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<font face="Verdana">Hi Jeremy,<br>
Great job in a difficult process. I do not want to intervene, as things
are going very well. However, if there is any way I can support you, or
assist, please let me know by private email.<br>
Best,<br>
Ginger<br>
</font><br>
Jeremy Malcolm wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid:22EF2090-A999-449D-86A4-E55ACCDEBDAA@ciroap.org"
type="cite">
<div>This statement is shrinking as the contentious parts are being
removed, but even so it will still be a worthwhile statement, and I
think we are getting close to being able to finalise it. Please
provide any final comments within the next few days, in the expectation
that a 48 hour consensus call may be made next week.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><b>Submission of the IGC in taking stock of the Sharm el Sheikh
meeting of the IGF</b></div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>The Internet Governance Caucus (IGC) strongly supports the
continuation of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) as a
multi-stakeholder forum for the discussion of Internet-related public
policy issues. However if, as we hope, the forum's mandate is to be
extended for a further term, there are a number of adjustments that we
believe should be taken into account, continuing the IGF's pattern of
incremental improvement since its inauguration in 2006.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>None of these suggestions would fundamentally alter the IGF as
an institution; for example, we are content that it remain formally
convened by the UN Secretary General, with an independent budget and a
Secretariat under contract with the United Nations Department of
Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA). We do not see any benefit to the
IGF in moving underneath a different UN body. </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>One question on which the IGC is in clear agreement is that the
composition of the Multistakeholder Advisory Group (MAG) itself should
be more evenly divided between the stakeholder groups, rather than
being slanted towards governmental stakeholders as it is at present.
Many also believe that the stakeholders should have a more direct role
in the selection of MAG members, and that MAG discussions should be
more transparent.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>One particular aspect of the IGF's operations in which the
participation of stakeholders could be improved is in setting the
substantive agenda of IGF meetings. Although at present this
responsibility falls to the MAG, the IGC was surprised that for
instance the very strongly and widely expressed views of stakeholders
from civil society as to the importance of a human rights agenda for
the IGF was not reflected in the agenda set by the MAG for the Sharm el
Sheikh meeting.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>It is perceived that this was partly due to the cancellation of
the September MAG meeting, in favour of an open planning session, ahead
of the IGF meeting in Sharm el Sheikh. In this context, we have an
observation to make about the proposal that there should be only one
MAG meeting in 2010. The fact that a formal decision is yet to be
taken on whether the IGF is to be renewed and in what form is not seen
by the IGC as a decisive factor against the rotation. However if a
rotation does not take place, care must be taken that this does not
result in the programme for the Vilnius meeting being prematurely set
in stone.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Another widely-held view within the IGC is that the IGF ought to
improve its orientation towards the development of tangible outputs,
even if these do not amount to recommendations, declarations or
statements (though many of our members would support outputs of such
kinds). Whatever form its outputs take, efforts should be taken to
ensure that they are transmitted to relevant external institutions
through appropriate mechanisms.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Similarly, there is a strong view within the IGC that in order
to maximise its effectiveness, the IGF should have an intersessional
work program, rather than being limited to a single annual meeting.
Many of our members believe that this should include the development
of an ongoing work program for the IGF as a whole, to be carried on
through online tools and intersessional and regional meetings.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Others believe that the main responsibility for intersessional
work can be left to dynamic coalitions (and perhaps other
issue-specific working groups). In that case, it is widely accepted
that there should be a better mechanism than at present for these
groups to present their outputs to the IGF as a whole. This would
require the IGF to begin to set more stringent standards for such
groups, including open membership, democratic processes, and perhaps
multi-stakeholder composition.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>We thank you for the opportunity to present you with these
thoughts, which reflect a "rough consensus" of our several
hundred members from civil society, with a wide spread of geographic
and gender representation. We look forward to continuing to
constructively engage with and participate in the IGF over the course
of its renewed term.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><b>About the IGC</b></div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>
<div>The IGC is an association of individuals in civil society
who are actively engaged in internet governance and the IGF. Formed
during the lead up to the World Summit on the Information Society
(WSIS), our mission is to promote global public interest objectives in
Internet governance policy making. It now comprises more than 400
individual subscribers to its mailing list, who have subscribed to its
Charter. More about our coalition can be found at <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://">http://</a><a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://www.igcaucus.org/">www.igcaucus.org</a>.</div>
</div>
<div>
<div style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">
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<div style="">
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<div>-- </div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span"
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<p class="MsoNormal"
style="margin: 0cm 0cm 12pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><b
style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; font-weight: bold;">Jeremy
Malcolm<br>
Project Coordinator</span></font></b><font color="black" face="Arial"
size="2"><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: black;"><br>
</span></font><font color="gray" face="Arial" size="1"><span
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International<br>
Kuala Lumpur Office for Asia Pacific and the Middle East<br>
Lot 5-1 Wisma WIM, 7 Jalan Abang Haji Openg, TTDI, 60000 Kuala Lumpur,
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Tel: +60 3 7726 1599</span></font></p>
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</span></div>
</div>
<br>
</blockquote>
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