Motion #11
International Co-Coordinators appointed: November 2022 Co-opted: Spring Conference 2023
The election for International Coordinator, which was set to take place at the same time as other GPEx elections in August 2022, was put on hold so there was no Coordinator in post when the election for International Committee was held at the Autumn 2022 Conference.
With a new committee that included a former International Coordinator and former committee members, the committee were able to keep an eye on international work while the Coordinator post was on hold.
The Coordinators (Frank and Elise) were co-opted in early November 2022.
International Committee meetings are held on the first Monday of every month.
Frank and Elise ran an International stall at Conference which included information about the work of the International Committee, flyers about the Global Greens Congress, and a sign-up sheet for members interested in being kept informed of the committee’s work.
Elise Benjamin (as International Coordinator), Michal Chantowski, David Zell, Eleanor Morrisey, Sarah Sharp, Benjamin Wold Birmanis
The six Council delegates plus Frank Sheridan, Jean Lambert, Matt Edwards, Julian Dean (also attending as Councillor Support Officer), Jon Nott, Ricky Knight and Mark Haworth-Booth.
With a new committee in post, a very quick turnaround was required to get delegates selected and registered.
However, the very capable team on the committee were able to organise the selection of the 6 delegates for the Council meeting and the delegates for the Congress in advance. Once the International Co-Coordinators were in place in mid-November, the process of organising the delegation, including ensuring delegates were registered and their accommodation and transport was arranged. I also mean that the detailed work of drafting and submitting amendments to draft resolutions could begin (amendments have to be submitted by the International Coordinator as the lead delegate).
From a total allocation of 39 Congress delegates, the party was able to send 13 (each holding 3 delegate votes). The 13 delegates included the 6 Council delegates, members selected through the formal application process, and several members who had contacted the committee because they were already self-funding to attend. The age range of delegates spanned 53 years.
In addition, Jon Nott as GPEx Chair and Jonny Denis as Association of Green Councillors Chair attended.
The delegation submitted 38 amendments to 10 of the 19 resolutions. Delegates then spent the week leading up to the Congress liaising with other member parties on compromise amendments, followed by attending further compromise amendment sessions at the Congress before the plenary session. Delegates were also able to begin the work of liaising and collaborating with other non-EU EGP member parties.
Elise Benjamin (as International Coordinator), Kat Foxall, Anna Key, Peter Underwood, Virgil Bitu, Harry Simpson
The delegations submitted 66 amendments to 10 of the 11 Resolutions. Some amendments were grammatical corrections and this led to a discussion between Elise as (joint) International Coordinator and EGP leadership about how to improve the proofreading process for Congress resolutions, which are all submitted in English (whatever the native tongue of the proposers). Delegates then spent the week leading up to the Congress liaising with other member parties on compromise amendments, followed by attending further compromise amendment sessions at the Congress before the plenary session.
The GPEW delegation submitted an emergency resolution on the UK Government Illegal Asylum Bill, with the support of Ukrainian, Slovenian, Norwegian, and French Greens. After discussions in Vienna between delegates and representatives from the EGP leadership, together with Scottish and Irish Greens, it was agreed that it was more appropriate for EGP to issue a public statement condemning the Asylum Bill. The statement went out on social media and the EGP website and was shared by many EGP member parties. The three United Kingdom Green Parties were able to back up their social media output with a group photo that included EGP leaders taken at the Congress.
Global Greens Congress occurs every 5 years and rotates throughout the 4 federations. This 5th Congress, delayed due to Covid-19 pandemic, saw the return to Asia-Pacific Green Federation (APGF), the first since the 1st Congress in Canberra, Australia which was the birth of the Global Greens.
Held in Korea, Global Greens organised this with Green Party of Korea, APGF, and Global Young Greens.
The International Committee oversaw the selection of the GPEW delegate, and the Young Greens delegate too. There were distinct challenges, mainly financial, given that funding was extremely limited for this opportunity, and the distance to Korea.
Catherine Dawkins was the successful candidate. As well as a committed Green in her local party in London - she is due to stand for election - Catherine is also a Young Green and so was able to attend to both Global Greens and Global Young Greens statutory sessions. Catherine was extremely involved in resolutions and processes.
Catherine, with the support of the International Committee, proposed a resolution to ‘Declare an International Climate Emergency’ which was successfully passed!
Catherine, with the support of Elise (who is a Trustee of the Free West Papua Campaign) also proposed a resolution in support of West Papuan self-determination. The resolution was then amended in negotiation with the Australian, Indonesian, and Papua New Guinean Greens. Unfortunately, due to an administrative error, the resolution was not voted on but because the case in support of West Papua is so clear and there is a long history of support from Greens for West Papuan independence, a Global Greens Committee representative is working with Elise to turn the resolution into a Global Greens statement.
There were 9 attendees from GPEW, who also worked with the Scottish Green delegate (who was attending remotely).
International Coordinators worked with Westminster Fund for Democracy, and secured funding for a young African Green, Georgina Kerubo, to attend and work with GPEW members.
3 of 8 Core Organizers of Global Greens Congress were from GPEW.
Amelia Womack, who delivered a Closing Speech in Liverpool 2017, delivered a speech in the Opening Ceremony. Please see the Global Greens website for further details of the Congress here,
GPEW members and Catherine, as the sole delegate, were also able to spend time networking with members from other Green Parties around the world.
International Committee future plans include:
Last updated on 2023-10-21 at 11:41