Date: Mon, 29 Aug 1994 15:02:26 CET From: "Marek Szymczyk" STATUTE OF THE "LESBIAN AND GAY MOVEMENT" ASSOCIATION (RLG) ARTICLE 1 1. The Association is officially known as the "Lesbian and Gay Movement". 2. The acronym RLG may be used instead of the full name of the Association. 3. The Association is registered, constituting a legal entity. 4. The Association is active throughout the Republic of Poland, with it headquarters located in the capital, Warsaw. ARTICLE 2 Objectives of the Association are: 1. Activities geared towards promoting public acceptance and self- acceptance of persons of homosexual or bisexual orientation. 2. Activities geared towards achieving equal rights for persons of homosexual or bisexual orientation. 3. Cooperating with state institutions and social organisations in order to achieve equal rights. 4. Promotion of preventative measures in the fight against HIV and cooperating with state institutions and social organisations in order to prevent and combat the spread HIV/AIDS. 5. Addressing social pathologies within the homosexual and bisexual community. 6. Helping persons of homosexual or bisexual orientation who find themselves in difficult circumstances, serving prison terms, or under temporary arrest. 7. Activities directed towards the protection of human rights. ARTICLE 3 Means of achieving the above objectives: 1. Organising educational and consciousness raising activities. 2. Participating in activities designed to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS. 3. Supporting and participating in studies/reserach and disseminating information on the latest findings on the topics of homosexuality and bisexuality. 4. Lectures, meetings, discussions, exhibitions and other public activities publicising the problems of persons of homosexual or bisexual orientation. 5.Organising counselling and consultations in the areas of psychology, health and legal issues. 6. Engaging in non-profit publications addressing homosexual or bisexual issues. 7. Promoting the social integration of the homosexual and bisexual community. ARTICLE 4 Members, their rights and obligations: 1. A regular member of the Association may be a Polish or foreign citizen who sign a membership declaration and pay membership fees. The final acceptance of new member lies with the Association's governing Board. 2. Regular members have the right to: a) Elect, or be elected to the various offices of the Association. b) Participate in the various activities of the Association. c) To benefit from various forms of assistance offered by the Association. 3. Regular members are obliged to: a) Participate actively in the achievement of the Association's objectives. b) To respect the Statute and internal regulations. c) To regularly pay membership fees. d) To participate in General Meetings and Extraordinary General Meetings of the Association. 4. Regular membership can be terminated in the following manners: a) Voluntary written statement to the Governing Board. b) Expulsion through a decision of the Associations' Board in cases of: - Gross violation of the obligations of a member of the Association - Activities at variance with the statutory objectives of the Association - Engaging in activities which might compromise the good reputation of the Association c) If a member has not paid their membership fees for a period of three months or over, and within two weeks of receiving a written notice from the Association Board. d) By way of a decision of the Governing Board, as stated in points B and C, a member has the right to appeal against the decision at the nearest General Meeting of the Association, which is authorised to take a final decision on the matter; an appeal must be lodged within fourteen days of receiving notification. 5. A regular member who does not fulfill their obligations may have their membership rights suspended by the Governing Board. Membership rights may be reinstated by way of decision of the Governing Board after it has received an adequate explanation from the member whose rights have been suspended, with assurances that in the future they will fulfill their membership obligations. A decision of the Governing Board suspending regular membership rights may be appealed at the nearest General Meeting. 6. A legal body may become an associate member. An associate member has the right to participate in General Meetings in an advisory capacity and is obliged to respect the statute, regulations and decisions of the regulations of the authorities. Associate membership may be revoked if their legal status is suspended, or if they contravene the statute. The decision of the Board on matters of expulsion may be appealed at the nearest General Meeting within thirty days of having received the Boards' decision. 7. The Association may be a member of other associations or organisations, or form a part of international organisations. It lies within the competence within the Associations'' Board to decide on whether or not the Association should enter other associations, organisations, or international organisations. The decision must however be approved by the nearest General Meeting. ARTICLE 5 The Association's authorities: 1) The Association's authorities of: - The General Meeting - The Board - The Review Commission 2) The General Meetings are to be called by the Board at least once a year. All regular members of the association are entitled to participate in the General Meeting as long as their membership has not been suspended. Members of the Association will be informed about the date and the place of the General Meeting in writing by the Governing Board, or through the information published in the mass media at least fourteen days prior to the dated stated. 3. An Extraordinary General Meeting may be called in order to deal with matters of urgency. An Extraordinary General Meeting may be called by the Board: - On its own initiatives. - On the motion of the Review Commission. - On the motion of one third of the entire membership of the Association regular members. Members of the Association will be notified in writing about the date and place of the Extraordinary General Meeting at least fourteen days prior to the specified date. 4. It lies within the competence of the General Meeting to decide upon the following: a) Determining membership fees. b) Electing three members to the Governing Board and three members to the Review Commission, in accordance with the election regulations past by the General Meeting. c) Approves the resignation of the Governing Board or the motion of the Review Commission d) Has the right to decide on all matters concerning the Association, including: - Taking decisions on changing the Association Statute. - Taking the decision to disband the Association. e) Taking decisions to approve the decisions of the Associations' Board on accepting Associate Members and decisions regarding the Association entering other associations, organisation or international organisation. f) Approving internal regulations and programme of activity. g) Reviewing appeals against the decisions of the Governing Board. h) Taking decisions on the matter of terminating Associate Membership. i) Taking decisions on the matter of the Association leaving other associations, organisations, or international organisations. 5) The Extraordinary General Meeting has alls the rights of the General Meeting. 6) The decisions of the General Meeting and Extraordinary General Meeting are made by way of a simple majority of votes, with the exception of issues defined in Article 8 and Article 9 of point 1 of this Statute. In order for decisions to be valid it is necessary that at least half of all entitled regular members of the Association participated in the vote. 7) The Associations' Board: a) The Board is composed of two Chairperson, male and female and a Treasurer. b) The Board meets at least once a month. c) The Board calls its meetings: - On its own initiative - On the initiative of the Review Commission d) The Board directs the activities of the Association. e) The Board calls General Meetings of the Association and Extraordinary General Meetings. f) The Board represents the Association in public matters and acts in its name. g) The Board has at its disposal the financial assets of the Association in accordance with the guidelines decided upon by the General Meeting. h) The Board approves the activity plan of the Association and draws up reports on the activities of the Association. i) The Board takes decisions on matters of accepting and expelling regular members. j) The Board takes decisions on the suspension and reinstatement of regular membership rights. k) It lies within the competence of the Board to accept Associate members in accordance with Article 4 point 6 of this statute. l) The Board is entitled to take decisions on the Association entering international organisations or other associations and organisations in accordance with Article 4 point 7 of this statute. 8) The Review Commission - The Review Commission is composed of a Chairperson and two members. - It monitors the activity of the Associations Governing Board taking into consideration the statute at least once a year. - It is able to request the Governing Board to provide clarification on matters of interest to it. - It presents its finding to the Board. - If necessary it motions the calling of an Extraordinary General Meeting. - Propose the motion of the acceptance of the resignation of the Governing Board. 9. The term of office of the Governing Board and the Review Commission is concluded on the day of the General Meeting. 10. In the event of the death or incapacity of a member of the Board, or Review Commission to fulfill their functions those members which in the ballot received the next large largest number of votes will fill the vacant office(s). This procedure will only apply for only up to one third of the Governing Board or the Review Commission offices. 11. The decisions of the Board and the Review Commission are taken by a simple majority of votes in the presence of at least two-thirds of their members. ARTICLE 6 1. Two members of the Board acting in unison are entitled to represent the Association and take up financial obligations. 2. The Board may take a decision granting a regular member to represent the Association in a specific matter. This, however, does not include making financial obligations in the name of the Associations. ARTICLE 7 1. The financial resources of the Association are collected in the following manner: - Membership fees. - Donations. - Charity and bequeathed sums. - Economic activities carried out within the scope of the law. The income gained by the Association from various economic activities serves the realisations of the statutory objectives and cannot be distributed among members. 2. The membership fee will be determined by the General Meeting. ARTICLE 8 Changes to the Statue may be made at a General Meeting with a two- thirds majority of votes with the presence of half of those entitled to vote. ARTICLE 9 1. The decision to disband the Association may be taken at the General Meeting in the presence of at least half of those entitled to vote. 2. The resolution, as difined in point 1 above, on the basis of which the assets of the Association are disposed of and the appointment of a liquidator. ARTICLE 10 Matters not addressed by this statute are subject to the relevant regulations found in the Polish Civil Code and the "Law on Associations" of April 7 1989, (with later amendments). ========================END======================================