By Past District Governor Murray Verso, COR & COL Representative District 9800 2020-23
The Council on Resolutions (COR) of Rotary International meets annually online to vote on resolutions proposed by clubs, districts, and the RI Board and on any urgent enactments proposed by the RI Board that will amend the constitutional documents. Resolutions are requests to the Board or the Foundation Trustees to take an action that is outside the purview of the constitutional documents.
Enactments that change Rotary’s constitutional documents and RI Board position statements are voted on at the Council on Legislation (COL) which meets in person, in Chicago, every three years. It last convened in 2019 and will next convene in 2022. Each Rotary District sends a representative to the COL and can participate in the COR.
This year the Council on Resolutions met online from 15 October to 15 November 2020. 30 resolutions and one enactment were considered. The Council adopted 11 resolutions and the enactment.
The following resolutions were adopted, and we now await news from the RI Board and the Foundation Trustees to confirm their approval:
- The RI Board to consider ensuring that the powers of the RI Board do not unfairly exceed those of clubs, Rotaract clubs, and districts.
- The RI Board to consider making Rotary’s website and email technologies more accessible for those with visual impairments or other disabilities and extending that technology to its clubs.
- The RI Board to consider forming committees to nominate regional leader candidates.
- The RI Board to consider emphasising the importance of actions based upon Rotary’s ideal of service
- The RI Board to consider reintroducing professional development as a value of Rotary.
- The RI Board to consider requiring Rotary Youth Exchange organisations to provide annual financial reports
- The RI Board to consider reviewing Rotaract’s status within Rotary
- The RI Board to consider reintroducing the vocational committee at the district level
- The RI Board to consider proposing legislation to limit the term of the general secretary to no more than ten years
- The Trustees to consider allowing districts to use their own scholarship criteria when awarding scholarships for which no World Fund matching funds are used
- The Trustees to consider including measures for the prevention and elimination of plastic waste and residue.
The Urgent Enactment, which was to restore all members of the RI Board as members of the Council, was also accepted. This reversed a decision at the 2019 COL, which resolved that only the president, president-elect and one other member of the board could speak at future Councils.
More detailed voting results for each of the resolutions and the enactment can be found on My Rotary.
District 9800 voted in favour of two resolutions that were rejected:
- With several new clubs in the pipeline, and many established clubs getting smaller, we voted to reduce the number of members needed to sponsor a new club from 20 to 10. Most districts did not agree, possibly concerned about the long-term viability of clubs starting with such a small base.
- We have adopted the EarlyAct program in our District, and we voted for it to become an official RI program (like Interact). Other districts use a similar program called Rotary Kids. Previous Councils have rejected similar resolutions proposing clubs for children, and this was again the case in 2020.
Curiously, approximately 90 districts did not vote at all and others abstained from voting on several items. Of the 545 districts in the world, it would seem the maximum number to cast votes was 456. We can only speculate on why so many Districts chose not to have their voice heard.
The deadline for submitting resolutions to the next Council on Resolutions is 30 June 2021.