<div dir="ltr">Dear Carolina, all, <div><br></div><div>Thanks for sharing this important information and for keeping us focused :)</div><div><br></div><div>Just to clarify, these are actually two different ITU consultations. The one announced in the attachment is the Public Consultation on ITU’s Strategic Plan for 2016-2019. The link from the State Department is for a separate consultation on the role of governments.</div>
<div><br></div><div>The consultation on the ITU's strategic plan is <u>open to the public</u> with a online platform for comments. Based on the information Carolina sent it looks like the basis for comment is a chairman's report (<a href="http://www.itu.int/en/council/wg-sfp/Documents/contribution-chairman-en.pdf">http://www.itu.int/en/council/wg-sfp/Documents/contribution-chairman-en.pdf</a>) but I don't see any specific prompts for feedback. It's a rather long document (85 pgs), but it seems to deal with some issues that some parts of civil society have been concerned with before, i.e. transparency, the ITU's role, etc. Does anyone know more about the process, its implications, etc? For those interested in following the ITU, this may be an important/rare opportunity to input into plenipot.</div>
<div><br></div><div>The consultation on the role of governments is <u>open to Member States only</u> (funnily enough). But Member States are invited "to<span class="" style="white-space:pre"> </span>consult<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>wide<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>with<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>their<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>stakeholders<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>in<span class="" style="white-space:pre"> </span>the<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>formulation<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>of<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>their<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>responses." So the link that Carolina sent around is the State Department's open consultation, which adds two questions to the initial question on the role of governments: the role of the ITU and existing venues addressing issues. My understanding is that the US is accepting input from stakeholders outside the US and has set a deadline of Friday, 10 January for input. As Carol notes, other governments may be carrying out similar efforts, and since the ITU's deadline isn't until 31 January, there may still be some time.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Just one more point on the consultation on the role of governments. According to the Chair's report from the most recent CWG-Internet (available on WCITLeaks <a href="http://files.wcitleaks.org/public/S13-RCLINTPOL3-C-0010!!MSW-E.pdf">http://files.wcitleaks.org/public/S13-RCLINTPOL3-C-0010!!MSW-E.pdf</a>, but otherwise behind TIES protection) </div>
<div><br></div><blockquote style="margin:0px 0px 0px 40px;border:none;padding:0px"><div>"3. The<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>information<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>on<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>the<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>questionnaire<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>will<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>be<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>made<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>publically<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>available<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>on<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>the<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>ITU<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>website.</div>
<div><span class="" style="white-space:pre"> </span><u>The<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>CWG<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>will<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>hold<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>an<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>open<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>multistakeholder<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>consultation<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>on<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>the<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>role<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>of<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>governments<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>immediately<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>after<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>its<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>next<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>meeting<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>in<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>March<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>2014</u>,<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>based<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>on contributions<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>by<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Member<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>States." (top of page 7)</div>
</blockquote><div><br></div><div>So for those who feel this is an important thread to follow, it may be worth thinking ahead to the March CWG-Internet meeting and what we would want a MS consultation on the role of governments to look like, what's needed to get there, etc. </div>
<div><br></div><div>I second Carolina's question of being interested in who is planning to contribute to these consultations. Both are on our radar and we'd be interested in hearing others' ideas on pros/cons and any information that others can share.</div>
<div><br></div><div><div>Apologies for the long email, and please correct anything I might have incorrect here (pulling together info from different threads...) </div></div><div><br></div><div>Kind regards, <br></div><div>
Deborah </div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Jan 8, 2014 at 10:36 AM, Carolina Rossini <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:carolina.rossini@gmail.com" target="_blank">carolina.rossini@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div><div><div>Hi folks,<br><br></div>I know we are all distracted by the preparations to the Brazil meeting. But I just want to call your attention to this ITU consultation - see letter attached. - Deadline - 31 JANUARY 2014<br>
<br></div>This is part of the process in the US - <a href="http://www.state.gov/e/eb/cip/rls/218739.htm" target="_blank">http://www.state.gov/e/eb/cip/rls/218739.htm</a>, but I am sure there are similar channels in more countries. <br>
<br>
So, it would be interesting to learn who will contribute to this. Still incredibly relevant, since it is related to the role of the governments and the role of ITU. And if this moves without our input, and moves faster than what may happen in Brazil....we may be worst at the end. <br>
<span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888">
<br></font></span></div><span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888">C<br clear="all"><div><div><div><div><br>-- <br><div><div style="font-size:12.6667px;font-family:arial,sans-serif"><b>Carolina Rossini</b> </div><div style="color:rgb(136,136,136);font-size:12.6667px;font-family:arial,sans-serif">
<i>Project Director, Latin America Resource Center</i></div><div style="color:rgb(136,136,136);font-size:12.6667px;font-family:arial,sans-serif">Open Technology Institute</div><div style="font-size:12.6667px;font-family:arial,sans-serif">
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