<html><head></head><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:garamond, new york, times, serif;font-size:16px"><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1485764974240_179369"><span id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1485764974240_179371"><font size="5" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1485764974240_179494">Many thanks Anriette for the brief and the references are clarifying!</font></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1485764974240_179369"><span><font size="5"><br></font></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1485764974240_179369"><span style="font-size: x-large;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1485764974240_179591">Be blessed.</span><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1485764974240_179379"><span><font size="5"><br></font></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1485764974240_179382"><span id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1485764974240_179381"><font size="5" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1485764974240_179498">Regards/Wangari</font></span></div><div></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1485764974240_179385"> </div><div class="signature" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1485764974240_179593">---<br><font style="font-weight:bold;font-family:verdana, helvetica, sans-serif;" size="2"><span style="color:rgb(127, 0, 63);">Pray God Bless. 2013Wangari circa - </span><span style="color:rgb(127, 0, 63);">"Being of the Light, We are Restored Through Faith in Mind, Body and Spirit; We Manifest The Kingdom of God on Earth".</span></font><br></div> <div class="qtdSeparateBR"><br><br></div><div class="yahoo_quoted" style="display: block;"> <div style="font-family: garamond, new york, times, serif; font-size: 16px;"> <div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, Sans-Serif; font-size: 16px;"> <div dir="ltr"><font size="2" face="Arial"> On Monday, 30 January 2017, 16:16, Anriette Esterhuysen <anriette@apc.org> wrote:<br></font></div> <br><br> <div class="y_msg_container">Dear Wangari<br clear="none"><br clear="none">Apologies for delay in responding.<br clear="none"><br clear="none">It is an interesting question, and it goes to the heart of the enhanced<br clear="none">cooperation debate, which in many ways is at the heart of the internet<br clear="none">governance debate that has been ongoing since 2003.<br clear="none"><br clear="none">The term was first used in 2005 - and it means different things to<br clear="none">different people, and the text in the Tunis Agenda where it is first<br clear="none">references in a formal UN agreement, can also be interpreted in<br clear="none">different ways.<br clear="none"><br clear="none">For the last decade it has been used as a political football.. in one of<br clear="none">those matches in which it is not clear if anyone actually scores any<br clear="none">goals. In fact, for some of the players, the objective of the match has<br clear="none">been to avoid anyone scoring any goals :)<br clear="none"><br clear="none">This is a good recent piece by David Souter:<br clear="none"><a shape="rect" href="https://www.apc.org/en/blog/inside-information-society-enhanced-cooperation-en" target="_blank">https://www.apc.org/en/blog/inside-information-society-enhanced-cooperation-en</a><br clear="none"><br clear="none">I quote from it:<br clear="none"><br clear="none">"‘Enhanced cooperation’, like the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), was<br clear="none">part of the compromise on the future of the Internet at WSIS in 2005.<br clear="none">Agreement could not be reached on the governance of critical Internet<br clear="none">resources, including the domain name system. ICANN (the Internet<br clear="none">Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), for some governments, was<br clear="none">little more than an adjunct of the United States. Some wanted the<br clear="none">Internet brought within the ambit of an intergovernmental (or<br clear="none">multilateral) agency such as the International Telecommunication Union<br clear="none">(ITU). Others were, as they remain, determined to keep the Internet free<br clear="none">from intergovernmental oversight. As well as dividing governments, this<br clear="none">was (and is) therefore a tussle between multilateral and<br clear="none">multistakeholder approaches to the Internet.<br clear="none"><br clear="none">The term worked at the time because of its creative ambiguity: like many<br clear="none">UN outcomes it meant different things to different folks. But the<br clear="none">contests that it overlay were, and still are, unresolved. Several UN<br clear="none">initiatives and working groups have failed to reach consensus on it<br clear="none">since the Summit. Some governments (and civil society activists) claim<br clear="none">that nothing’s changed since WSIS: that governments, particularly<br clear="none">developing country governments, can’t play a substantive role in<br clear="none">Internet decisions because there is no proper intergovernmental forum.<br clear="none">Others suggest that diverse multistakeholder initiatives represent a lot<br clear="none">of ‘enhanced cooperation’ that’s already taking place."<br clear="none"><br clear="none">So in response to your question, it is not a new thing that for several<br clear="none">governments, the meaning of enhanced cooperation is "cooperation between<br clear="none">governments". And the term 'equal footing' means that all governments<br clear="none">should have equal access and voice in these processes.<br clear="none"><br clear="none">They generally quote paragraph 69 of the Tunis Agenda:<br clear="none"><br clear="none">"69. We further recognize the need for enhanced cooperation in the<br clear="none">future, to enable governments, on an equal footing, to carry out their<br clear="none">roles and responsibilities, in international public policy issues<br clear="none">pertaining to the Internet, but not in the day-to-day technical and<br clear="none">operational matters, that do not impact on international public policy<br clear="none">issues."<br clear="none"><br clear="none">And their position is that the IGF has nothing to do with this type of<br clear="none">cooperation.<br clear="none"><br clear="none">Personally, I think this is misinterpreting the Tunis Agenda. If you<br clear="none">read the two previous paragraphs, 67 and 68, there is a clear reference<br clear="none">to the IGF (referred to in the Tunis Agenda as "the forum for<br clear="none">multi-stakeholder policy dialogue". I quote:<br clear="none"><br clear="none">"67. We agree, inter alia, to invite the UN Secretary-General to convene<br clear="none">a new forum for multi-stakeholder policy dialogue.<br clear="none"><br clear="none">68. We recognize that all governments should have an equal role and<br clear="none">responsibility for international Internet governance and for ensuring<br clear="none">the stability, security and continuity of the Internet. We also<br clear="none">recognize the need for development of public policy by governments in<br clear="none">consultation with all stakeholders.<br clear="none"><br clear="none">69. We further recognize the need for enhanced cooperation in the<br clear="none">future, to enable governments, on an equal footing, to carry out their<br clear="none">roles and responsibilities, in international public policy issues<br clear="none">pertaining to the Internet, but not in the day-to-day technical and<br clear="none">operational matters, that do not impact on international public policy<br clear="none">issues."<br clear="none"><br clear="none">My interpretation would be that these paragraphs talks about the forum,<br clear="none">about involvement of all stakeholders, and about the need for<br clear="none">governments to be able to play their role in international public policy.<br clear="none"><br clear="none">These area all important and legitimate and they don't need to be<br clear="none">mutually exclusive.<br clear="none"><br clear="none">But there are different views, and there was a General Assembly<br clear="none">resolution in 2011 or 2012 which stated that the IGF and enhanced<br clear="none">cooperation are two separate processes.<br clear="none"><br clear="none">I do think governments have a legitimate point in saying that they need<br clear="none">a space where they can talk about 'cross cutting' internet-related<br clear="none">public policy issues. Specific issues are being addressed in places like<br clear="none">the Human Rights Council (for internet and human rights issues) or in<br clear="none">WIPO (for copyright related issues, for example).<br clear="none"><br clear="none">And I also think that developing countries are not sufficiently<br clear="none">empowered or influential in most internet-related policy discussions.<br clear="none"><br clear="none">I just don't believe that setting up a new intergovernmental mechanism<br clear="none">is the right solution to this problem. And it is one that is high risk<br clear="none">for civil society.<br clear="none"><br clear="none">But others in the WGEC have different views.<br clear="none"><br clear="none">Warm greetings and thanks for following the meeting!<br clear="none"><br clear="none">Anriette<br clear="none"><br clear="none"><br clear="none"><div class="yqt2301429610" id="yqtfd28248"><br clear="none">On 27/01/2017 19:38, WANGARI KABIRU wrote:<br clear="none">> Warm greetings Anriette,<br clear="none">> <br clear="none">> In the morning there was reference in the semblance that enhanced<br clear="none">> cooperation is a government area not for the IGF...MAG.<br clear="none">> Would you kindly shed light. <br clear="none">> <br clear="none">> <br clear="none">> The comments;<br clear="none">> - that statistics in developing countries are a result of tradeoffs and<br clear="none">> thus not (necessarily) reliable<br clear="none">> - how an entity is considered multi-stakeholder in one forum and in<br clear="none">> other spheres not viewed as such. Taking into account<br clear="none">> multi-stakholderism is a key tenet in Internet Governance<br clear="none">> <br clear="none">> Many thanks for the briefs.<br clear="none">> <br clear="none">> Be blessed.<br clear="none">> <br clear="none">> Regards/Wangari<br clear="none">> <br clear="none">> ---<br clear="none">> Pray God Bless. 2013Wangari circa - "Being of the Light, We are Restored<br clear="none">> Through Faith in Mind, Body and Spirit; We Manifest The Kingdom of God<br clear="none">> on Earth".<br clear="none">> <br clear="none">> <br clear="none">> <br clear="none">-- <br clear="none">-----------------------------------------<br clear="none">Anriette Esterhuysen<br clear="none">Executive Director<br clear="none">Association for Progressive Communications<br clear="none"><a shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:anriette@apc.org" href="mailto:anriette@apc.org">anriette@apc.org</a><br clear="none">www.apc.org<br clear="none">IM: ae_apc<br clear="none"></div><br><br></div> </div> </div> </div></div></body></html>