Title: Youth Association of Finno-Ugric Peoples
Author: imrkurs
Last saved by: JK
Company: Åbo Akademi

Approved at the VI. Congress of MAFUN
04.11.2003
Ioshkar-Ola, Republic of Mari-El

Youth Association of Finno-Ugric Peoples
Rules of Procedure
 
Preamble

These Rules of Procedure are established in accordance with Article 1.2 of the Statutes of the Youth Association of Finno-Ugric Peoples. All the provisions of the Rules of Procedure are in accordance with the provisions of the Statutes of the Youth Association of Finno-Ugric Peoples.
 
Chapter I. General provisions. 
 
Article 1. Definitions.
 
a) the Youth Association of Finno-Ugric Peoples is referred to as the Association in the present Rules of Procedure.
 
b) the Statutes of the Association are referred to as the Statutes in the present Rules of Procedure.
 
c) the Rules of Procedure of the Youth Association of Finno-Ugric Peoples are referred to as the Rules of Procedure in the present Rules of Procedure.
 
d) the member organisations of the Association are referred to as the Organisations in the present Rules of Procedure.
 
Article 2: Governing bodies and other bodies of the Association
 
1) The governing bodies of the Association are the Congress and the Executive Board; other bodies of the organisation are Working-Projecting Groups, the Council of Elders, the Bureau and the Centres of Co-ordination.
 
2) The Congress is the highest decision-making body of the Association, convened regularly every two years. 
 
The participants in the Congress comprise the delegates of the Organisations to the Congress as well as observers.
 
The delegates of the Congress are participants in the Congress elected by the respective Organisation to represent the Organisation in the Congress and representatives of the Centres of Co-ordination. The delegate of the Congress has the right to a decisive vote and must satisfy the electoral qualifications.
 
The observers of the Congress the right to a deliberative vote are 
 
- participants of the Congress elected by their respective Organisations to participate in the Congress in capacity of observers. 
 
- participants in the Congress elected to represent in the Congress those Uralic peoples who have no non-governmental organisations satisfying the electoral qualifications.
 
- members of the Council of Elders. 
 
- those invited to the Congress.
 
3) the Executive Board is the executive body of the Association consisting of representatives of the Centres of Coordination. The Chairman of the Executive Board is elected from among members of the Executive Board by the Congress for the term until the next Congress. 

4) the Working-Projecting Group is a consultative and co-ordinating body of the Association consisting of representatives elected by Organisations for the work at solution of concrete problems.
 
5) the Council of Elders is an independent honorary body of the Association having the right to present opinions on the accordance of the work of the Association to the Statutes and the present Rules of Procedure.
 
Members of the Council of Elders are elected by the Congress from among the former members of the Executive Board and at the suggestion of the Executive Board from among activists of Finno-Ugric ethnonational movements with the consent of them, and have the right to participate in the Congress as observers. 

6) the Bureau is the permanent body of the Association responsible for the technical and documentation support of the work of the Association, and is appointed by the newly elected Executive Board at the Congress.

7) the Centres of Co-ordination are the bodies of the Association coordinating the work of the Organisations. The Centres of Co-ordination can be established as legal entities, otherwise the proxies of the Centres of Co-ordination can be represented by a working youth organisation. The approval of the Centres of Co-ordination is to be given at the Congress.

The Centres of Co-ordination 

- pursue coordinating activities of the Association within the limits of the proxies delegated by Organisations that established them and are their members;
- have their statutes or rules of procedure, which do not contradict the present Rules of Procedure.

Chapter II. Participation
 
Article 3. Open character of sessions
 
All sessions of the governing bodies of the Association are open unless the body decides otherwise. 
 
Chapter III. Preparations for the sessions
 
Article 4. Date and venue of the sessions
 
Date and venue of the sessions are regularly decided upon by the Executive Board. 
 
Article 5. Distribution of information
 
The Chair of the Executive Board announces the venue of a session in written form not later than a month before the session. The announcement must include the agenda of the session.
 
Chapter IV. Agenda
 
Article 6. Preparatory agenda
 
The Executive Board compiles a preparatory agenda for all sessions with the consent of the Organisations.
 
Article 7. Procedure of amending the agenda
 
Every Organisation has the right to propose items to the agenda of all sessions and present the necessary supporting documents to the Chairman of the Executive Board not later than two weeks before the session.
 
Article 8. Amendments to the agenda
 
The bodies of the Association pass the agenda in their sessions. The body may amend the agenda with a majority of votes.
 
Chapter V. Languages
 
Article 9. Official languages
 
The official and working languages of the Association are all Finno-Ugric languages where possible. Working languages are also English and Russian. The organisers of the sessions arrange translation and interpretation where necessary.
 
Article 10. Deposition and publication
 
All official documents of the Association are deposited in the Bureau and published on the Internet-site of the Association.
 
Article 11. Availability of documents
 
All official documents of the Association must be published unless the body passing the documents rules otherwise. 
 
Article 12. Minutes
 
A Governing body must provide the minutes of all sessions within six months after the session. The minutes must include the correct text of all documents approved or passed by the body as well as voting results. The minutes are distributed to all Organisations.
 
Chapter VII. Conducting the sessions
 
Article 13. Participants in the sessions of the governing bodies and Quorum
 
1) The participants in the sessions of the Congress are the Participants of the Congress, the participants in the sessions of the Centres of Co-ordination and representatives of Working-Projecting Groups, the participants in the sessions of the Executive Board are the members of the Executive Board. 
 
2) The quorum of the respective body is formed if the simply majority of Participants is present.
 
Article 14. Chairing the sessions and the responsibilities of the Chair of a session
 
1) the Congress, the Executive Board and the Council of Co-ordinators are regularly chaired by the member of the Executive Board to who is fulfilling the responsibilities of the Chair of the Executive Board at the time, or by his absence and with his content another member of the Executive Board. 
 
2) The responsibilities of the Chair of a session in conducting the session and the matters of his competence include the following:
 
a) opening and closing the sessions
b) giving the floor to the participants with the right of speech, deciding on the length of comments allowed as well as how many times the floor should be given to a participant.
c) keeping the order in sessions
d) upholding these Rules of Procedure
e) putting proposals to the vote
f) conduct the procedure of voting
g) declaring decisions passed by the body
h) making decisions pertaining to the conduction of the procedure
i) declaring breaks in the sessions. 
 
Article 15. Proposals on the order of procedure 
 
In discussions on any item of the agenda, participants in the session may present a proposal on the order of procedure. The Chair will instantly make a decision on the proposal without a discussion. The participant who has been given the floor to present a proposal on the order of procedure may not use the time allocated to her/him to comment on other matters.
 
Article 16. Discussion
 
1) Participants may not take the floor unless given the floor by the Chair.
 
2) If the participant given the floor strays from the theme of the discussion or the issue under discussion, the Chair must make him a remark. 
 
3) If the participant given the floor surpasses the time limit allocated to him, the Chair must make him a remark.
 
Article 17. The right to participate in discussions
 
1) The right to participate in discussions is granted by the Chair to any Participants on their request. It is recommended that the comments by the participants be as short as possible. The time allocated to the comments may be limited by the Chair. 
 
2) The Chair must make a remark to the Participants who in their comments stray from the issue under discussion.
 
Article 18. Discontinuing discussions, proclaiming breaks or postponing sessions
 
In the discussion on any issue, Participants of the session may propose to discontinue the discussion on the current issue, to proclaim a break or to postpone the session. The Participant presenting such a proposal must also ground the proposal. On the basis of such a proposal, the Chair must make a decision which may be rejected in an immediate open vote.
 
Article 19. Official documents
 
1) Official documents of the Association are the Statutes, the Rules of Procedure, agendas, invitations, resolutions, decisions, notification, addresses, declarations, recommendations, proposals, amendments, mandates and minutes.
 
The Congress passes the Statutes, the Rules of Procedure, the agenda of the Congress, resolutions, addresses and declarations. Minutes of the sessions of the Congress are kept.
 
The Executive Board passes agendas, decisions, notification, addresses, declarations, recommendations and amendments; the Bureau distributes the minutes.

The Organisations provide mandates to represent their interests in the respective bodies of the Association, pass to the governing bodies of the Association addresses, declarations, recommendations, proposals, amendments.

2) Projects of official documents have to be presented to the Chair in written form in one of the official languages not later than forty-eight hours before voting on the respective project.
 
3) The pertinence and the formal correctness of the official documents are reviewed by the Editorial Committee appointed by the Chair. 
 
4) Projects of official documents are signed by the Chair of the session. The projects may be signed by all or some of the Participants of the session.
 
Article 20. Proposals
 
Any amendments or recommendations presented during the session are considered proposals. Articles 21 to 30 of these Rules of Procedure apply to all proposals.
 
Article 21. Repeating proposals on official documents
 
If a proposal on an official document is turned down, it may not be presented again in the same session.
 
Article 22. Competence 
 
All questions on the competence of a body in passing a proposal must be solved in an open vote before the vote on the issue in question.
 
Chapter VIII. Voting
 
Article 23. The necessity to vote 
 
1) In the discussion of a proposal, the Participants may declare the necessity to put the proposal on the vote.
 
2) A proposal may be passed on the basis of consensus without a vote in case only if no Participants opine the necessity to vote.
 
Article 24. The right to vote
 
1) All the Participants of a session have the right to vote. Every Participant in a session must present a mandate to the Chair. The Organisations must provide the Chair in written form with full names of their representatives having the right to vote in the name of the organisation. 
 
2) In order to use the right to vote of a Participant in the session, the representative must be present in the session at the moment of voting.
 
3) Every Organisation with less than one hundred private members has one vote in the Congress; every organisation which can prove having one hundred private members or more, has two votes in the Congress; every organisation which can prove having one thousand private members or more, has three votes in the Congress.
 
Article 25. Announcing the text of official documents
 
Instantly before the vote, the Chair announces the exact text of the official document to be voted on.
 
Article 26. Open vote
 
In all cases with the exception of those when a secret vote is required (as provided for in Article 32 of these Rules of Procedure), the elections are carried out by means of an open vote.
 
Article 27. Grounding the necessity to vote
 
The Participant of the session who has declared voting necessary, may ground his/her opinion in brief instantly before the vote or instantly after the vote.
 
Article 28. Interrupting the vote
 
The commencing voting may be interrupted only in case a proposal on the procedure or on the procedure of voting is presented before the vote.
 
Article 29. The order of voting
 
Voting on the official documents takes place in the order in which the documents have been presented, unless the Chair rules otherwise.
 
Article 30. Necessary majority of votes
 
1) A decision may be passed with a qualified majority of votes or with a simple majority of votes. A qualified majority of votes is ¾ and in specifically indicated issues 9/10; a simple majority of votes is more than 50% of the votes or 50% plus one vote cast in favour of the decision
 
2) All decisions are passed with a simple majority of votes of the Participants present unless the Statutes or these Rules of Procedure provide for a different procedure of voting.
 
3) Participants in the session not partaking in the vote are considered as not having voted.
 
Chapter IX. Working-Projecting Groups
 
Article 31. Working-Projecting Groups
 
1) Organisations form the Working-Projecting Groups as necessary for solution of emerging problems and accomplishment of projects. The representatives of the Working-Projecting Groups may be present at the sessions of the Executive Board or inform it on their work.
 
2) Sessions of the Working-Projecting Groups are held to work on concrete projects and as a rule take place at the same time as sessions of the bodies of the Association.

Chapter X. Elections
 
Article 32. Voting
 
Voting is open unless a secret vote is demanded by any Participants of the session.
 
Article 33. Electing members of the Executive Board
 
1) Any Organisation may propose a candidate for the office of a member of the Executive Board.
 
2) The Centres of Coordination propose a candidate for the office of a member of the Executive Board according to their statutes or rules of procedure.

3) In case a member of the Executive Board resigns, the Centres of Coordination propose a new candidate of the Executive Board.
 
Article 34. Requirements to the delegates of the Congress, co-ordinators and members of the Executive Board
 
1) Persons who satisfy the following requirements may be elected as a delegate of the Congress or as a member of the Executive Board:
 
* must be under thirty years of age when elected
 
* must not be on government service
 
* must present the Chair with a mandate sustaining his/her competence to represent his/her organisation in the Congress or to represent the people in question in the Working-Projecting Group.
 
2) A person may not be elected as a member of the Executive Board more than twice consecutively.
 
Chapter XI. Closing provisions
 
Article 35. Supplements to these Rules of Procedure
 
The Congress may consider supplementing these Rules of Procedure on the condition that the supplements have been presented at least one month before the Congress. The supplements must be passed with a qualified majority of votes.

Article 36. Procedures not provided for in these Rules of Procedure
 
Decisions on procedures not provided for in these Rules of Procedure are made by the Chair in consultation with the members of the Executive Board in the sessions.