<HTML><BODY style="word-wrap: break-word; -khtml-nbsp-mode: space; -khtml-line-break: after-white-space; ">Hi,<DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"><DIV>I too think it is a good statement. Though if it is meant to represent civil society you might want to expand it to cover academia as well ass NGOs.</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>In any case I support it.</DIV><DIV>a.</DIV><DIV><BR><DIV><DIV>On 30 jan 2006, at 04.35, William Drake wrote:</DIV><BR class="Apple-interchange-newline"><BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"> <DIV><SPAN class="491362409-30012006"><FONT face="Book Antiqua">Good morning,</FONT></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class="491362409-30012006"><FONT face="Book Antiqua"></FONT></SPAN> </DIV> <DIV><SPAN class="491362409-30012006"><FONT face="Book Antiqua">Since there was no consensus on making a joint caucus or other CS statement on the website for the ITU's Wednesday reform meeting, I decided I might as well type up something short to submit on a personal basis. If anyone would like to sign on you're more than welcome; either way, I will submit this by close of business today, Geneva time. I don't know that we'd have time to do any text tweaking, but if that might make this more attractive to potential signatories, let's communicate. </FONT></SPAN><SPAN class="491362409-30012006"><FONT face="Book Antiqua">I see that Parminder made a nice submission on the cost of ITU documentation and its nonconformity with the access to knowledge and information principle enunciated in the WSIS Plan of Action. The below text is on a different point and is complementary.</FONT></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class="491362409-30012006"><FONT face="Book Antiqua"></FONT></SPAN> </DIV> <DIV><SPAN class="491362409-30012006"><FONT face="Book Antiqua">-------</FONT></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class="491362409-30012006"><FONT face="Book Antiqua"></FONT></SPAN> </DIV> <DIV><SPAN class="491362409-30012006"><DIV style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; "><FONT face="Book Antiqua">The WSIS Principles state that Internet governance <SPAN style="COLOR: windowtext">should be multilateral, transparent and democratic, with the full involvement of governments, the private sector, civil society and international organizations.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The ITU clearly does not meet the last criteria.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>For the overwhelming majority of civil society organizations, the barriers to becoming </SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: windowtext; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt">a sector member or even an associate are simply too high.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>In parallel, there are no options for participating on a more flexible, ad hoc basis in special workshops and seminars, or in the assemblies and conferences.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>In consequence, and unlike other UN agencies, true NGOs (as opposed to hybrid business/user/technical organizations) are almost entirely absent and alienated from the ITU.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>That this is not in the ITU’s own interest was amply demonstrated by the WSIS process, in which civil society strongly opposed the ITU playing an expanded, leading role in Internet governance.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><O:P></O:P></SPAN></FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; "><SPAN style="COLOR: windowtext; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt"><FONT face="Book Antiqua"> <O:P></O:P></FONT></SPAN></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; "><SPAN style="COLOR: windowtext; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt"><FONT face="Book Antiqua">With WSIS follow-up and implementation efforts forthcoming, now would be a particularly appropriate time to make opening up to civil society a central element of ITU reform.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Doing so would not in any way disrupt the work of the Union, and the administrative cost would be negligible (we can print our own documents, etc).<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The ITU would not face a stampede of hundreds of organizations seeking to participate in ongoing study group work on frequency propagation, signaling requirements and protocols, and other technical matters.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>A much more likely scenario would be that a manageable number of NGOs would seek to participate in some of the above-mentioned workshops, seminars, assemblies and conferences.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Civil society experts contributed significantly to the success of the February 2004 <SPAN class="491362409-30012006">ITU </SPAN>workshop on Internet governance, and there is every reason to believe that same constructive engagement would ensue in other forums.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Allowing civil society participation in events like the March 2006 meeting on NGN policies would be a good first step, and would not require changes to the Constitution and Convention.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>WSIS and<SPAN class="491362409-30012006">/</SPAN>or ECOSOC accreditation would seem sufficient for this purpose.<O:P></O:P></FONT></SPAN></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; "><SPAN style="COLOR: windowtext; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt"><FONT face="Book Antiqua"> <O:P></O:P></FONT></SPAN></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; "><SPAN style="COLOR: windowtext; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt"><FONT face="Book Antiqua">It is unfortunate that the ITU’s February 1 reform meeting is closed to civil society participation.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Our exclusion from this and similar events has been debated extensively on civil society Internet listservs<SPAN class="491362409-30012006"> in the course of the WSIS process and afterwards</SPAN>.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>There was little enthusiasm for the website’s cheery invitation to “be part of it” by submitting statements in this “open forum” for a meeting from which we are barred.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>If however the ITU were to initiate a genuine, open and inclusive dialogue on the matter, the response would be rather different.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: windowtext"><O:P></O:P></SPAN></DIV></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class="491362409-30012006"><FONT face="Book Antiqua"></FONT></SPAN> </DIV> <DIV><SPAN class="491362409-30012006"><FONT face="Book Antiqua">---------</FONT></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Book Antiqua"></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><SPAN class="491362409-30012006"><FONT face="Book Antiqua">Best,</FONT></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class="491362409-30012006"><FONT face="Book Antiqua"></FONT></SPAN> </DIV> <DIV><SPAN class="491362409-30012006"><FONT face="Book Antiqua">Bill</FONT></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class="491362409-30012006"><FONT face="Book Antiqua"></FONT></SPAN> </DIV> <DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; "><FONT face="Book Antiqua">*******************************************************<BR>William J. Drake </FONT><A href="mailto:drake@hei.unige.ch"><FONT face="Book Antiqua">drake@hei.unige.ch</FONT></A></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; "><FONT face="Book Antiqua">Director, Project on the Information</FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; "><FONT face="Book Antiqua"> Revolution and Global Governance</FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; "><FONT face="Book Antiqua"> Graduate Institute for International Studies</FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; "><FONT face="Book Antiqua"> Geneva, Switzerland </FONT><BR><FONT face="Book Antiqua">President, Computer Professionals for <BR> Social Responsibility</FONT><BR><A href="http://www.cpsr.org/board/drake"><FONT face="Book Antiqua">http://www.cpsr.org/board/drake</FONT></A><FONT face="Book Antiqua"> </FONT><FONT face="Book Antiqua"><BR>*******************************************************</FONT></DIV><P class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"></P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"></SPAN></DIV> <DIV> </DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">_______________________________________________</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">governance mailing list</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><A href="mailto:governance@lists.cpsr.org">governance@lists.cpsr.org</A></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><A href="https://ssl.cpsr.org/mailman/listinfo/governance">https://ssl.cpsr.org/mailman/listinfo/governance</A></DIV> </BLOCKQUOTE></DIV><BR></DIV></DIV></BODY></HTML>