独立中文作家笔会--Independent Chinese PEN Center

Charter of Independent Chinese

PEN Center

(Adopted by the Internet General Assembly, October 2005)

Chapter One: Generals

Article 1.

This PEN Center shall be a nongovernmental, nonprofit and nonpartisan organization beyond borders based on free association of those (generalised below as the Workers of Chinese Literature) who write, edit, translate, research and publish literature work in Chinese worldwide.

This PEN Center is named as Independent Chinese PEN Center with its abbreviation of ICPC.

This PEN Center is a member organization of International PEN and recognizes its Charter, which shall have precedence should the Charter of this Center contravene its principles.

This PEN Center represents neither a country nor a region but only its own membership.

This PEN Center maintains that a workers of Chinese literature shall always have freedom to write, express and publish her/his work and also the right to criticize those in power regardless of political inclination or other standpoint which s/he holds, regardless of country or region where s/he lives, and regardless of form or genre that s/he utilizes, and should not consequently be subjected to the political persecution nor to the imprisonment conducted by any state, especially by the extreme left or right regime. This Center opposes that anyone in power conducts control of press and publication or censoring of opinions.

This PEN Center maintains that Chinese literature shall bear its own characteristics of Chinese language beyond borders and nations. All of people shall have the right to write and express in Chinese. The publication and circulation of Chinese writings in any country or region shall never be interfered regarding its political system or situation.

This PEN Center maintains that the works of Chinese literature shall be among the common spiritual resources of all humankinds and that they shall under no circumstance, not even in a state of emergency like war, be damaged for political, ethnical, national, religious or ideological arguments.

This PEN Center maintains that any worker of Chinese literature must not abuse freedoms of expression, writing and publication. This Center shall oppose the use of Chinese or other languages for insult, slander, fabricating or deliberately distributing lies for political, personal or other purposes.

This PEN Center shall promote the mutual understanding and respect between people, do its outmost to dispel social, racial, class or national hatreds, and campaign the ideal of peaceful coexistence of humankinds in one world. This Center believes that defending the freedom of writers of Chinese works and promoting the exchange of Chinese literatures shall contribute to the realization of this ideal.

1. fulfilling the membership conditions affirmed by International PEN and signing its Charter;

3. utilizing Chinese languages in writing, editing, translating, researching and publishing literature work regardless of mother-tone, colour, race, nationality or faith.

A membership applicant must submit an application form, a Curriculum Vita and referrals from two members, to the Secretiat or a member of the Board of Directors of this Center. The membership of any individual shall be approved by the Board.

The membership of this Center shall not contradict any of other organizations. A member of this Center shall retain the right to be a member of other PEN centers, writers' associations or unions, societies or other civil organizations. A member of this Center may also be a civil servant. However, a Director, i.e. the Board member, of this Center must not have a position of any government officer nor be leadership of any political party.

All members shall have equal rights, to participate in the Assembly, to vote and to be elected. This PEN Center shall encourage each and all of the members to participate actively in PEN’s activities and managements. A member shall also have rights to supervise the work of the leadership and staff of this Center, to address suggestions, criticisms and inquiries to the President, the Board and other working organs, and receive the proper responds. A member shall have the right to quit from this Center at any time.

All members must respect the regulations of International PEN and this Charter, and pay the annual membership dues. The membership dues shall consist of a part required by International PEN and an additional part stipulated annually by the Board of this Center. A member with financial difficulties may apply to the Board for remission or exemption of membership dues.

Through voting of the Assembly or the Board, the membership of anyone can be terminated who is involved in any of the following situations:

1. open opposition to any of this Center’s principles stated in Articles 5-9 of this Charter;

2. continuous engagement in any activity harming the reputation of PEN after being warned from the Assembly or the Board;

3. participation in the persecution of any worker in Chinese literature that violates PEN’s principles;

The supreme organ of this PEN Center shall be the Membership Assembly, to which all of the authorities of this Center are attributed.

The Membership Assembly session shall be held every second year and convened by the President who shall instruct the Secretariat for its preparation. Two sessions must be held in an interval between twenty and twenty-six months. During the closing period of the Assembly, the Board, or at least one third of whole membership who co-signed a motion, may demand for an Emergent Assembly session, which shall be convened by the President who shall instruct the Secretariat for its preparation to hold within a month after it is proposed.

1. to examine and approve the working and financial reports submitted by the President on behalf of the Board;

3. to recognize the Honorary Presidency, and to decide on the Honorary Directorship;

5. to decide on the disbandment of this Center or on its merge with another organization;

6. to carry on its powers which are not assigned to the Board nor to the President.

The Membership Assembly session shall be valid should half of the whole membership of this PEN Center participate in its voting. Any of the working and financial reports and other resolutions voted by the Assembly shall be approved with the positive votes of more than half of the participating members. The Directors, President or Vice-presidents shall be elected by the Assembly when any of respective candidates shall get more votes than all of others failing to be elected.

The Board, any of the Working Committees, or five or more members as the co-signers, of this PEN Center, may submit a draft resolution to the Membership Assembly.

The Board of Directors shall be the decision-making organ of this PEN Center, responsible to the Membership Assembly to exercise the decision-making powers during the closing period of the Assembly. Total numbers of the Directors shall be odd and not less than nine. There shall be two Alternate Directors, one of whom with more votes when elected shall fill the vacancy of a Director if any. The Directors and their Alternates shall be directly elected by the Assembly when they shall get more votes than all of other candidates failing to be elected. Two Alternates shall be elected when they shall get the most votes beyond the total number of Directors elected. Any five or more members as the co-signers may nominate to the Assembly the candidates of Directorship.

This PEN Center shall have one President and two Vice-presidents, all of whom shall be elected directly by the Membership Assembly from the Directors-elect. Any Director may run for presidency. The candidates of vice-presidency shall be nominated by a candidate of presidency to form a group for joint campaign.

The Board of Directors shall be reelected in such a system that a part of the Directorship shall be respectively elected in sequent Assembly sessions in order to keep up the performance continuity of this PEN Center. A Director shall hold one mandate of four years (Beside the President, half of the Directors, firstly elected with less votes after this amendment of the Charter, shall have a mandate of two years), The Directorship whose mandate has finished (about half of the Board) shall be re-elected every second year. A director may be reelected consecutively. A President shall be elected for a term of two years and may be reelected consecutively for maximum two more terms (for totally six years). The termination of the Presidency term of anyone shall not affect one’s Directorship mandate.

A Director, Alternate, President or Vice-President shall have the right to resign. None of them shall at the same time hold a position of any government officer nor be leadership of any political party, otherwise one must resign. A Director to resign must present the President a formal statement of resignation, which shall be approved by the Board to be treated as the vacancy of Directorship for an Alternate to fill. The resignation of an Alternate, with the Board’s approval, may leave its vacancy until a by-election at next Assembly session should no impact be caused on the valid number of the directorship to hold the Board meeting. Otherwise, the Board shall instead hold the enlarged meetings according to Article 28. The President to resign must present the Board a formal statement of resignation, which shall be approved by the Board to be treated as the vacancy of presidency for the first Vice-president, or if its position is also vacant, the second Vice-president to fill. The resignation of a first or second Vice-president shall be approved by the President, who shall appoint among other Directors a substitute for the Vice-presidency afterwards. The resignation of a President or Vice-president from the Board shall be treated in the same way as that of a Director. There must be at least one fifth of whole membership to co-sign a motion for recall of a President, Vice-president or Director, which shall be voted by the Board for its validation with at least two-third positive votes of whole Directorship.

1. to decide on the choices of Secretary-general, Treasurer and leading officers of the Working Committees;

3. to examine and approval the working and financial reports to be submitted to the Membership Assembly;

4. to enact the Board’s rules of order, financial regulations, and other rules and regulations;

5. to examine for approval or termination of the membership, and determine the standard and amount of membership dues;

7. to decide on the establishment or adjustment of the Working Committees, on the adjustment of the Secretariat’s composition, on the establishment of the special working groups or an arbitration group for particular dispute under the Board;

9. to decide on the division of the duties of Directors, and on the position of a Director for financial supervision (simply entitled as the Supervisor);

10. to decide on the publication of open letters and statements on behalf of this Center, and the submission of draft resolutions to the Congress of the International PEN;

11. to decide on the recall motion, and on the call for an Emergent Assembly session;

13. to addresses inquires on and reconsider an administrative decision made by the President;

A meeting of the Board shall be valid only with the attendance of more than half of Directorship. A resolution shall be passed by the Board with the approval of majority of the attendant Directors. More than one third of the Board members must not simultaneously hold the administrative posts of this Center. The meetings of the Board shall be convened and chaired by the President. When the President for some reason cannot exercise the duty, the first Vice-president shall act for presidency. When the first Vice-president for some reason cannot exercise the duty, the second Vice-president shall act for the first vice-presidency. When all of the presidency and vice-presidency are vacant, the majority of the rest Directors shall elect a convener responsible to convene an Emergent Assembly session, which shall be-elect the Directors and Alternate Directors, and then by-elect the President and Vice-presidents from the Directorship. Two third of whole Directorship may also convene a meeting of the Board.

A resolution approved by the Board must be circulated among all the members of this Center. Whether or not to release a matter unresolved by the Board or a record of the meeting debates shall be upon the Board’s decision.

When the valid number of the Directorship to attend a meeting of the Board is not sufficient even after the substitution of the Alternates for the Directorship absent due to the irresistible causes but the matter to deal with is not so essential to need calling for an Emergent Assembly session, an Enlarged Meeting of the Board shall be convened to include the attendances and votes of Secretary-general or Deputy Secretary-general, Treasurer and the leading officers of the Working Committees who are not among the Directorship. The Enlarged Meeting of the Board shall be convened by the President, or according to the procedure defined in Article 26 when the President for some reason cannot exercise the duty.

The President shall exercise the following functions and powers, responsible for the Membership Assembly and the Board of Directors during the closing period of the Assembly:

1. to nominate the candidates of Secretary-general, Treasurer and leading officers of the Working Committees;

2. to decide on the Deputy Secretary-general, Secretaries and other members of the Working Committees;

3. to convene and chair the meetings of the Board, not less than four meetings a year;

4. to lead the Secretiat and the Working Committees, decide on the division of duties among the executive organs and routine matters of this Center;

5. to decide on the routine financial affairs upon the authorization of the Board;

7. to present the Membership Assembly the working and financial reports on behalf of the Board;

The Secretariat and the Working Committees shall be the day-to-day working organs of this Center. The Secretariat has a Secretary-general and one or two Deputy Secretary-generals. The Supervisor has authority to inspect and inquire the financial affairs and other working records.

The Secretary-general shall be in charge of the duties of the Secretariat and coordinate the works of the Working Committees. Secretary-general shall be nominated and appointed by the President upon the Board’s approval, to attend the meetings of the Board if not a Director, responsible for the implementation of the working programmes and budges approved by the Board and for the preparation of the Assembly session and election, and follow the Board’s resolutions and the finance regulations. Secretary-general’s financial decision within the authorization must be reported to the President and Supervisor in three days after the decision.

The Working Committees shall be the special working organs, some of which correspond to those established under International PEN, such as Writers in Prison Committee, Women Writers Committee, Writers for Peace Committee, Linguistic and Translation Committee, etc. thus following the instructions of the respective committees of International PEN. Other committees are the working organs established particularly by this Center, such as the Freedom to Write Committee, ICPC Magazine Editorial Committee, Internet Work Committee, etc. The leading officers of the Committees shall be nominated and appointed by the President upon the Board’s approval under the leadership of the President, and to attend the relevant meetings of the Board if not a Director. The Secretary-general shall coordinate the cooperation between the Committees.

The Secretariat has a Finance Secretary, or Treasurer, responsible for the matters of financial management, collection of membership dues, fund applications, etc. The Finance Secretary shall be nominated by the Secretary-general and appointed by the President upon the Board’s approval, not authorized to make any financial decision but to carry out the duties under both the Secretary-general and the President, and to attend the finance-relevant meetings of the Board if not a Director.

This PEN Center has established a Freedom to Write Award and Lin Zhao Memorial Award to honour the writers in Chinese or another language who shall have made free writing with an excellent accomplishment under difficult circumstances, or who shall have been committed to the defence of the freedoms of writing, expression and publication. The specific selection procedure shall be regulated by the Board elsewhere.

The terms of “within” a number or “between” two numbers shall include the number(s).

This PEN Center shall not be a writers’ union, nor responsible for defending the copyright or other economic benefits of a writer. This PEN Center shall not be a publisher for the publication and distribution of individual writings.

1. Honorary Presidency: reserved for any formal president with his/her consent, recognized by the Membership Assembly, without a time limit;

2. Honorary Directorship: invited from anyone who has made great achievements in literature or who has made great contributions to this Center, awarded or disqualified according the Assembly’s decision, without a time limit;

3. Honorary Membership: assigned for any of the imprisoned writers to rescue who is not a member of this Center, nominated by the Writers in Prison Committee and approved by the Board to award or terminate.

This Charter shall become valid as soon as approved by the Membership Assembly. The Board or at least one fifth of whole membership as co-signers may propose a motion to revise this Charter. A motion to revise this Charter shall be approved with the positive votes of at least two third majority of the participating members.