Page 28 - Bulletin, Vol.80 No.2, September 2021

Contact with our members

We were able to track the phone calls from July onwards, when the administration
gave access to two people in our secretariat.

However, those over 90 without an email address received a letter in December
2020.

Publications: Only one issue published.

We were able to stay in touch with our members through “newsletters”. However, it
is clear that our members who do not have email addresses have been left out.

Our INTERNET site also allows you to consult the information we collect and
share.

In addition we have been given the opportunity to publish an article in the NEW
Special magazine to remind people of our activities (pages 8-9 of the November
2020 issue (https://newspecial.org/newspecial-novembre-2020/).

Committee's activities: The Committee could hold face to face meetings in January,
February and even March

Virtual meetings could be set up from June 2020. This enabled the Committee
members to keep in touch with each other and to exchange information on the
situation in the various Geneva-based organisations.

The new Treasurer, elected at the January 2020 Committee meeting, could only
take up his duties in August 2020. It took some time for him to adapt to the system
governing our database but he was able to update the accounts and hand them
over to the auditors. The committee was then able to validate the accounts and
allow the publication of the 2019 report which you have recently received.

General Assembly: it allows us to report about our activities, to debate and to give
discharge to the Committee: it could not be held.

We were not sufficiently experienced to attempt a virtual meeting, and like
everyone else we hoped that the situation would be resolved in the autumn.

However, we did issue the statutory call for nominations for the committee by
email. This was a natural choice as it is totally impossible to actively participate in
such activities today without connectivity.

We had 5 applications for 9 positions. We deplore this, but the anxiety-inducing
situation has caused everyone to withdraw to their families.

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