal Autonomous Robots.

Lethal Autonomous Robots are fully autonomous military weapons that can select and engage targets without human intervention.

Open PDQF

THBT the US should reverse the ‘Pivot to Asia’ strategy.

ESL QF

THBT having children is immoral.

Open QF

TH, as women’s rights groups in India, would adopt violent female goddesses as prominent symbols.

In Hinduism, there exist prominent goddesses that represent liberation through force, violence, aggression and power. An example is Kali, who is often portrayed wearing a garland of skulls of the men she has killed around her neck and standing on her lover, the Hindu God Shiva, who lies calm and submissive beneath her.

ESL SF

THW allow local governments to issue immigration permits that grant access to Defined Permit Services in the local area only.

Defined Permit Services include access to the purchasing or renting of property, employment, and government services such as education, healthcare and welfare.

Open SF

THR the mass deregulation of the financial sector.

Since the 1980s, the financial sector has grown rapidly in many developed economies, with mass deregulation serving as a major driver. As the sector has grown, the number of people employed in the industry, and the variety and complexity of financial products have increased.

ESL final

THBT Western European states at high risk for terror attacks should implement ‘state of emergency’ laws.

‘State of emergency’ laws temporarily grant more powers to the executive and law enforcement agencies. Examples include warrant-less property searches and house arrests, and using electronic tagging for the purposes of surveillance

Open final

TH as the Kremlin would commemorate the 1917 Russian Revolution as a tradegy rather than a triumph for the nation.

The 1917 Revolutions overthrew the Tsarist regime and were a precursor to the creation of the Soviet Union. In Russia, perception of the revolutions varies and the Kremlin does not have an official position.

EUDC 2016 Warsaw

R1

TH regrets the rise of social media as a primary source of news distribution

R2

TH supports Barack Obama’s statements that emphasise African- Americans taking individual responsibility for improving their own position in life

R3

THW create state-run centres where individuals can purchase and consume psychedelic* drugs *drugs whose primary effect is to alter cognition and perception e.g. LSD and Magic Mushrooms ### R4 #### TH supports strong government intervention to prevent gentrification process when significant numbers of wealthier people move to a poor area ### R5 #### THBT the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra should regularly play the works of Richard Wagner

Richard Wagner was a 19th century anti-semitic German composer. His music was favoured by the Nazis and played at the Nuremburg rallies, and reportedly at Nazi death camps. When Wagner’s music was played in Israel, it lead to protests and it remains controversial.

R6

TH regrets the mass commercialisation of football

R7

TH supports Sanctuary Cities in the United States

A ‘sanctuary city’, for example San Francisco, does not allow police or city employees (e.g. educators, social, and healthcare workers), to inquite about an individual’s immigration status. These cities do not co-operate with the federal government’s controls on illegal immigrants.

R8

THBT Latin American states should provide extensive material support for a military coup against the Venezualan government

R9

THBT the European Union should fund satirical publications in its member states that target far-right political parties the use of humour and exaggeration to criticize

ESL QF

THBT Western States should fund the spread of atheism in Iraq through provision of education, health care and welfare

ESL SF

TH regrets the safe space movement’s attempts to significantly limit speech on university campuses

The growing safe space movement has used both social pressure and direct action to achieve its aims. These include, but are not limited to banning certain speakers, and limiting exposure to controversial, and potentially triggering topics.

ESL GF

THBT western nations should support breakaway states in former Soviet Union (e.g. East Ukraine or South Ossetia) after free and fair referendum.

Open Partial OF

TH supports BRICS countries creating alternatives to the current international economic institutions (i.e. the IMF, the World Bank, and the World Trade Organisation) Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa

Open QF

THW require the economic policies of political parties to be approved by an independent panel of experts before being used in campaigns

Open SF

TH supports Iran’s extension of the Sharia principle of “an eye for an eye” to the victims of acid attacks

Recently there has been a high number of acid attacks against women, either due to personal feuds or for their non-conformity to Islamic values. / Iranian courts that are governed by Sharia law ruled that victims have the right to choose to blind their attacker by putting acid in their eye(s).

Open GF

THW nationalize and provide public access to the Metadata being gathered by online multinational companies.

EUDC 2015 Vienna

R1

THW pay all elected politicians the median wage in their country.

R2

THBT when multi-national corporations conduct any business in Western states, these nations should enforce their environmental standards at all stages of production.

R3

THBT Western states should not use private military contractors in combat.

R4

THW ban any treatment, service or ritual from claiming a physical healing effect until it is tested and proven more effective than a placebo by a national regulator.

R5

THBT the European Union should lift its arms embargo on China.

R6

THW only allow the media and campagning organisations to depict or publish information about the deceased in a tragedy with the explicit permission of the family.

R7

THBT the West should stop all attempts to gather information or intelligence by deception and/or coercion of foreign citizens

R8

THBT it is legitimate for individuals to punish people they deem to have committed online harassment by revealing their identity online.

R9

THW introduce a 100% inheritance tax

ESL QF

THW legalise surrogacy for profit in Western Liberal Democracies

ESL SF

THW introduce a mandatory term of at least 1 year of non-military national service for 18year olds

ESL Final

THBT parents of a musical child genius have a moral obligation to push that child to maximise their musical potential.

Open QF

THW prohibit businesses from taking a public position on social issues

Open SF

THW require all defendants in criminal cases to be represented only by state-employed lawyers.

Open GF

THW treat the deaths of soldiers as regrettable losses of lives rather than examples of heroism.

EUDC 2014

R1

THW pay additional benefits to families on welfare according to their child’s performance in school.

R2

TH supports two-party political systems over multi-party political systems.

R3

THW ban international aid charities from using senational, graphic, or overly-emotional images of suffering in fundraising and advertising campaigns.

R4

THBT EU member states should nationalise all their oil and gas resources in order to surrender total ownership and control of them to an EU-run energy agency.

R5

THBT states of the former Yugoslavia should not commemorate the events of the Yugoslav Wars. For the purposes of this debate, ’Commemoration’ refers to state-supported national celebration or mourning of historical events or people.

R6

THW introduce blind voting. Blind voting means voters indicate a series of preferences for policies rather than directly selecting a party. These preferences are then matched to the policies of political parties⁏ the voter is taken to have voted for the party that most closely matches their preferences.

R7

THW require of police departments that the ethnic composition of their arrests match the ethnic composition of the population in their jurisdiction.

R8

THBT micro-finance organisations (including, but not limited to: NGOs, charities and development banks) should offer micro-finance loans in developing nations exclusively to women. Micro-Finance’ refers to small, long-term loans with no or extremely low interest rates, provided to individuals who seek to start a business.

R9

THBT states should hold binding national referendums on major peace agreements.

ESL Tie break Motion

THW make membership in a labour union compulsory for every worker.

ESL Quarter Final

THW require companies to place images of animal suffering on all products or food whose production harmed or killed animals.

ESL Semi Final

THBT leaders of minority religions in Europe should strongly encourage their congregations to refrain from public displays of their faith.

ESL Final

THW, assuming it was technically feasible, remove the ability of soldiers to feel fear.

Open Quarter Final

THBT supreme/constitutional courts should not have the power to strike down legislation.

Open Semi Final

THBT the United States of America should invade, and forcibly partition Iraq.

Open Final

THBT feminist movement should oppose military interventions which claim to further women’s rights

EUDC 2013

R1

THW ban video games in which the player engages in brutal and inmoral violence in a realistic setting.

R2

R3

TH as the Muslim Brotherhood would sincerely offer to cease resistance, participate in elections and respect a liberal constitution

R4

THW allow goverment agencies to conduct automated surveillance without court authorisation

R5

THB that Israel should allow members of the Jewish Diaspora to vote in its election

R6

TH applauds the rise of songs by female pop artists that glorify assertive female sexuality.

R7

THBT it is in China’s strat. int. to cease all non-humanitarian assistance to North Korea until it ends its nuclear programme.

R8

R9

THW provide welfare in the form of basic goods and services rather than cash payments. #eudc

ESL QF

THBT men should consistently call out and correct chauvinistic claims by colleagues and co-workers.

ESLSF

THB that environmentalists should launch a campaign of sabotage and property destruction aimed at major polluting companies.

ESL GF

THB the state should not fund any work of art or perfomance that the average cititzens would not recognise as having artistic merit #educ

QF

THBT African countries should adopt English as the principal language of instruction in schools.

SF

TH Regrets that Western Media has Demonised Islamic Terrorists Rather than Portraying Them as Criminals with Legitimate Political Grievances.

GF

THW give more votes to citizens according to their performance on a current affairs test.

EUDC 2012

R1

THB parents should choose not to send their children to private school.

R2

THBT First Nations’ Peoples (e.g. Native Americans) who live in geographically separate areas should be given complete autonomous govt.

R3

THBT the music industry should not facilitate the comebacks of artists who committed violent crimes.

R4

THBT the Mexican government should remove all limits on law enforcement and the military in the fight against organised crime.

R5

THBT the ECB should unconditionally buy significant amounts of government debt from struggling Eurozone countries

R6

THW limit the amount that can be spent by corporations in any one course of litigation

R7

THW require the military to recruit solders in direct proportion to the socioeconomic make up of their country.

R8

THBT the Palestinians should accept complete demilitarisation in returned for a guaranteed sovereign state.

R9

THW allow anyone to take up residence in any country, provided that they will not be an economic burden on that country.

ESL Quarters

THS life sentence without parole for serial re-offenders

ESL Semis

THBT militaries in newly democratised arab states should act as guardians of secularism

ESL Final

THW retrospectively remove all amnesty granted to those who committed crimes as part of oppressive regimes.

Main QF

THBT Republika Srpska should secede from BIH.

Main Semis

THB schools should aggressively stream students according to their ability from a young age.

Main Final

THW amend the US constitution to prohibit any involvement by religious organizations in the electoral process

EUDC Galway 2011

R1

THW bring back death penalty.

R2

THW prohibit the media from using software to cosmetically improve an individual’s appearance.

R3

THBT Germany should ban the publication of Mein Kampf indefinitely

R4

THBT Barack Obama should have vetoed any debt deal that did not increase taxation.

R5

THW allow the creation of donor siblings.

R6

THBT hacking is an acceptable form of protest against large corporations.

R7

THBT early childhood education in schools should undermine traditional gender roles.

R8

THBT America and the EU should cease all financial, political and military support to both Israel and the Palestinian Authority until they reach a peace agreement.

R9

THW legally require priests to report all serious crimes that they hear of in confessions.

Quarters

THW never fight for King and Country.

ESL Quarters

THW ban all EU arms companies from selling arms outside the EU

ESL Semifinals

THW require persons who work in the media to wait four years before running for public office or working for the government

Semifinals

THBT the West should promise preferential economic and political cooperation to Arab democracies who adopt secular constitutions.

ESL Finals

TH believes God Exists.

Finals

THBT the state should pay reparations to women

EUDC Amsterdam 2010

R1

THW remove all non-economic conditions of EU membership, such as geographical location or political requirements.

R2

THBT schools should prioritize the authority of the teachers over the happiness of the pupils.

R3

THW offer increased development aid to the developing countries that accept and encourage large influxes of immigrants.

R4

THBT social disgust is legitimate grounds for restriction of artistic expression.

R5

THW pardon Bradley Manning.

R6

THW allow women, and only women, to bear arms.

R7

THW propose a power sharing deal with the Taliban in exchange for their disarmament.

R8

THBT developing nations should distribute, as a dividend, to citizens, all funds derived from natural resource extraction.

ESL QF

THW extend the full protections of international law to guerilla fighters, insurgents and terrorists.

ESL SF

THW grant higher primates rights equivalent to those of human children.

ESL GF

THBT even in response to the most serious crimes a just penal system should have no consideration for society’s desire for retribution.

QF

THW prohibit gay pride parades in countries or areas where there is a risk of violent backlash against those involved.

SF

THBT the state should determine the wages to be payed (in both private and public sectors) for jobs deemed of moral value or societal importance.

GF

THBT after a humanitarian intervention has halted human rights abuses the occupation forces should leave if the population clearly establishes this as their wish.

EUDC Newcastle 2009

R1

THW allow the police to use entrapment.

R2

THW use the education system to instill moral norms in children beyond mere obedience to the law.

R3

THW grant citizenship to illegal immigrants who report on work-place exploitation.

R4

THBT the gay rights movement should oppose gay marriage.

R5

THBT western liberal countries have a moral duty to spread democracy across the world using force where necessary.

R6

THBT custody hearings should not take a child’s biological parentage into account.

R7

THW allow doctors to actively lie to their patients in order to create or augment a placebo effect.

ESL QF

THW allow the police to physically discipline children below the age of criminal responsibility.

QF

THW allow political parties to designate certain pre-election claims as binding promises, the breaking of which would trigger immediate fresh elections.

ESL SF

THBT countries where assisted suicide is illegal should prosecute those who assist others that travel abroad to receive euthanasia.

SF

THBT desecration of religious sites is a legitimate tactic of warfare.

ESL GF

GF

THW abolish all limits on immigration.

EUDC Tallinn 2008

R1

THW require people to work in return for welfare payments.

R2

THBT sporting bodies should penalise teams when their players commit criminal acts off the field.

R3

THW use military force where necessary to deliver emergency aid.

R4

THW make fines relative to wealth.

R5

THW ban the physical punishment of children by parents.

R6

THB developed countries should not accept skilled migrants from developing countries.

R7

THW pay morbidly obese people to lose weight.

ESL QF

QF

THW ban the broadcast of recordings produced by terrorists.

ESL SF

THB the European Union should declare that energy security is a legitimate reason for military action.

SF

THW abolish income tax.

ESL GF

THW allow soldiers to opt out of individual conflict for personal reasons.

GF

THW ban Nazi and Soviet symbols.

EUDC Koç 2007

R1

THW take lifestyle choices into account in the allocation of scarce medical resources.

R2

THB the state should prohibit all items of clothing which cover the face.

R3

THBT democracy is a necessary condition for economic growth and stability. (ANALYSIS)

R4

THBT Turkey should invade Northern Iraq to fight Kurdish terrorist organisations.

R5

THW require prescription for the ‘morning-after-pill’.

R6

THW introduce a time limit on bringing prosecutions for genocide.

R7

ESL QF

THW distribute development aid through religious organizations rather than the state.

QF

THW forcibly settle the Roma.

ESL SF

THBT the state should not fund any fertility treatments.

SF

THW grant the state the exclusive right to make decisions on behalf of the mentally ill.

ESL GF

THW withdraw the right to veto the accession of new members to EU.

GF

THBT the state should publish deliberate mistruths during times of war.

EUDC Berlin 2006

R1

THW abolish the international criminal court.

R2

THBT gender reassignment surgery should be included in state funded medical care.

R3

THBT governments should block the foreign takeover of important companies.

R4

THW ban the use of evidence acquired from countries which practice torture.

R5

THW ban all religious involvement in schools.

R6

THW remove the right to refuse medically necessary treatments.

ESL SF

THW allow insurance companies to consider the results of genetic tests in asessing potential customers.

ESL GF

THW destroy the artifacts of fallen oppressive regimes.

QF

THW take cult members into psychiatric care.

SF

THW grant an automatic right of asylum to women trafficked for prostitution.

GF

THW allow companies to refuse to hire smokers.

EUDC Cork 2005

R1

THW make the post-mortem donation of organs compulsory without exception.

R2

THW support the right of Chechnya to secede.

R3

R4

R5

THW grant immunity from prosecution to dictators who step down.

R6

THBT the state should assist healthy people commit suicide.

QF

THW condemn companies that seek to avoid first world regulations on human drug testing by conducting their trials in the developing world.

ESL SF

THW remove the Arms Embargo on China.

SF

THW withdraw from the Ottawa convention banning the sale of land mines.

ESL GF

THW make failure to render reasonable assistance to a person in distress a criminal offence.

GF

THW allow the use of racial profiling by police forces.

EUDC Durham 2004

R1

THBT any EU Constitution should contain reference to Europe’s Christian heritage.

R2

THW ban the production for road use of cars capable of driving over 160kph/100mph.

R3

THBT post-war reconstruction contracts should be restricted to companies from countries which supported the war.

R4

THW legalise consensual cannibalism.

R5

THW not allow embedded journalists attached to military units in warzones.

R6

THBT governments should insist that the software they use is open-source.

R7

THBT the military targeting of any place of worship is a crime against humanity.

QF

TH supports compulsory HIV testing for immigrants.

ESL SF

THBT junk food companies should not be allowed to sponsor sporting events.

SF

THBT a foetus harmed in a criminal attack on its mother should be considered a victim of crime in its own right.

ESL GF

THW ban international adoption.

GF

THBT elected politicians should not be allowed to own media companies.

EUDC Zagreb 2003

R1

THBT the USA is right to tie its foreign aid to the support in war against terrorism.

R2

THBT the cost of space exploration is not worth it.

R3

THBT the EU should start immediate accession talks with Turkey.

R4

THBT the state should tax the graduates to cover the costs of their education.

R5

TH supports compulsory drug testing in the workplace.

R6

THBT parents have the right to choose the sex of their children.

QF

THW reform the UN Security Council.

ESL SF

THW close its doors to the immigrants.

SF

THBT the minority religious practices should be exempt from the national laws.

ESL GF

THW make smokers pay for their own medical expenses.

GF

THW hold parents legally responsible for the criminal actions of their children.

EUDC Haifa 2002

R1

THBT referenda are the way forward for European democracy.

R2

THBT Women should have equal rights and equal obligations in the Army.

R3

THW Deny liver transplants to alcoholics.

R4

THW Clone Britney Spears.

R5

THBT The European Union should ban bullfighting.

R6

THBT religious education is brainwashing kids.

QF

THW prefer castration to incarceration for sexual offenders.

ESL SF

THW guarantee the amnesty of retired dictators.

SF

THW hold the accountants accountable.

ESL GF

THW give Europe its own constitution.

GF

THW ban the advertisement of gambling.

EUDC Portorož 2001

R1

THW make organ donation compulsory.

R2

THBT sporting events are for the people not media moghuls.

R3

THW put a brake on Albania.

R4

THW end farming subsidies in the European Union.

R5

THBT asylum seekers should seek refuge in the first safe country that they reach.

R6

THBT Rome should look beyond its own walls for a new Pope.

ESL SF

TH fears for the little countries in Europe.

ESL GF

THBT capitalism is in crisis.

QF

THBT NATO has had its day.

SF

THW put Slobodan Milosevic on trial in the Hague.

GF

THW clone human beings.

EUDC Aberdeen 2000

GF

THBT the problems of Africa are of European origin.

EUDC Rotterdam 1999

R1

THW put environment before economics.

R2

TH favours unity.

R3

THB in cheap labour.

R4

THBT size does matter.

R5

THBT the end is near.

R6

THB in positive discrimination.

R7

THW go Dutch.

QF

THBT diplomacy is the only solution.

SF

THW subsidise the farmers.

GF

THB in Zero Tolerance.