Emergency online session of the HMBIA Extraordinary General Assembly was announced on March 3 in response to the war in Ukraine and the impact it has on the HMB community.
The online session took place on Monday, March 7th, at 20.00 CET. Only one representative per country was able to take part. All participants to the HMBIA Extraordinary GA 2022 were registered beforehand via registration form sent by mail stated in the signed agreement.
Representatives from 36 countries filled the form (Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Luxembourg, México, Moldova, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Serbia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, UK, United States).
The meeting started with president Edouard Eme summarising the current situation of the HMB movement and condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The necessity to suspend all HMBIA activities was then introduced. Based on debates results it was decided to postpone the HMBIA activities except GAISF oriented activities and organisation of the ordinary General Assembly (which usually takes place in fall) with elections of the new Presidium, but not exclude a new extraordinary HMBIA General Assembly to be summoned to reverse this decision if a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine is signed.
The following step was the voting for the exceptional allowance for countries with signed personal agreements to vote on the main question, that had been previously stated in the meeting’s agenda. The suggestion was approved unanimously by the 25 attendees with the confirmed voting right based on the decision of the HMBIA GA 2018. At the next ordinary General Assembly, the voting will take place normally, following the resolutions of the 2021 General Assembly.
Representatives with signed personal agreement (Argentina, Bulgaria, Hungary, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Moldova, Romania, Sweden, Switzerland) were therefore allowed to vote on the following statement, after nearly two hours of debate:
“Russian and Belarussian athletes (with Russian or Belarussian citizenship) deprivation of the right to participate in international HMB tournaments until the ordinary General Assembly or until the IOC lifts the sanctions on Russian athletes.”
The “no” vote wins by 56% over the “yes” 44%.
Number of votes:
Yes: 14
No: 18
Can’t say: 1
33 votes were cast, with a turnout of 92%.
The proposal is therefore not accepted.
