Amnesty International USA

Passed 106-4 as a Non-Binding Resolution by the Voting Plenary of the 2008 Annual

General Meeting

[A] WHEREAS the Executive Director has established a Membership Engagement

Working Group (MEWG) to "to develop recommendations on how we can improve our

structures and ways of working" and to determine "the right systems to maximize

volunteer involvement and leadership in Amnesty's human rights work;"

[B] WHEREAS, although AIUSA pays specific attention to including within other

advisory groups a diverse range of perspectives (including racial, gender, sexual

orientation, age, personal background, AIUSA leadership experience, and geography) of

the AIUSA membership, the MEWG includes only two volunteer leaders who cannot

possibly provide this diversity of perspectives;

[C] WHEREAS the failure to include broad-based membership input into how AIUSA

empowers members may harm what the Executive Director has termed AIUSA's

"primary, irreplaceable strength and the heart of our character" and "what makes

Amnesty International unique among international human rights organizations…our

network of active volunteer members."

[D] THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the membership of MEWG include not

fewer than seven (7) volunteer leaders who are not also Board members, including at

least one from each region and reflecting a diversity of volunteer leadership

responsibilities, that the Chair of the AIUSA Board of Directors appoint the additional

volunteer leaders, and that a quorum for all meetings shall include three (3) volunteer

leaders;

[E] BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the MEWG shall (1) evaluate existing

guidelines (the Guidelines for Shared Leadership, Guidelines for Steering Committees,

Guidelines for Task Forces, and Guidelines for Appointment and Removal of Volunteer

Leaders), and the Activist Growth and Development Blueprint, report with specificity

any problems these documents have caused, and recommend specific changes to each

document, and (2) recommend which existing leadership groups AIUSA should continue,

what new leadership groups AIUSA should establish, and the functions of each;

[F] BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that before AIUSA implements any MEWG

recommendations: (1) volunteer leaders, steering committees, Regional Planning Groups,

and other leadership groups shall have at least 60 days to comment on the

recommendations; (2) the MEWG shall post the comments on the AIUSA website, and

(3) the Board shall review the comments; and

[G] BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that, by September 1, 2010, the Board evaluate

any changes to how AIUSA engages members and report to the regional conferences on

its findings;

[H] BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that any member appointed to the group be able to

meet the timeline of current group.