To: All Member Unions
Dear friends,
Re. IUS Constitutional Event
Council and Congress
The Executive Secretariat (ES) of the International Union of Students (IUS) is happy to extend warm and fraternal greetings to all member unions. We would like to update you on very important issues pertaining to the organization presently.
For some time now, a number of consultations have been taking place around the crippling problems of the IUS and their relation to a lack of a constitutional event since 1992. Some of these consultations took place in Brussels, Vienna, and Havana to mention but a few. The most recent case was in October 1998 when the ES had the opportunity to meet with a good number of member unions in Paris during the UNESCO World Conference on Higher Education. At that Conference a consultative meeting was held at which a number of issues were discussed and some recommendations made. Once again, the main issue in the discussions amongst the member unions which were represented in Paris concerned an IUS constitutional event.
We are all aware of the fact that since the 16th Congress which took place in 1992 in Lanarca-Cyprus it has been difficult for the organization to pull off a constitutional event, be a Council or a Congress.
It should, however, be recalled that between 1992 and today many attempts have been made without the desired success. This was the case of Brazil in 1993, the Netherlands in 1994 and also South Africa in 1995. All these attempts woefully failed because of the continuing financial limitations of the IUS and the inability of the then host organizations to adequately fund the event.
Despite the different failures and all the problems that have been afflicting the organization, remaining ES members have always placed a constitutional event at the top of the agenda. With the encouraging support of some member unions we have continued to indefatigably explore every possible avenue to bring member unions together around a constitutional event where mutual problems can be seriously debated with productive conclusions.
At the time of the Conference in Paris the ES had received two offers for hosting the Council or Congress. These offers had come from UNEA-Algeria and GUGJS-Libya. The consultative meeting, upon sober reflection, recommended that the Council and Congress take place in Libya some time in 1999.
Shortly after Paris, however, two other offers were received from the CUSA-Colombia and UNEF-France expressing similar interests.
In the circumstances, and the recommendation of the consultative meeting in Paris notwithstanding, the ES was obliged to set new deadlines to allow CUSA -Columbia and UNEF -France to submit their offers concretely. Up until today the ES has not received any concrete offer in writing from UNEF-France. In the case of CUSA-Columbia a concrete offer did indeed reach the ES.
The result has been that the ES was finally left with the offers of Libya and Columbia. Upon serious reflection and a number of considerations the ES eventually decided that the Council and Congress be held in Libya.
Why Libya?
A lot of time has passed between 1992 and 1999, and quite clearly time is not on our side. We had to make a choice between the two offers available and of these two the Libyan offer had the following comparative advantages:
For further details the two offers are available upon request.
It is stipulated that these two events will take place one after the other in the last quarter of this year. The exact date is yet to be finalized between the ES and GUGJS-Libya. Do rest assured that you will be duly informed of the final decision as regards the date.
In taking this decision the ES is aware of reservations exercised by some member unions about an IUS event in Libya. It should be recognized, however, that GUGJS-Libya is a full member of the IUS and the chair organization of the IUS Constitutional Committee for that matter. In this light and in the light of their comparatively advantageous offer, the ES could not be any more or less objective.
Having the Council and Congress itself is highly constructive from every point of view for the IUS and its future. At the same time we believe that these constitutional events are not an end but a means for injecting a new life into our mutual organization. We are, therefore, hopeful that every member union will locate a priority place for the IUS and the Council and Congress on their respective agendas as we prepare to go to Libya.
How should member unions get involved?
We should particularly like to request of member unions the following modest support:
Obviously, and needless to say, the tasks are great, and the difficulties confront us everywhere, but with the understanding, commitment and cooperation of each and every one of us, we can put the IUS back in its rightful place. We are counting heavily on your understanding and cooperation.
Thank you and stay tuned.
In solidarity,
The Executive Secretariat
International Union of Students
You may reach us on the IUS address which is the following: