On 11-24 May, 2020 the Eurasian Harm Reduction Association (EHRA) conducted the online General meeting of its 287 members.
According to the Statute of EHRA, no less than 1/3 (33,33%) of members shall participate in the General meeting, which means that at least 96 members should participate in the voting procedure. 141 participants took part in the online General meeting of EHRA members. 139 individual and organizational members’ votes are considered eligible for voting in the online General meeting. 2 votes were not counted as valid, because they didn’t have a right to vote in the EHRA online General meeting (not official representative of the organization, not an individual member of EHRA). Thus, quorum was reached, as 48,43% of members participated in the General meeting.
As a result, the online General meeting approved seven announced by EHRA issues:
- Approval of EHRA strategy for 2020-2024 (Confirmed – 134; didn’t confirm – 1; abstained – 4).
- Approval of EHRA financial report for 2019 year (Confirmed – 127; didn’t confirm – 0; abstained – 12).
- Approval of the changes in EHRA Statute:
3.1. Approval of the change of mission, Art. 1 of EHRA Statute (Confirmed – 130; didn’t confirm – 2; abstained – 7). Confirmed EHRA mission is to actively unite and support communities and civil societies to ensure the rights and freedoms, health, and well-being of people who use psychoactive substances in the CEECA region.
3.2. Approval of the change of admission of new members to EHRA Art. 14 (c) of EHRA Statute (Confirmed – 126; didn’t confirm – 3; abstained – 10). Within 14 days, members of the Steering Committee will consider the application and decide on behalf of the Steering Committee whether to grant membership. The decision is made by a qualified majority of votes.
3.3. Approval of the amendment of Art. 20 (Termination of membership) of EHRA Statute with part 5 on procedure of revision of membership (Confirmed – 119; didn’t confirm – 6; abstained – 14). General Meeting decided to add one more case when membership terminates. Membership can be terminated in case of no participation in Association decision making processes: a) Association member, who is not participating in two in line General and/or Regional Meetings, gets an official notification letter on possible termination of Association membership from the Secretariat; b) If a member, once getting the notification letter, still does not participate in the next General/Regional Meeting, after relevant communication from Secretariat, by decision of the Steering Committee a member is excluded from the Association membership.
3.4. Approval of the change of Art. 53 of EHRA Statute on number of experts in the Oversight Advisory Board (Confirmed – 120; didn’t confirm – 4; abstained – 15). The Oversight Advisory Board consists of minimum 3 experts. Number of Advisory Board members is unlimited and regulated by the Steering Committee in accordance with the Association needs in external support and expertise.
- Approval of EHRA Advisory Board candidates (Confirmed both candidates – 116; didn’t confirm both candidates – 3; confirmed only Peter Sarosi – 15; confirmed only Monique Middelhoff – 5). In total, Peter Sarosi received 131 votes and Monique Middelhoff – 121 votes.
