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Any comment in an active political process only has meaning within
specific context in which it is presented...<br>
<br>
the following part of the statement,<br>
<br>
"The IGC is ready to make innovative contributions to enhance the
present "Secretariat-MAG-Open Consultation" mechanism for the
preparation of IGF meetings."<br>
<br>
therefore, to me, just means that we look to the new experiment of no
MAG meetings post feb, or in subsequent years, perhaps even ever, with
hopeful anticipation.... I think that is a strange view to project for
a group which put in so much effort in trying to shape IGF as a
purposeful body in the global Internet policies landscape.<br>
<br>
Even otherwise the statement is too general and is able to make no
specific point at all in any of the substantive issues that face the
open consultations<br>
<br>
- review of IGF at Sharm<br>
- Review of IGF in general, structural changes etc (time to catch the
ear of gov reps who will be there and are going to do the bulk of the
work from now on) (and if we do make a comment as the above quoted, we
are completely off what we have always held and been trying to take
forward)<br>
- Agenda for IGF, Vilinius (remember, as per present indications it
will be decided in Feb itself)<br>
<br>
Our statements do always have general points, but still attempt to make
2-3 clear points specific to the issues at hand, which alone get really
noticed. We need to have some such points in the present statement too<br>
<br>
As to why I had not contributed earlier, I think I kept doing my best
regarding one of the most important issues that was at hand, and could
only do that many postings. Also, a good part of substantive stuff had
got removed in the last day or two. <br>
<br>
So, it is a NO.<br>
<br>
Very, unfortunate, that I have to say so.<br>
<br>
Parminder <br>
<br>
<br>
Jeremy Malcolm wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid:5AC359D2-93D8-476B-BD5C-3A9EF1F5E972@ciroap.org"
type="cite">
<div>Please reply YES if you agree that the statement below should be
put forward by the IGC for the next IGF open consultation meeting.
Please reply NO if you do not agree. Please do not suggest further
changes, unless they are typographical or grammatical. Responses will
be received for 48 hours from the time of this message, following which
Ginger and I will assess whether a rough consensus exists. That
decision will be subject to appeal. Thank you!</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. When, as we expect, the forum's mandate is 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 such as the ITU.</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. Many also
believe that the stakeholders should have a more direct role in the
selection of MAG members, and that MAG discussions should continue to
be made 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. We understand that the MAG might
not be rotated this year (though in our view the uncertainty about the
IGF's future need not preclude that). 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.
The IGC is ready to make innovative contributions to enhance the
present "Secretariat-MAG-Open Consultation" mechanism for the
preparation of IGF meetings.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>The IGF should also consider how to improve its orientation
towards the development of tangible outputs, even if these would amount
to "messages" rather than to recommendations, declarations or
statements (though many of our members would also support outputs of
these stronger 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, attention must be given to the effectiveness of the
IGF's intersessional work program, which is currently limited to open
consultations, MAG meetings, dynamic coalition meetings, and loosely
connected national and regional meetings. In particular, there should
be a better mechanism than at present for these other groups and
meetings to present their outputs to the IGF as a whole. This would
require the IGF to set more stringent standards for such groups and
meetings, 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. 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, with
a wide spread of geographic and gender representation, 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 moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.igcaucus.org/">http://www.igcaucus.org</a>.</div>
</div>
<div>
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