Service Civil International | News Archive

So here we are, on the beautiful island of Mauritius. Let me first say this: it is thirty degrees and sunny with an almost personal swimming pool at the site of the accommodation. But don’t be too jealous. We do not really get a chance to enjoy the weather and the, for most of us unusual for December, environment, as the days are filled with intensive meetings. In this short report, you can get an impression of these meetings.

The first day, Thursday 10 December, was mainly filled with informative sessions. The organisations applying for branch or group status were presented, as well as the IEC-candidates presented themselves. The minutes of the ICM in 2008 were approved and the practical procedures accepted for the moment. But later there would follow a whole lot more about those practical procedures...

At the moment of this writing, at the end of the second day, some decisions have already been made. First of all, after a lot of explaining, discussing, giving examples and explaining again, an amendment to the rules of procedure, proposed by VIA-NL and SCI-CH, was accepted. This means that the practical procedures for the voting on regular resolutions and recommendations, has been changes, offering now a clear distinction between voting blank and abstaining. Next to that, SCI enriched itself by adopting one branch and three groups into the movement. SVIT Ukraine can now refer to itself as a SCI-branch, and SVI Brazil, PVN Albania and VWAN Nigeria received the status of SCI Recognised Groups.

An important remark is that the IEC has decided to take a transition year concerning the Strategic Plan. This means that a year will be taken to come up with a decent and workable Strategic Plan. A morning has already been spent on working out how to fill this year so that it will be sure that by the next ICM a new Strategic Plan can be presented and hopefully adopted. Tomorrow these discussions will be continued.

Furthermore, the urgent resolutions have been discussed and were voted into the agenda. Among others, these contain a recommendation on implementing the BDS-campaign, a resolution on chairing of international meetings and a resolution on hiring an IS member for the coordination of the North-South working groups.

The next days will be spent on discussing the finances and approving the accounts of 2008 and the budget of 2010, next to voting for the IEC candidates, resolutions, working groups and partners. So, the most decisions have yet to be taken, but the spirit is already awake...

I hope for a fruitful meeting, although time is pressing and energy is limited. At least, we have the environment and climate here to enjoy ourselves and command a limitless energy source: the sun.

Impressions from ICM 2009