Terms of use of the Servas International website
Updated February 2024
Servas International is an international, non-profit, non-governmental federation of national Servas groups, encompassing an international network of hosts and travellers. The purpose of the network is to help build world peace, goodwill and understanding by providing opportunities for personal contacts among people of different cultures, backgrounds and nationalities.
Servas International is a non-profit federation incorporated under Articles 60 to 79 of the Civil Code of Switzerland, and in conformity with Swiss law, with legal seat currently at Zurich, Switzerland.
These Terms of Use govern the relationship between Servas International, and you, as user of the Servas International website - servas.org. Swiss law is applicable.
1. Membership
By registering an account on the servas.org website, you become a member of Servas International. Membership is open to physical persons only. Each member is allowed to have one account (profile) - any additional accounts you create will be removed along with all its content. The minimum age for membership is 18.
Types of membership:
Active membership: By completing the registration process, you become an active member of Servas. This allows you to fully participate in the network and to use all member services that the website offers.
Inactive membership: Active members who have not paid in due time the fees to Servas are set to "inactive" until the due fees are paid. The membership remains intact and all data is kept but the profile may not be listed in default member search results. Inactive members will receive a reminder at the time the profile is set to inactive.
2. Registration
At registration, you are required to provide accurate, up-to-date and complete data about yourself in all mandatory fields of the registration form. This data has to be kept accurate and up-to-date at all times during your membership. This is especially important with respect to your e-mail address, since this is the primary way in which we communicate with you about your account.
As part of the registration process you will be asked to set a password that has to comply with our password security requirements. It is your responsibility to keep this password confidential. If you find out that your password or account is being used by somebody else without your consent, you agree to change your password. Should you discover any other breach of security, please contact us without delay.
3. Privacy
We have a Privacy Policy to inform you about what data is collected on servas.org and how your content and data is used. We encourage you to read the Privacy Policy and use it to make informed decisions regarding the privacy options we offer.
4. Conduct
You agree to use servas.org for its designated purposes, and to contribute to furthering these ideas in a strictly non-commercial way, free of charge. This also means that you should not do anything illegal or disruptive by using servas.org. We trust you already have a good idea of what this means, but here are some examples of what you agree NOT to do on servas.org:
- provide any information to servas.org that is false or misleading
- violate the rights of any third party
- attack or defame other people or groups of people
- molest, mob, stalk, harass, threaten, or intimidate any other user of our services
- post content that is threatening, contains graphic violence, or incites or glorifies violence or harm against self or others
- collect or store any information you obtain through our services for any unauthorized purpose
- use our services for any commercial purpose, especially for the distribution of commercial messages or advertisements
- use our services for the purpose of finding sexual partners
- post pornographic or sexually explicit content or images showing genitalia
- use our services for unsolicited private messages with no connection to the purpose of Servas - this includes unsolicited invitations
- use our services to collect donations for any other entity than Servas
- assist any third party in doing any of the foregoing
Servas International reserves the right to block you from participating in selected areas of the website or to cancel your membership/delete your account in cases of violation of these regulations (see sections 6. "Cancellation of membership" and 7. "Handling of violations" for further details).
5. Content
Copyright and content license:
Content that you own remains in your ownership when you post it on servas.org and you can control how it is shared through your visibility settings and preferences (read our Privacy Policy for more information).
You are responsible for all the content you upload, copy, distribute and display using our services. For content that is protected by copyright you must be the copyright owner or have the consent of the copyright owner to use it that way.
For the limited purpose of providing the service, you give Servas International a license to use, host, store, copy, distribute and display the content you upload to servas.org, subject to your privacy settings. Servas International cannot use your content for any other purposes - like promotion material or newspaper articles - unless you explicitly give your consent to that use (if such a possibility arises, we will ask you). Servas International cannot and will not use your content for any commercial purposes.
When you post content on servas.org, you participate in a community. If you choose to delete your profile, some of your content will remain in the system - including but not limited to, private messages you have sent to other people, group and forum posts, wiki contributions, profile comments, activities, and suggestions.
Other content, including your profile, photos, we will delete upon cancellation of membership. We will make every reasonable effort to delete this content in a timely manner. The license granted above expires upon deletion.
6. Cancellation of access
Servas.org administration reserves the right to refuse or cancel your access to servas.org for the following reasons:
- Requirements for membership are not fulfilled.
- Mandatory data is false or not complete.
- E-mail address is not confirmed.
- Other violation of the Terms of Use.
- Any behaviour which is not in line with section 4 "Conduct" of these terms or which endangers or harms Servas International members.
Servas International also reserves the right to cancel a membership for other reasons upon recommendation of the Servas International Conflict Resolution Committee.
When your membership is cancelled, your profile, posts, and trips will be made invisible for other members. Your community contributions - that is, content that you shared with others during your membership (for example, but not limited to, in the Servas International forums and groups, the wiki pages, the comments you left in activities or in groups, the activities you created, and the suggestions you made) - will remain visible.
For safety reasons and as required by the authorities, removed data and content may be kept for up to a maximum of twelve months. After that it may persist in backup copies. However, once you remove your data and content, it will no longer be visible. In case of a cancellation as a result of serious abuse, Servas International reserves the right to store information for an indefinite time to prevent the abuser from creating a new account.
Should you wish to come back to Servas within twelve months after cancellation of your account, please contact us to reactivate your previous account and membership. After this 12-months period you will have to create a new account if you wish to become a member again.
If the account was cancelled as a result of serious abuse, Servas International reserves the right to ban the account permanently.
7. Handling of violations
In the handling of violations of these terms, a difference is made between valid and invalid accounts:
Invalid accounts: Accounts with incomplete mandatory data, invalid e-mail address, not fulfilling the minimum requirements for membership, or solely created for the purpose of spam or abuse. These accounts will be deleted without warning and notification.
Valid accounts: All other accounts. In cases of violations which affect or may affect the safety of the members, accounts may be blocked or deleted without warning. A notification will be issued to the affected member including information on how to appeal this decision. In all other cases, members will receive a warning and request to comply with these terms. In cases of repeated violations, members may be temporarily or permanently blocked from participating in selected areas of the website, or membership may be cancelled completely. A notification will be issued to the account registrant including information on how to appeal this decision.
8. Liability
We provide a platform for Servas members to exchange. Unfortunately, we cannot guarantee that information is 100% accurate, reliable at all times, error-free, and that service will be uninterrupted, and fast. All services are provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis. This therefore exempts Servas International from any claims or liabilities whatsoever arising from or in connection with the services delivered by servas.org.
Servas International reserves the right to modify, suspend or discontinue the servas.org services at its sole discretion at any time and without prior notice. Servas International is not and will not be held liable for any modification, suspension, or discontinuance of servas.org services.
In case of a dispute between members, Servas International shall not be liable nor held responsible. If a member interacts with someone through servas.org, who is acting or has acted inappropriately, please immediately report such person to the appropriate authorities and to ServasOnline administration and Servas International through the contact form.
Please note that, although Servas International encourages you to report misconduct, Servas International is not responsible or liable for members' actions and not obligated to take any action.
You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Servas International, its global board - the Servas International Executive Committee (SIExco) and members, from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, losses, and expenses, including, but not limited to, reasonable legal and expert fees, arising out of or in any way connected with your access to or use of servas.org services, or your violation of these terms.
9. Litigation
Any disputes arising under or in connection with these terms shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Civil Tribunal of Zurich. You also agree that these terms are only governed by the Swiss law.
These terms constitute the entire agreement between Servas International and you with respect to your use of servas.org services. For informational purposes we may produce derived versions such as summaries, explanations or translations, but in all cases the authoritative version remains the official English version.
Failure of Servas International to enforce any right or provision in these terms shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision.
If a court should find that one or more provisions contained in these terms are invalid, you agree that the remainder of the terms shall remain enforceable.
Servas International reserves the right to amend these terms as seen appropriate but will inform all members of the changes by e-mail and by publication on servas.org at least 30 days before they take effect.