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3. Members
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| Article 32- Disciplinary action to members | ||
| 32.1 | Members subject to laws of the Society | |
| Members to the Society shall be subject at all times to the articles of this Charter and all approved and valid laws of the Society. | ||
| Where an Member has been found guilty of one or more breaches of these laws, that member and their immediate Sponsor shall be subject to disciplinary action ranging from loss of certain privileges through to explusion. | ||
| The operation of the laws of the Society in relation to member discipline shall always operate on the principles of the presumption of innocence, the right to fair justice, rules of evidence and the conditional right of appeal. | ||
| 32.2 | Bond of obligation of member and immediate sponsor | |
| Excluding serious criminal acts, by this Charter, when an individual shall be found to have a case to answer in regards to alleged breaches of the laws of the Society, their immediate Sponsor shall also be liable for the same sentence imposed upon the member concerned unless the Sponsor themselves bring the charges against their sponsored Member. | ||
| This bond of obligation is in recognition of a fundamental obligation of good conduct and reference of character that exists between an Member and any individuals they introduce immediately as members. | ||
| When an Member "sponsors" another individual to join as new full members of the Society, they effectively vouch for the character of that person as being reliable. If a man or woman then is not of reliable character, it reflects poorly on the judgment not only of that man or woman, but the Member that introduced them. | ||
| An Member then must be diligent in ensuring all those whom they introduce strive to the highest ideals and benefit of the Society and do nothing to dishonor the name of the Society, nor this Charter. | ||
| 32.3 | Release of bond of obligation of member and immediate sponsor | |
| Only when a sponsor nominates a charge against an immediate sponsored man or woman before an action is lodged shall the bond of obligation be removed. | ||
| This requires documentary evidence to show that: | ||
| (i) The Sponsor lodged a complaint/charge against one or more of their immediate sponsored members; | ||
| (ii) The complaint/charge was recorded as being lodged and a receipt of acknowledgment was provided; | ||
| (iii) This action predates any other formal action brought against a person for a serious breach of conditions of Association. | ||
| If one or more of these criteria are not met, then the bond of obligation remains in full effect and both the Sponsor and immediate sponsored Member shall be liable to the same punishment. | ||
| 32.4 | Crimes against the Society | |
| By this Charter, a crime shall be any act or intended act by an individual or group which willing contravenes this Charter and any subsequent laws having been ratified and upheld by the appropriate branches of the Society. | ||
| An Member and their immediate sponsor may only face disciplinary action if the action is listed as a crime. By this Charter, two broad classes of crimes shall exist: | ||
| (i) Crimes explicity listed in this Charter, which may or may not result in automatic explusion; and | ||
| (ii) Crimes as defined by valid laws enacted and upheld by the appropriate branches of the Society. | ||
| 32.5 | Crimes of Automatic Expulsion | |
| The following are the crimes of automatic exclusion. an Member and their immediate sponsor shall automatically be expelled and their Association revoked should any of the following conditions be met: | ||
| (i) A person did deliberately and willingly lie in regards to their essential details of their initial registration as an Member of the Society including : name, date of birth, email address and location of residence; | ||
| (ii) A person qualifies as a man or woman automatically excluded from valid Association whether or not such facts were known or disclosed at the time of their acceptance as an Member; | ||
| (iii) A conviction for murder, serious violent and/or sexual crime for which the individual has shown no remorse and demonstrated no tangible and active acts of contrition; | ||
| (iv) A conviction for the trafficking of child pornography and/or solicitation of a minor for the purpose of sex for which the individual has shown no remorse and demonstrated no tangible and active acts of contrition; | ||
| (v) Has deliberately sought to impersonate another individual, Member or person(s) in the provision of information to the Society; | ||
| (vi) Has made a false allegation of a crime of automatic expulsion against one or more fellow Members which had no factual evidence. | ||
| 32.6 | Right to hearing and appeal | |
| Unlike all other crimes against the Society, a crime of automatic expulsion shall have no right to trial or appeal. This is because all crimes of automatic expulsion are evidence based with no requirement for proof of intention. | ||
| Instead, all cases of crimes of automatic expulsion shall be hearing based by a qualified judge under the article of this Charter at which a final ruling will be made. | ||
| 32.7 | Penalties of exclusion and expulsion | |
| The following penalties shall apply to where an Member has been automatically excluded/expelled upon meeting a condition of automatic expulsion: | ||
| (i) Their name and the name of their sponsor shall be transferred to the Black List as an individual expelled from the Society for a period of not more than five (5) years. After such time, an individual may be re-invited to join; | ||
| (ii) The man or woman and their sponsor shall immediately be removed as having permissions or access to any electronic online services, the right to participate in any activity, the right to be known as an Member, as well as any rights to access the property of the Society; | ||
| (iii) The individual and their sponsor shall be stripped of any title and removed from any office held, with such positions being declared immediately vacant ; | ||
| (iv) The individual and their sponsor shall be excluded from receiving any services or assistance from the Society, or from indirectly receiving any such services or assistance; | ||
| (v) All immediate individual previously introduced by the sponsor expelled shall be re-allocated in terms of the Association network to the person who sponsored the sponsor. Where a person was sponsored during the Foundation period via Founding Sponsorship, their Association network shall be allocated to the next individual with Founding Sponsorship of the same or similar region. | ||
| 32.8 | Disciplinary action of state members | |
| Where a member state is found to be in direct breach of an article of this Charter and upon written notification has failed to indicate either a willingness to comply, or has failed to make necessary steps to comply within 120 days, it shall be a requirement of the Supreme Council to pass such legislation that disciplines the member state as way of punishment for the non compliance. | ||
| In the framing of such punitive actions, the Supreme Council must make every effort to see that diplomatic representations are exhausted first before any economic action is considered. | ||
| Action to expel a member from the Union is expressly forbidden under this Charter and any such legal act or motion shall be immediately deemed null and void, even if such action has the vote and support of other members. | ||
| 32.9 | Military action | |
| While the Union by its legal status holds primacy over its members in relation to the articles of this Charter, the sovereignty of nation states is without contest. Therefore any punitive action proposed against a member state that is in direct breach of one or more of the articles of this Charter must not consider military action as a course, unless it relates specifically to one of the following criteria: | ||
| (1) That an act of genocide against significant numbers of citizens of the member state is currently being undertaken with the knowing support of the Executive Government and that the Executive Government has refused to halt such actions after all other measures have been exhausted; or | ||
| (2) That a coup has occurred removing a legitimately and duly elected Executive Government from power and that such leaders of the coup have refused after repeated requests to return democratic and legitimate rule to the people of the member state; | ||
| (3) That the law and order of the member state has failed to such an extent that the basic rule of law and institutions of civil society have broken or unable to operate properly. | ||
| In all cases, such action should be considered actions of last resort. Furthermore, where such action is approved, the restoration of the full sovereign rights of the nation should occur in the shortest possible time. | ||
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