Kiwi Island (Country)

**Kiwi Island** is an island in the Western Outer Region bordered by Desert Island to the west, Asauna to the southwest, Tikal Island to the south, and Californialand to the east. It was established in 1912 and Kiwi City is the island's capital. It is the second smallest island in the region, being behind Sorbet Island.

The island consists of lakes within a tropicalized biome and deserts akin to that of the southern Yoshi States. It is home to native plant species which are relied upon by native animals. The island first had contact in 1912 when French nationals from the southern Yoshi States sailed out to sea and were stranded upon. It was eventually turned into a country, and it served as an important trade route for both Desert Island and the Yoshi States. Green bananas, which are native here, were routinely traded until Kiwi Island's government placed a trade ban on them in 1921 to conserve them due to risk of endangerment.

Kiwi Island is a developing country, ranking 88th in the Global Development Index. It has a largely command economy, where the government redirects and has large control of, but privatization still exists in some forms. The island country usually chooses to ignore nations instead of fighting against them and they always try to avoid conflicts. However, it did have to fend itself from Rosaul's Kelly Island in the early 1980's.

Kiwi Island's government is an authoritarian regime where political opposition is not permitted. There are no elections on the island and independent journalism is severely repressed. Censorship and surveillance are extensive both politically and socially. Political pluralism is outlawed, and civil rights are severely restricted. It is often ranked as among the worst countries in the world for press freedom and it is often dubbed as the Western Outer Region's "Last Standing Dictatorship." Before Francois's election, the country was one of three countries in the outer region where their government had a legal system based on christian law, which drops the number of christian based governments in this region to two down from three (Neopalita and Leland). Since the election of Francois however, the country is now a secular country, meaning that it is neutral in terms of religion.

The country has scored a 12/100 in 2021, and it dropped to 8/100 in 2022 in terms of freedom, making it one of the worst of the worst, and it has an internet freedom score of 11/100 as of 2022, making it one of the worst countries for internet freedom, and the worst in the western part of the Yoshi Planet.

Transportation is also tightly controlled; citizens are only allowed to get a new car with special government permission and all cars in Kiwi Island are state-owned and are manufactured by the state-owned Ruth Motor Company, which is legally the only car manufacturer allowed to operate. There is a strict limit of one car per citizen and the government directly controls which car one can buy. Citizens cannot legally own a car at all and instead can only rent one. All cars driven by citizens are directly owned by the government and it is a crime to do anything to them, including adding custom seat covers and steering wheel covers, which are outlawed.

## History

Kiwi Island's earliest settlement was Porte de-Kiwi, which is where the oldest buildings are. The current capital was established in 1916 and it is where the royal palace stands. The second monarch, King Ruth (R. 1928 - 1964), ruled the country with an iron fist, banning all civil liberties and taking over. Even before then, all western media and technology was outlawed in 1916 and the press was tightly regulated. under King Roy (R. 1912 - 1928).

Under King Ruth, there was no freedom speech, freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, or freedom of the press, and everything was under complete control by the government.

On May 28, 2022, in response to the 2022 Insurgency At Kiwi Island, Queen Judy voluntarily stepped down and made the country into a republic, ending a 110 year long monarchial rule and starting itself as a republic. However, the person elected is the former secretary general Raphael Francois DuBois, who has supported the queen's regime as well as the country's ideologies.

## Rights

Civil rights are severely restricted in Kiwi Island. Arbitrary detention of journalists and activists is endemic, and journalism is tightly regulated. The country's constitution bans private media and only allows the Kiwian Broadcasting Council (KBC) to provide the country with news.

### Internet

The internet and computers have only been allowed in Kiwi Island since 2008. Before then, computers were non-existent except for government officials, and they have only had internet since 1999. The government banned all cell phones until 2019 when Wi-Fi and 3G were both introduced, but citizens could only get a cell phone with very special permission. This eventually changed in 2021 when citizens were allowed to get cell phones on their own from state-owned stores and later that year foreign brands were allowed in the country. Previously, none of this was allowed.

Computers are heavily regulated and ownership of one requires special government permission and a license. Before 2019, it was illegal for citizens to have a computer at home, and they were only allowed to use the ones at government-controlled internet cafes, which are under strict surveillance by the government. Since June 2022 however, possession of home computers was outlawed again, and the government seized all computers inside of homes. Now citizens have to use government checkpoints to get online.

Only 0.4% of the island's population has internet access and the internet in Kiwi Island is akin to that of the global internet in the 1990's, in some cases, even worse. The internet is very slow, and it is only capable of sending e-mail. It is often called by foreigners as the flashback to 1996. Even those that benefit from having internet access are closely monitored by state agencies and the internet is heavily censored by state agencies. Internet access is cut off during times of protests and repression of journalists and peaceful demonstrators is endemic. Citizens are legally required to hand all of their personal information to the government and use of VPN is heavily regulated. VPNs are provided to citizens, but only ones from the government are allowed, which have a backdoor and makes citizens prone to arbitrary arrest. Kiwi Island is ranked among the five worst countries on the Yoshi Planet for internet access.

### 1950 Coup d'état

Kiwi Island's current authoritarian government has been in place since the 1950 coup in which the previous king was overthrown and ruled by military general Louis Von Bernardo. Power was eventually transferred back in 1951 where the king continued the regime. This authoritarian government has been in force ever since, which further increased in the 1953 coup attempt.