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Minutes from the 4th General Assembly of IHEYO

  • post Type / Young Humanists International
  • Date / 6 November 2006

taking place at the Atheist Centre in Vijayawada, India

First session

on the 28th of October 2006

Agendapoint 1: Opening of the General Assembly

The meeting was convened by IHEYOs Interim President, Lars-Petter Helgestad.

In accordance with the By-Laws, IHEYO General Assemblies are chaired by the 1st Vice President. As the 1st Vice President currently is Interim President, the 2nd Vice President, Silvana Uhlrich, took up the task of chairing the meeting.

Agendapoint 2: Procedural matters

A. Stating the Delegates

Interim President Lars-Petter Helgestad read out the members present and their formal number of votes, as follows:

  • Humanistische Jongeren: Three votes, represented by Alex Klijn.

  • Norwegian Humanist Association: Three votes, represented by Mari-Marthe Apenæs and

    Randi Hermanrud.

  • Unie Vrijzinnige Verenigingen (UVV): Three votes, represented by Alex Klijn..

  • HUMAN: One vote, represented by Uttam Niraula.

  • Tarksheel Society: One vote, represented by Harpreet Kaur Azad and Gurinder Singh

    Azad.

  • Jong HV: One vote, represented by Mark Bos.

  • Social Development Foundation: One vote, represented by V. B. Rawat.

    Several observers without the rights to vote were present at the meeting, including members of the IHEYO Executive Committee. The delegates presented themselves briefly.

B. Approval of the Agenda

The Chair read out the agenda as previously sent to all members. No changes was made to the agenda, and the agenda read as follows:

First session: 28th of October, 20.00-21.00
1. Opening of the General Assembly by the President 2. Procedural matters

a) Stating the delegates of the General Assembly 

b) Approval of the Agenda

c) Electing Meeting Secretary
3. Approval of the minutes from the General Assembly 2005 4. Presentation of 2005 Annual Report
5. Accountings for 2005

a) Presentation of Accountings

b) Election of Auditing Committee 6. Presentation of 2007 Action Plan

Second session: 4th of November, 09.00-12.30 7. Procedural matters

a) Stating the delegates of the General Assembly 8. Treating membership applications (if any)
9. Annual Report of 2005

a) Adoption of Annual Report

b) Adoption of Accountings for 2005
10. Granting discharge to the Executive Committee 11. By-Laws Amendment
12. Action Plan 2007
13. Budget for 2007

a) Membership fees

b) Adoption of Budget
14. Election of Executive Committee
15. Closing of the General Assembly by the newly elected President

The Agenda was approved by the General Assembly.

C. Electing Meeting Secretary

Vikas Gora was proposed by the Executive Committee and elected unanimously.

Agendapoint 3: Approval of Minutes from the General Assembly of 2005

The minutes of the General Assembly was presented by Lars-Petter Helgestad, and were approved by the General Assembly.

Agendapoint 4: By-Laws and Standing Orders
A. Presentation of amendments for the By-Laws APPENDIX 1

Gea Meijers presented the EC-proposal on amendments to the By-Laws.

B. Approving new Standing Orders APPENDIX 2

Gea Meijers presented the EC-proposal for new Standing Orders. The Standing Orders were approved by the General Assembly. 

Agendapoint 5: Annual Report and Accountings
A. Presentation of Annual Report for 2005 APPENDIX 3

IHEYOs Annual Report of 2005 was presented by Executive Director Gea Meijers.

B. Presentation of Accountings for 2005 APPENDIX 4

Gea Meijers presented the accountings of 2005 on behalf of treasurer Frederik Dezutter who couldn’t be at the meeting.

C. Election of Auditing Committee

Skylar Curtis and Jyotsna was proposed by the floor and unanimously elected for this task.

Agendapoint 6: Presentation of Action Plan 2007 APPENDIX 5

Gea Meijers presented the Action Plan for 2007.

Interim President Lars-Petter Helgestad informed about the upcoming elections and the open offices.

The first session was closed by the chair.

Second session

on the 4th of November at 10.00, same place

The chair opened the meeting and read out the agenda for the session as agreed in the first session.

Agendapoint 7: Procedural matters

A. Stating the delegates of the General Assembly

Lars-Petter Helgestad read out list of members present, and their formal number of votes, as follows:

  • Humanistische Jongeren: Three votes, represented by Alex Klijn,

  • Norwegian Humanist Association: Three votes, represented by Mari-Marthe Apenæs and

    Randi Hermanrud.

  • Unie Vrijzinnige Verenigingen (UVV): Three votes, represented by Alex Klijn..

  • Prometheus Camp Association: Two votes, represented by Anna-Maija Riekkinen and

    Heini Oikkonen.

  • HUMAN: One vote, represented by Uttam Niraula.

  • Tarksheel Society: One vote, represented by Harpreet Kaur Azad and Gurinder Singh

    Azad.

  • Jong HV: One vote, represented by Mark Bos.

  • Social Development Foundation: One vote, represented by V. B. Rawat.

    Several observers without the rights to vote were present at the meeting, including members of the IHEYO Executive Committee. 

Agendapoint 8: Treating membership applications APPENDIX 6

The membership applications where presented, and some questions where asked from the floor.

The membership application form has been made to make it easier to administrate and it is not mentioned in the By-Laws. All the applying organisations have signed the Amsterdam Declaration.

The Executive Committee presented the recommendation on each organisation applying. One by one, the General Assembly voted over the membership applications (when the description was not unanimous, the voting results is included below) :

  • Cameroon Free Thought Association: Granted full membership.

  • Transhumanist Students Network: Granted consultative membership.

  • The Ugandan Effort to Save Women:

    Voting results:

Full: 2 votes

Consultative: 13 votes Granted consultative membership.

• Atheist Centre: Granted full membership. Agendapoint 9. Annual Report and Accountings

A. Adoption of Annual Report for 2005

The report was adopted by the General Assembly.

B. Adoption of Accountings for 2005

APPENDIX 7

Jyotsna reported on the work of the Auditing Committee. The comment is that the money has been spent judiciously and the accounting processes are intact. The language difference has made the auditing little bit difficult, but the committee understood the international diversity and recommended the accountings for adoption.

The accountings were unanimously adopted by the GA.

Agendapoint 10: Granting Discharge to the EC

Discharge was granted by the General Assembly, and the GA thanked the Executive Committee for their work for the now finished period.

Agendapoint 11: By-Laws amendment

The changes in the By-Laws are needed as we started with English By-Laws and in 2004 there was a registration in Belgium. Law required technicalities to be clarified in the By Laws. Also, some articles not accepted by General Assembly in Kampala, Uganda were mistakenly included. 

The needed changes are proposed to this GA (summary):  New article on the activities.

 The Full Members should be constituted in their countries.  New wording for the Individual Members.
 The Quorum was required to make decisions legally.
 Issues not in Agenda cannot be probed about.

In addition, the Norwegian delegation proposed the following to Article 7, Section 7: “But one person cannot have more than three votes.”

Also, the Belgian delegate presented the following to the same article: “An EC-member can not have transfer votes.”

The Norwegian and Belgian delegation together proposed the following amendment to Article 9, Section 1:

“Effort should be made to have as much diversity in the board as possible.”

Gea Meijers presented an own proposal for new wording in Article 3, Section 3:
“• The organising of an annual General Assembly.
• The organising of exchange acitivities such as conferences, internships and trainings.
• Stimulating and informing members about possible collaborations with other members or non-members.
• To support the development of the activities of member organisations, especially those in ‘developing’ countries.
• The publishing of an electronic newsletter for members and publishing of an online website where people can interact.”

Gea Meijers also added an own proposal for the Article about the EC, Section 1: Remove the following sentences: “Once elected, they are no longer eligible to represent any member organisation to the General Assembly. Executive Committee members have no voting rights at the General Assemblys meeting.”

Voting:
Fist over the proposals from the EC (numbering refers to the number of the proposal in the appendix):

  1. 15 votes for

  2. 15 votes for

  3. 15 votes for

  4. 15 votes for

  5. The Executive Committees suggestion: 1 vote for

    Gea Meijers first proposal (above): 14 votes for

  6. 15 votes for

  7. 13 votes for, 2 abstaining

  8. New Wording proposed by the Norwegian delegation for after “under the age

    of 35.”: “They do not have voting rights at the General Assembly, the EC has the power to accept or refuse individual memberships. The list of new members is presented to the GA, which has the option to exclude members.” 15 votes for the Norwegian proposal.

  9. 15 votes for

  10. 10 for, 5 abstaining

  11. 15 votes for

  12. 15 votes for

  13. 15 votes for
  14. 10 votes for
  15. 15 votes for
  16. 15 votes for
  17. 15 votes for
  18. 15 votes for
  19. 15 votes for
  20. 15 votes against
  21. Lars-Petter Helgestad suggested to change substitute treasurer with “deputy treasurer” in the proposal. The Executive Committee agreed to change their proposal in line with his suggestion. 15 votes for
  22. 15 votes for
  23. 15 votes for
  24. 15 votes for
  25. 15 votes for
  26. 15 votes for
  27. 15 votes for
  28. This suggestion was centre of a long debate about democracy, votes and quorum at the General Assembly and the place of formal registration of IHEYO. Suggestion from the floor to add: “Section X will be applied only until 2008.” 15 votes for, including the new addition.
  29. 15 votes for
  30. 15 votes for
  31. 15 votes for
  32. 15 votes for
  33. 15 votes for
  34. 15 votes for
  35. 15 votes for
  36. 15 votes for
  37. 15 votes for 

The Norwegian proposal (above): 10 votes for, 5 abstaining
The Belgian proposal (above): 15 votes for
Gea Meijers second proposal (above): 15 votes for
The Belgian and Norwegian joint proposal (above): 15 votes for

Then the GA voted upon all By-Laws amendments as a whole: 15 votes for The new By-Laws was approved.

It was suggested that the General Assembly should treat Agendapoint 14, Election of Executive Committee, before the other remaining points on the agenda. The GA decided unanimously to do so. 

Agendapoint 14: Election of Executive Committee

The General Assembly had to elect the following officers:

APPENDIX 8

President Candidate:

1st Vice President Candidates:

Treasurer Candidate:

Board members Candidates:

Lars-Petter Helgestad, Norway

Peter Adegoke, Nigeria, and Vikas Gora, India

Gea Meijers, Belgium

Uttam Niraula, Nepal, and
Rosemary Wanjala, the Netherlands, and Heini Oikkonen, Finland, and
Asaba Lawrence, Uganda

The following were elected at the General Assembly in 2005 for a term of two years:

 Silvana Uhlrich, Germany, office: 2nd Vice President
 Ademowo Adeyemi Johnson, Nigeria, office: Secretary-General  Sara Wastijn, Belgium, office: Board member

The chair presented voting routine. Secret, written balloting will be used.

The floor suggested K. Abhilash and Raju Pandit Chhetri as Balloting Committee, and they were unanimously elected.

The candidate then presented themselves. Rosemary Wanjala and Asaba Lawrence were both absent and was presented by Gea Meijers. Peter Adegoke was also absent and was presented by Lars-Petter Helgestad.

Voting results:

(Full voting results are left out of the public version of these minutes).

President for two years:
Candidate Lars-Petter Helgestad
Lars-Petter Helgestad was elected as President for two years.

1st Vice President for two years: Candidate Peter Adegoke

Candidate Vikas Gora
Vikas Gora was elected as 1st Vice President for two years.

Treasurer for two years: Candidate: Gea Meijers:

Gea Meijers was elected as Treasurer for two years.

Board Members for two years: Candidate Uttam Niraula:

Uttam Niraula was elected as Board Member for two years. 

Candidate Rosemary Wanjala:
Rosemary Wanjala was elected as Board Member for two years.

Candidate Heini Oikkonen:
Heini Oikkonen was elected as Board Member for two years.

Candidate Peter Adegoke:
Peter Adegoke was not elected as Board Member.

Candidate Asaba Lawrence:
Asaba Lawrence was elected as Board Member for two years.

Agendapoint 12: Action Plan 2007

The action plan was approved unanimously.

Agendapoint 13: Budget for 2007

A. Membership fees

APPENDIX 9

Proposed by the EC:
For full member organization with less than 1000 members: 50 euro For full member organization with 1000 to 3000 members: 75 euro For full member organization with more than 3000 members: 100 euro

It was noted from the floor that the EC should make sure to inform the members that the fee is minimum and anything above that is welcomed.

The membership fees were approved by the General Assembly without changes.

B. Adoption of Budget

The budget was adopted as proposed by the EC and some additional suggestions were made on providing the budget with more details, such as including donations by members for travel etc. and give and actual overview of EC-meeting costs.

The newly elected President closed the General Assembly by sharing some thoughts.

Vikas Gora, Meeting Secretary 

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