Code of Conduct

Everyone participating in the Cantonese in Ireland community—including, but not limited to Cantonese in Ireland events and other social channels like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter (and other future platforms) —is required to agree to the following Code of Conduct. This includes all attendees, speakers, performers, patrons (sponsors), volunteers, staff, and anyone being involved in any capacity in a Cantonese in Ireland event.

Always conduct yourself professionally. As a volunteer, you are representing Cantonese in Ireland.

The Code of Conduct applies to any Cantonese in Ireland event, which shall include meetings, conferences and symposia, assemblies, receptions, events, expert meetings, workshops, exhibits, side events and any other forum organised, hosted or sponsored in whole or part by the Cantonese in Ireland wherever it takes place.

Cantonese in Ireland is dedicated to providing a harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, mental illness, neurotype, physical appearance, body, age, race, ethnicity, nationality, language, or religion. We do not tolerate harassment of participants in any form.

The Code of Conduct is not legal or prescriptive in nature. It supplements, and does not affect, the application of other relevant policies, regulations, rules and laws, including laws regulating the premises in which the Cantonese in Ireland event takes place and any applicable host country agreements

Participants agree to follow the Cantonese in Ireland Code of Conduct and all applicable rules and procedures of the event, including health protocols, specifically COVID-related prevention measures.

Anyone who violates this Code of Conduct may be sanctioned or expelled from these spaces at the discretion of the Cantonese in Ireland Board.

Harassment includes:

  • Offensive comments related to gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, mental illness, neurotype, physical appearance, body, age, race, ethnicity, nationality, language, politics or religion

  • Unwelcome comments regarding a person’s lifestyle choices and practices, including those related to food, health, parenting, drugs, and employment

  • Deliberate misgendering or use of ‘dead’ or rejected names

  • Gratuitous or off-topic sexual images or behaviour in spaces where they’re not appropriate

  • Physical contact and simulated physical contact (eg, textual descriptions like “hug” or “backrub”) without consent or after a request to stop

  • Threats of violence

  • Incitement of violence towards any individual, including encouraging a person to commit suicide or to engage in self-harm

  • Deliberate intimidation

  • Stalking or following

  • Harassing photography or recording, including logging online activity for harassment purposes

  • Sustained disruption of discussion

  • Unwelcome sexual attention

  • Pattern of inappropriate social contact, such as requesting/assuming inappropriate levels of intimacy with others

  • Continued one-on-one communication after requests to cease

  • Deliberate “outing” of any aspect of a person’s identity without their consent except as necessary to protect other Cantonese in Ireland community members or other vulnerable people from intentional abuse

  • Publication of non-harassing private communication without consent by the involved parties

Cantonese in Ireland prioritises marginalised people’s safety over privileged people’s comfort. Cantonese in Ireland reserves the right not to act on complaints regarding:

  • ‘Reverse’ -isms, including ‘reverse racism,’ ‘reverse sexism,’ and ‘cisphobia’

  • Reasonable communication of boundaries, such as “leave me alone,” “go away,” or “I’m not discussing this with you.”

  • Communicating in a ‘tone’ you don’t find congenial

  • Criticising racist, sexist, cissexist, or otherwise oppressive behaviour or assumptions

Consequences

Participants asked to stop any harassing behaviour are expected to comply immediately.

If a participant engages in harassing behaviour, Cantonese in Ireland may take any action we deem appropriate, up to and including expulsion from all Cantonese in Ireland spaces and identification of the participant as a harasser to other Cantonese in Ireland community members or the general public

Reporting and Enforcement

If you are being harassed by a member of the Cantonese in Ireland community, notice that someone else is being harassed, or have any other concerns, please contact us immediately via email at secretary@cantoneseireland.ie.

Events

Please contact any member of our volunteer team. Our team will introduce ourselves at the start of events, and will be trained in how to address and report any incidents that attendees bring to their attention.

Online

Please contact an admin or moderator via direct message.

If the person who is harassing you is a member of staff, they will recuse themselves from handling your incident.

All reports will be handled in the strictest confidence. We will respond as promptly as we can.

Thanks

This Code of Conduct policy was remixed from XOXO’s Code of Conduct which itself is heavily based on resources provided by Geek Feminism, and borrows heavily from similar open source policies authored by JSConf AU and Django. Also acknowledgements that there are some parts borrowed from UNFCCC’s Code of Conduct.

This policy is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license, and is available on GitHub. We encourage other events to adopt (and enforce) similar policies by using and remixing ours.

Note: This policy is a "living" document, and subject to refinement and expansion in the future. Last updated May  15, 2024