Main conclusions of UNIF Congress 2012
Apart from the World Championships, another important UNIF event has taken place in recent days. On 6 December UNIF held its Annual General Assembly. What were the main points on the agenda and what are the key conclusions of the Congress?
After the usual initial procedure (opening of the Congress, approval of the agenda and minutes of last Congress), a general activity report was presented by UNIF Administrative Secretary Ms Zuzana Vinanska, followed by UNIF President’s Mr David Solano’s report on Futnet in the Americas. After that, candidate and observer countries were given the floor for a brief presentation.
The presentations were followed by the vote on admission of new members in which the delegates approved the Full Membership of Cameroon, Ireland and Mali and Associate Membership of Tunisia.
The following point was vote on suspension or expulsion of members. Due to the lack of activity and communication and failure to comply with their financial obligations, the delegates voted to terminate UNIF membership of Argentina and Malaysia and to suspend UNIF membership of South Africa until 31 March 2013. If the situation is not remedied, the membership will be terminated. Due to the need of structural changes and further activities in the Australian association, their status of Full Member was changed into Associate Member.
After a brief presentation of finances 2012, the following points were debated and/or voted:
a) First draft of UNIF Strategic Plan for 2013-2016 was debated as the way to, inter alia, to develop political and diplomatic relations, more efficient organisational and competitions structure an effective communications and promotions strategy. One of the main objectives is to comply with membership conditions of SportAccord in 2017. Member countries were invited to send their written comments and suggestions as soon as possible.
b) UNIF Anti-Doping Code was adopted to confirm UNIF’s commitment to fight doping, the code will be implemented gradually as allowed by UNIF’s financial and technical resources
c) List of Fees – higher participation fees for non-members
d) Amendments to Laws of Futnet
During the Congress, general elections were held in which most UNIF officials retained their positions:
President: David Solano (Costa Rica)
Vice-President: Kamil Kleník (Czech Republic)
Treasurer: Abdelkrim Abour (France)
The position of General Secretary (until then vacant) was taken by Ms Zuzana Viňanská (Slovakia), former UNIF Administrative Secretary.
UNIF Executive Committee is now formed by President, Vice-President and Treasurer. General Secretary does not form part thereof. The election of the remaining two members is postponed until suitable candidates are presented. They will be voted by UNIF Full Members in an email voting.
There was a general consensus that a new World Championships model might have to be adopted to make the organisation of the World Championships affordable to various members. Suggestions to divide (some of)the disciplines and to reduce the number of participants were presented. More suggestions should be sent by Members in written form and assessed by UNIF Executive Board and Technical Committee in the coming months.
In accordance with the Statutes, the Minutes of the Congress will be sent to the members within 45 days of the termination of the Congress.