ACCORD IAEH-2 · CONSOLIDATED TEXT AS RATIFIED
The Intergalactic Accord on the Expansion of Humanity
On the lawful, reversible, and accountable settlement of new worlds
SIGNED AT: Shackleton Assembly Hall, Luna
RATIFIED: 2030-09-01
SIGNATORIES: 38 states, 14 chartered settlement authorities
CUSTODIAN: Offworld Workforce Authority (OWA)
PREAMBLE
The High Contracting Parties hold that the expansion of humanity into the galaxy is neither conquest nor escape but stewardship extended, that every departing vessel carries the whole species' reputation as its cargo, and that a colony founded in haste becomes a debt paid by its children. We act not as conquerors but as stewards of a precarious expansion, ensuring that no human life is severed from the foundational rights of our history and no biosphere is compromised by our ambition.
Article I — The Charter Requirement
No settlement of a previously uninhabited body may be founded except under a Public Charter registered with the Authority, stating its population plan, resource budget, governance framework, and the conditions under which the settlement would be evacuated rather than sustained.
Article II — Planetary Protection Precedence
Where credible evidence of indigenous life, extant or extinct, is identified on a candidate body, settlement operations halt and the matter transfers to the Sentience and Biosignature Review Board (SBRB). Commerce yields to biology in every conflict between them.
Article III — The Reversibility Principle
For its first 25 years, every settlement maintains audited, verified capacity to evacuate its full census. Charters that project population beyond evacuation capacity require a two-thirds vote of the resident adult population, renewed each decade.
Article IV — Rights of the Born
A person born in a settlement acquires, at birth, citizenship of the settlement and an unconditional right of return to Earth, exercisable at majority at the charter authority's expense. No labor contract, debt, or covenant may encumber this right.
Article V — Generation Vessels
Vessels whose voyage exceeds a human lifetime are settlements in law from the moment of departure. Their charters must provide for education, dissent, succession of governance, and the right of any generation to alter the mission by lawful vote.
Article VI — Resource Conduct
Extraction on any body is licensed, quota-bound, and published in the Hazard Ledger. Strip operations that would alter a body's albedo, orbit, or scientific value beyond registered thresholds are prohibited.
Article VII — The Common Archive
Every charter settlement deposits its complete civic record, annually, with the Common Archive maintained in triplicate on Earth, Luna, and Mars, so that no branch of humanity may be lost to memory even if lost to contact.
Article VIII — Compliance Monitoring
The Authority retains the right to inspect any settlement for compliance with the Technical Canon and established safety thresholds. Failure to permit inspection constitutes a breach and triggers immediate suspension of supply rights.
Article IX — Anomaly Reporting
Any geological or physical phenomenon deviating from Technical Canon projections must be reported to the Anomaly Registry within one standard cycle. The custodian may declare an Exclusion Zone around such discoveries until full analysis is complete.
Article X — Dispute Resolution
Disputes between chartered authorities, or between authorities and inhabitants, shall be mediated through the OWA Arbitration Chamber. All proceedings must be public, recorded in the Common Archive, and resolved based on the preservation of the human collective.
Article XI — Transparency of Governance
All governance decisions affecting life, limb, or long-term habitability must be transcribed and published to the public feed. Secrecy is permissible only during declared emergencies, and even then records must be unlocked upon resolution of the crisis.
Article XII — Labor Protections
Employment in extreme environments must conform to OWA safety thresholds, ensuring that no worker is subjected to conditions exceeding established physiological stress limits. Penalties for violation include suspension of extraction privileges and mandatory restitution at the charter authority's expense.
Article XIII — Ratification
This Accord enters into force upon the fifteenth ratification and binds successor governments of every signatory. No reservation is permitted to Article IV (Rights of the Born).
DEFINED TERMS
- Settlement
- Any permanent or semi-permanent habitat established by human entities on a body beyond Earth that operates under a registered Public Charter and the legal framework of this Accord.
- Public Charter
- A legally binding document registered with the Authority defining a settlement's population plan, resource budget, governance framework, and evacuation conditions; filed in the Common Archive.
- Indigenous Life
- Any biological or pre-biological entity discovered on a candidate body exhibiting complex metabolic processes, evolution, or self-replication, the discovery of which halts settlement pending SBRB review.
- Reversibility Capacity
- The audited ability of a settlement, maintained for its first 25 years, to evacuate its full census and restore the local environment to pre-settlement status.
- Generation Vessel
- A deep-space transit platform designed to sustain a multi-generational population during a voyage exceeding a human lifetime, recognized as a settlement in law from the moment of departure.
- Exclusion Zone
- A designated area prohibited from human development or resource extraction, declared around anomalous discoveries or sensitive biospheres until full analysis is complete.
ANNEXES
Annex A — Minimum Contents of a Public Settlement Charter
Every charter must include: a population growth trajectory and ceiling, an audited resource extraction plan with quotas, a governance framework providing for resident franchise, and a verified evacuation strategy with trigger conditions. An OWA compliance officer roster and a publicly accessible local Hazard Ledger must accompany the filing, all deposited in the Common Archive before departure.
Annex B — Planetary Protection Hold and the Sentience Review Trigger
Should a settlement identify signs of potential indigenous life or protected biosignatures, all development must immediately pause under a mandated Planetary Protection Hold. The SBRB then performs an Anomaly Registry assessment to determine whether the site necessitates permanent total exclusion or whether operations may resume under strict monitoring. Commerce yields to biology throughout the hold, which may not be lifted by the charter authority unilaterally.
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