General Assembly 21 - 2017

The 21st IEF General Assembly was held as part of the 21st IEF Annual Conference in de Poort, the Netherlands, during the Justice Conference, on Saturday evening 15 April 2017.

1. Opening of the General Assembly
IEF President Arthur Dahl opened the General Assembly and welcomed the members and visitors present.

2. Introduction of members present
There were four IEF members present: Arthur Dahl, Sylvia Karlsson-Vinkhuyzen, Laurent Mesbah, and Wendi Momen, and ten visitors from the USA, Germany, Belgium, and UK. Arrangements had been made for several members to participate at a distance over the Internet, but this did not work due to technical problems. All those present introduced themselves and said something about their interest in IEF, including peace education, local environmental water work, and sustainable architecture for reconstruction after disasters.

3. Selection of officers of the General Assembly
The General Assembly agreed that Arthur Dahl should serve as Chairman and Sylvia Karlsson-Vinkhuyzen as Secretary. Two of the visitors offered to be tellers.

4. Approval of the agenda
The agenda was approved as presented.

5. Election of the Governing Board
Four members voted in person and five over the internet. The elected Governing Board members are Arthur Dahl, Laurent Mesbah, Emily Firth, Ian Hamilton, Victoria Thoresen, Wendi Momen, and Sylvia Karlsson-Vinkhuyzen.

6. Presentation, consultation and approval of the Annual Report
The Chairman presented the highlights of the Annual Report and responded to questions from those present. The Annual Report was approved.

7. Consultation on activities and priorities for the coming year
On the location and theme of the next IEF conference, one suggestion was to meet in association with the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in February 2018 in New York, with a focus on rural women and the role of the media. Another proposal was to have the 2018 conference either with UNFCCC COP24 with its facilitated dialogue that may be in Eastern Europe or Latin America, or the UN High Level Political Forum (HLPF) in New York in July.

On the challenges to get the membership more involved, one suggestion was to ask members to send in their one idea of what they do locally for the environment and put these on the website. One participant had just led a junior youth group in nature, and studied its environmental aspects. Nature discovery was the theme of a junior youth camp, including connecting with the virtues in the junior youth books.

8. Other business
There was no other business.

9. Closing of the General Assembly
After an hour and a half of useful discussion, the Chairman closed the General Assembly.

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