Context and why it matters
An association answers to its members in its General Assembly. Under Tunisian law the General Assembly is the supreme body of the association, and the assembly of 2023 had two tasks: to renew the Board of Directors by a vote of members, and to account for the previous year through the narrative and financial reports for 2022. TIPCS describes the day as a moment of unity around peace and conflict resolution.
This page, published by the Tunisian Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies (TIPCS), is built from the eight albums TIPCS published on 27 November 2023. The caption band printed on the photographs gives Sunday 26 November 2023 and the Regency & Spa Cap Marina Hotel in Monastir as the date and the place. Both are to be confirmed from the minutes.
Welcome of the governorate representatives
The day began with registration. TIPCS welcomed representatives of the Tunisian governorates and described the group as diverse in perspectives, knowledge and commitment to peace. The photographs show participants queuing at a table to complete and sign forms, a hall laid out with tables dressed in white and a welcome banner in French and Arabic. The attendance record itself is not published. [To be completed from the minutes.]
Participants queue and sign forms at the registration table
Opening and highlights
The session opened with participants standing for the Tunisian national anthem. According to TIPCS’s post, the President then welcomed those present, stressed the collective commitment to peace and conflict resolution, introduced the candidates for the Board of Directors and presented the electoral materials. One photograph shows a speaker holding up two envelopes before the hall, with the head table and the national flag behind him.
The election of the Board
The presidency of the assembly was symbolically handed to the Independent Committee for the Supervision of Elections, and members from the governorates then voted. The photographs show them filing past a transparent ballot box and dropping in folded papers, envelopes handled at a nearby table, and place cards marking the governorates’ tables.
Afterwards, the newly elected members were invited to take their seats at the Board’s table. Arabic desk placards there show the offices: President, Secretary-General, Treasurer, deputy Treasurer and two deputy Secretaries-General. The public posts give no names, no list of candidates, no number of voters and no result. [Names of the elected members, the office of each, the composition of the supervising committee and the result are to be completed from the minutes.]
Members cast their folded papers into the ballot box one after another
Approval of the reports
Under the newly elected Board, the narrative and financial reports for 2022 were presented and read in public. According to TIPCS’s post, members approved them unanimously, and the assembly also voted to accept the resignations of members of the previous Board. The photographs show raised hands in the hall and at the head table, and folders and files on the table. The reports themselves are not yet published here. [To be added once the Board confirms their publication.]
Raised hands across the hall during a vote of the assembly
Open discussion
An open discussion followed, in which representatives of the governorates took the floor. TIPCS’s post describes ideas exchanged freely and a shared wish to advance peace and conflict resolution in local communities. The photographs show members speaking into a microphone from the floor while the head table listens. What each speaker said is not recorded in the public posts. [To be completed from the minutes.]
Tributes
Two tributes marked the day. TIPCS thanked Dr Lamia Mokhtar, as her mission as interim head of the Financial Management Administration came to an end, for her dedication to the institute’s financial management. It also honoured the network “Dynamique Autour de l’Eau” and General Engineer Mannena Zitouni, a member of its managing body, for a partnership on peace, conflict resolution and environmental sustainability. According to the post, the certificate was received by Mr Amine Jrebi, President of the network, present as TIPCS’s guest of honour.
A bouquet and a framed certificate are presented in the tribute to Dr Lamia Mokhtar
What this shows about TIPCS’s governance
Read as a record, the albums show a meeting that was convened and attended by representatives of the governorates, opened with a registration, put under an independent committee for the vote, and followed by the public reading and approval of the reports, the acceptance of resignations and an open discussion. They also show what is missing: an album is not a set of minutes. Names, offices, vote counts, the attendance list and the reports as approved are still to be completed. TIPCS prefers to write “to be confirmed” than to guess.
Governance and legal frame
Under Decree-Law 2011-88 of 24 September 2011 on associations, and under TIPCS’s statutes, the General Assembly is the supreme body of the association; the statutes set how it is convened, who votes and by what majority. The Decree-Law gives the assembly one task by name: for an association above the 100,000 TND threshold of article 43, the ordinary General Assembly appoints an auditor for three years, and the financial statements and the audit report are published within one month of their approval.
Around the assembly, the Decree-Law asks the association to keep its accounts under the enterprise accounting system (article 39), to keep its registers (article 40) and to keep its documents for ten years (article 42). Foreign funding must be published within one month of the decision or receipt and notified to the Secretary-General of the Government (article 41); a change of statutes must be notified within one month and made public (article 16); and conflicts of interest of members and employees are regulated (article 18).
Where TIPCS stands. Documented today: eight public albums with posts dated 27 November 2023, the caption band with date and venue, and photographs of registration, ballot and votes. Still to be deposited with the Board’s records and then referenced here: the signed minutes, the attendance sheet, the narrative and financial reports for 2022 as approved, and the list of the elected Board. Whether the article 43 threshold applied to the 2022 accounts, and so whether an audit report and a publication were due, is to be confirmed by TIPCS’s accountant. No amendment of the statutes is documented in these albums.
The photographs and the minutes contain personal data, covered by Organic Law 2004-63. This text is information, not legal advice; points that depend on the statutes or on counsel’s reading are to be confirmed by a lawyer.
