ELF Code of Conduct

Adopted by the Board on 4 September and the General Assembly on 18 April 2024, following consultation with the Secretariat.

As a political foundation with liberal values including human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minority groups, the European Liberal Forum (ELF) and its representatives must live our values and ensure the appropriate level of safeguarding, transparency and professionalism within our operations and activities. 

The purpose of this code of conduct is to ensure:

that proper safeguards are in place to protect employees, and anyone engaged with our activities,
that the spaces we provide for participation are inclusive and safe,
that everyone who represents us does so with professionalism and a commitment to liberal values
that we are accountable as an organisation for providing this inclusive, professional and safe space and dealing with any breaches of this code. 

The section on behaviours at our activities binds anyone who attends our events, meetings, or activities. This means that in all cases, individuals bound by the code must behave and act in accordance with the code of conduct and be alert and act to reduce the risk of violations.

GENERAL PRINCIPLES

ELF and our members are committed to the values enshrined by the EU, including human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minority groups.

As a workplace and safe and inclusive community, ELF aims to foster mutual respect, well-being and dignity in all its relations in the workplace and with partners and individuals.

RULES OF CONDUCT

Discrimination, harassment and violence

ELF opposes all forms of harassment, violence, bullying, discrimination, or any similar harmful behaviours and has a zero-tolerance policy for such behaviours. This also includes personalised critical remarks about staff or other meeting participants or members in meetings of ELF.  Feedback on staff can be made privately to the Executive Director. We strive to communicate honestly and respectfully at all times and at all events/activities spaces.

No single person or group, regardless of gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, ethnicity, race, religion, sexual orientation, social status, political opinion, or functional variation, may be discriminated against.

Sexual harassment, abuse, and sexual exploitation

In line with the employee rules and regulations, sexual harassment is understood to be any form of unwanted verbal, non-verbal or physical behaviour with a sexual connotation with the purpose of or resulting in affecting the dignity of a person or creating a threatening, hostile, insulting, humiliating or harmful environment. It can involve unwanted touching, groping, jokes, suggestions, glances, and images that are sexually evocative and devaluing.

Facilitating equal participation and inclusion

ELF is committed to the participation and inclusion of all people on equal terms, and no representative of ELF should seek to make participation more difficult for anyone and should seek to facilitate the participation of people from minority groups. This includes making meetings accessible and inclusive.

Behaviour at events, meetings or other activities

ELF requires that the behaviour of any individual participating in any offline or online activity must be in line with the values of ELF and promotes an inclusive atmosphere and an accessible environment while enforcing nonviolent communication and balanced, inclusive facilitation. 

ELF takes a zero-tolerance approach in its activities to any kind of discrimination, as defined above, and violence, including but not limited to bullying, degradation, harassment, verbal, non-verbal, physical or non-physical humiliation and intimidation.

Before every activity, the staff member or other representative that is responsible for the event, meeting or activity will ensure that participants are made aware of this code of conduct and the procedure in case of violations (outlined below). This will include the code being included in registration, and participants will be asked to agree to the code of conduct in advance.   

VIOLATIONS OF THE CODE OF CONDUCT 

Violations by participants in activities, events or meetings

Violations of this code at events, meetings or other activities can be reported via an online complaints form available on our website and circulated to all participants after activities.

If the complaint is received after the event, then the Executive Director of ELF will review the complaint and have conversations with those affected and the person about whom the complaint was made. If the code has been deemed to be breached, depending on the severity, actions can include:

Informing the persons involved that their behaviour is in breach of the code of conduct and reminding them of the code if they want to participate in ELF activities in the future.
Ask the person to apologise to the person or group who made the complaint.
Temporarily banning them from attending meetings or activities.
Permanently banning this individual from attending meetings or activities.
Reporting the breach to the person’s employer, party or their member organisation, if relevant.
Informing relevant authorities who may choose to file a charge against the perpetrators.

In cases where mediation is necessary between the parties, the Executive Director will endeavour to provide mediation on a good faith basis and in line with the principles of this code of conduct. The complainant may request an apology or other remedy mentioned above if that step has not already been taken. Complainants should be informed of steps taken in line with any confidentiality considerations. 

In the case of witnessing or having received a report of any written, non-verbal or verbal violent or discriminatory behaviour, conduct or discourse, the staff member or other representative responsible for the meeting may respond using their best judgment and, depending on the severity of the action with the following actions: 

Remind participants of their obligation to act in accordance with the code of conduct.
Have a conversation with the person to ensure that there is an understanding of the inappropriate action.
Engage with the person to explain and ask for an apology and/or retraction.
Suspend the activity and/or ask the person to leave. If the person refuses to leave, they can be ejected from the meeting online or escorted out. 
In the case of violent or discriminatory behaviour, conduct or discourse that is physical in nature, immediately suspend the activity, ensure that the venue is safe for all participants and all concerned parties are in discrete locations, and, if necessary, contact the police according to the laws of the country.

If you observed or experienced behaviour at European Liberal Forum activity that you believe infringed our code of conduct, you may detail the incident using ELF’s online complaint form.