WOCIT HP E-House-Wise-0704
6 May 2007
The 4-th draft Rules of the House of Wise Men was made up by WOCIT President
Rikio Kaneko, who presented it to the WOCIT General Assembly, which adopted
the draft. The Rules reads as follows:(For Japanese text see jp)
Rules of the House of Wise Men
The World Citizens' Tribunal (WOCIT),
in order to become one of the worldwide mechanisms where intellect,
good sense, faith and hope are concentrated into:
seeking permanent world peace and general and complete disarmament under
effective international control,
recognizing that not only reforms of the United Nations, but also study
of world law and the World Federation is becoming more important in the
view of continuing wars and neglect of rule of law,
and for the purpose of obtaining more cooperation from intellectual,
honorary or popular figures in the world, to construct a better architecture
for developing the WOCIT further.
adopted the present Rules on the House of Wise Men on the 3-rd day April
2007.
Chapter 1 Composition and Members' status
Article 1 (composition) 1. The WOCIT House of Wise Men will be composed of the President of the House,
Heads of State, the Vice presidents of the House, Advisers, Consultants,
Honorary president of the General Assembly, Honorary presidents of each
Regional Assembly and the members whom the General Assembly adds.
2. The General Assembly will see that Vice-presidents of the House, Advisers,
Consultants and Honorary presidents of Regional Assemblies be elected,
in principle, on an equal basis as much as possible from African, American,
Asian and European regions.
（This is a principle, and it cannot be helped in case there is not a candidate
to fill a given post.)
Article 2 (election and status of a member) 1. The General Assembly elects members of the House of Wise Men.
2. The members will automatically become WOCIT members, obtaining a post in
the House of Wise Men. Wise Men may be exempted from all of the other posts
of the WOCIT and membership fees besides the entrance procedure, providing
that they are not excluded from speaking and or voting in the General Assembly.
Chapter 2 Competence
Article 3 (primary competence） The House of Wise Men has the following primary competence, its functions
are not so strict, each Wise Men may perform his/her role within the radius
of his/her time on hand.
（We presuppose that famous figures in the honorary post of the WOCIT are
extremely busy with their proper or other activities, so that we are obliged
to minimize their obligations in the WOCIT. The following items are therefore,
authority rather than obligations in the sense that they are expected to
be performed in case the members can't afford the time to perform the task..
)
a. First of all, it is expected that the House of Wise Men will formulate
the WOCIT declaration which proposes a scheme for establishing permanent
world peace and a process of development of the Earth community ruled by
law, providing a clear understanding of the demands of the twenty-first
century and taking into account the values not only of Nation States but
also of all mankind.
b. At the request of WOCIT’s President of the House may deliberate general
matters concerning the purposes of the WOCIT.
(The phrase 'At the request of WOCIT President' is necessary in order to
evade the overlaping of deliberation in the General Assembly and the House
of Wise Men.)
c. At the request of WOCIT’s President the House of Wise Men may express its
own position concerning a given serious international situation, and send
Statements, Proposals, Requests or Recommendations to the United Nations,
the conflicting parties, Heads of State, Parliamentarians and Assemblymen.
d. Taking into account that the function defined in (a) is superior to (b),
WOCIT President shall consult with GA President so that the GA can deliberate,
as much as possible, the Statement, Proposal, Request or Recommendation
mentioned in (c).
Article 4 (decision）１．The House of Wise Men will operate under a simple majority in regard to procedural matters and under 2/3 of majority in respective matters (a) to (c) concerning its competence mentioned in the preceding Article. External documents may be adopted by members as agreements with their names listed in them.
2．Any Wise Men may express individual opinion in an external document adopted
by the House of Wise Men.
Chapter 3 President of the House
Article 5 (President of the House） Primary competence of the President of the House is as follows:
a. to represent the House of Wise Men, provided that important matters and
matters involving financial expenditure are concerned. The President of
the House shall receive in advance the consent of WOCIT’s President and
the Secretary-General.
ｂ. to hear members' opinions or summarize them;
ｃ. to receive very important persons; and
ｄ. to announce, in accordance with Article 6, President's statement concerning
serious international situations.
Article 6 (serious international situation） １． At any time the Honorary President may present his/her draft statement
on a serious international situation to WOCIT’s President, and immediately
after their mutual consultation may send a statement to the United Nations,
conflicting parties, and/or Heads of State in the world.
（The consultation is necessary in order to maintain the unity of the WOCIT.
Secondly, because the WOCIT President is also able to announce a statement
on serious international situation, such as the statement on Iraq issued
in January 2007.）
２．For the purpose of promoting the early drawing up of the above-mentioned statement any Wise Men may present his/her general or partial opinion to President of the House..
Chapter 4 Vice-president, Advisors and Consultants
Article 7 (Vice presidents of the House) The Vice presidents' principal function is to help the President of the
House when the latter requests them to do so.
Article 8 (Advisors）Advisors may answer, in principle, to the legal inquiry of WOCIT’s President,
President of the General Assembly or Secretary-General.
（An answer in writing is desirable, but they may answer orally.）
Article 9 （Consultants) Consultants may cooperate with the WOCIT President,
President of the General Assembly, and or the Secretary-General all of
which may develop the WOCIT.
Chapter 5 Secretariat
Article 10 (composition and a quasi-staffer）1. The House of Wise Men may select its Secretariat staff not only from the
WOCIT Secretariat, but also from outside.
2. The external-staffer may become a quasi-staffer of WOCIT’s Secretariat,
without being a WOCIT member.
Chapter 6 Miscellaneous
Article 11 (effectuation) The present Rules on the House of Wise Men shall enter into force when the fifth Member appears in the House.