From: ifcss@WAM.UMD.EDU (IFCSS HQ)
Newsgroups: soc.rights.human
Subject: Forword: IFCSS-SVC Resolution 4004
Date: 8 Sep 92 22:45:40 GMT


This is a forward for IFCSS Supervisory Committee
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For more information, please contact
Mr. Liu Zhendong, member of IFCSS-SVC
    liu@cae.wisc.edu 


         IFCSS Supervisory Committee Resolution
                On Mr. Li, Zuofeng's Appeal


Log No: S4004
Date: September 8, 1992	
	
        On Mr. Zuofeng Li's appeal regarding the legitimacy of
the first e-mail conference by the Council, the SVC has reached 
the following consensus.

	The SVC has noticed that it has been an established 
convention that the Council should announce its agenda, proposed
resolutions, and voting results of its meetings to its constituents
via some information network widely available to general public, 
such as China-Net and CND, with certain time-frame constraints. 
Although the Constitution of the IFCSS and the Bylaws of the Council 
do not explicitly specify the particular means of publicizing the 
forementioned information in letter, the convention has been 
followed and practiced, and has been proven to be an effective 
means not only to keep the constituents of IFCSS informed, but 
also to provide a specific procedure for the elected representatives 
to listen to their constituents.  

	As a point of information, we would like to review some 
historical facts. The relevant constitutional amendment (Article IV, 
Section 18 in the current version of the Bylaws of the IFCSS) was 
adopted on the Second Congress of the IFCSS. The practice of this 
constitutional requirement was fully established by the third term 
Council, largely due to the diligent efforts of Mr. Xun Ge, his 
colleagues in the Council, and the concerned public who have been 
constantly scrutinizing the activities of the Council. During the 
third term Council, China-Net had been used as a medium to publicize 
the relevant information in order for the Council to comply with the 
constitutional requirement, while the Council-Net had been used 
mainly as an internal communication network among the Council members.  

	It took a few years to shape the form of this practice, 
which bears the precious experiences of the past. The SVC 
would like to emphasize its view that the convention based on 
the Constitution and the previously recognized practices should 
be respected and be observed as much as possible, unless changes 
are made explicitly otherwise. It is a common wisdom that no 
written document could specify every possible aspect of
a particular matter. Therefore, no constitution or bylaw
could be of any use unless it is put into practice within certain
context of conventions. Although breaking a well-recognized 
convention does not necessarily constitute breaching the Constitution 
by itself, neglecting such a convention can diminish the 
essence of the constitutional framework.

	Based upon forementioned arguments and other relevant 
information, the SVC concludes that the action of conducting the 
first e-mail conference by the Council does not constitute a 
violation of the Constitution of IFCSS. However, it does represent 
an act of negligence by the Council, given the fact that the readership of 
the Council-Net is much more limited than a public network 
such as China-Net. The seriousness of this matter lies upon the 
rationale that the legitimacy of the IFCSS' representation  
would be in doubt, if the Council does not fully realize the importance 
of the interaction with its constituents, and thus cannot reflect their 
viewpoint properly.

	The SVC sincerely hopes that the Council would pay more
attention to such matters in the future. The SVC would also like 
to express its appreciation and admiration to those who brought
our attention to this matter, especially Mr. Zuofeng Li. We firmly
believe that the genuine concerns from, and the participation in
the decision making processes by the general public are 
the most crucial support to our organization, the IFCSS.
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