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<font face="Verdana">Please see the below announcement.<br>
<br>
It seems that there is a strong effort to institutionalise a
system of civil society reps for speaker roles, but perhaps later
also for more substantive roles, </font>being selected by
multistakeholder committees, meaning that big business and technical
community gets a veto over civil society rep selection. (Do remember
here that 'technical community' here is not that odd free and open
software group volunteering their time in supporting government
schools or the such. This term is accepted in the IG world now to
denote those who work for and represent organisations engaged with
technical governance of the Internet, and thus represent a
governance status quo group. The semantic confusion about the term,
as being people with technical capacities, is deliberate in order to
utilise a certain legitimacy for what is a power based governance
system.)<br>
<br>
The structural problem with such a process should be obvious.<br>
<br>
This is not acceptable for me, my organisation and the networks that
I work with. Civil society has traditionally been fiercely
protective of its independence, which includes the right to choose
its own nominees (for instance, any efforts at national govs
'clearing' civil society reps from their countries has been strongly
resisted at the UN and other global governance levels). I think we
need to write back to those responsible for this process that ,
thanks but no thanks, you tell us how many CS sepakers you want and
we have a process of selection for CS reps and we will deliver the
names by the date you want.<br>
<br>
May I appeal to Ian and the CSCG to frame and send such a letter to
WSIS process co-facilitators, and the concerned UN bureaucracy, at
the earliest. Before these mentioned deadlines pass.<br>
<br>
Meanwhile, let me give some background on this....<br>
<br>
Just Net Coalition did write a letter addressed to the
co-facilitators against such a process of big business sitting over
decisions on CS reps. It seems to have had no effect.<br>
<br>
A few years back, there was an attempt by a certain group in the IGF
MAG, led by the then Exec Director of the IGF, Markus Kummer, to
institute a method of selections of non gov MAG members by a
committee of older non gov MAG members. I was able to attend MAG
meetings in those days as a Special Advisor to the chair. I opposed
such a process of CS nominee selection by a committee that included
big business and technical community (read the ICANN/ ISOC system).
I was able to get the support of a few CS MAG members in the room,
and I distinctly remember Graciala, Katitza, and Foaud in this
regard, and perhaps a person or two more whose names may have
dropped from my memory (my apologies).... And because of the CS
opposition this problematic move had to be abandoned. Now it seems
to be coming back from another door, and we need to stand up against
it once again.<br>
<br>
Again, we have very little turnaround time here. <br>
<br>
parminder <br>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On Friday 30 October 2015 08:04 PM,
Carolina Rossini wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote
cite="mid:CAK-FJAc__WvJ0z-QxqozVbbMV65+J_va543-y0+R8BBP=fjYEg@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">
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---------- Forwarded message ----------<br>
From: <b class="gmail_sendername">NGO News</b> <span dir="ltr"><<a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:ngonews@un.org">ngonews@un.org</a>></span><br>
Date: Fri, Oct 30, 2015 at 10:14 AM<br>
Subject: [NGO News:] Call for Nomination: Stakeholder Speakers
at the General Assembly High-level Meeting on WSIS+10<br>
To: <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:crossini@publicknowledge.org">crossini@publicknowledge.org</a><br>
<br>
<br>
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<p><strong>Deadlines: </strong></p>
<p><span style="color:rgb(255,0,0)"><strong>8 November 2015:
Apply for Selection Committee</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:rgb(255,0,0)"><strong>12 November
2015: Apply for Speaking Roles</strong></span></p>
<p><strong>The General Assembly High-level Meeting on the
overall review of the implementation of the outcomes of
the World Summit on the Information Society will take
place on 15-16 December 2015 at the UN Headquarters in
New York.</strong></p>
<p>This high-level meeting will provide an opportunity for
in-depth discussions on important issues in the
implementation of the WSIS outcomes, including the
progress, gaps and challenges, as well as areas for future
actions.</p>
<p><strong>To apply to speak at the High-level Meeting,
please complete the form available <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1ffRSw8C5UGYRKrzdpCiWnyc2EMVTbmZ1SVGNnhs0FcQ/viewform"
target="_blank">here</a></strong>. Applications will
be accepted from <strong>30 October to</strong> <strong>12
November 2015</strong>.</p>
<p><strong>A Selection Committee will be established</strong> in
order to ensure broad and inclusive participation of
stakeholders in the high-level meeting. Applications to
the Selection Committee will be accepted from <strong>30 October
to 8 November 2015</strong>. To learn more about the
Selection Committee, please see the Terms of Reference <span
style="background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial">by <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://csonet.org/content/documents/WSIS+10_ToR_Steering_Committee.pdf"
target="_blank">clicking on this link</a></span>. <strong>To
apply to participate in the stakeholder Selection
Committee, please complete the form available </strong><a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1pzCRKLri16XUMNYNA9QECFnhCrO9Ub7ex0Ho2vdYp2k/viewform"
target="_blank"><strong>here</strong></a><strong>.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Background</strong></p>
<p>In December of 2003, the world came together in Geneva at
the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) to declare
a "common desire and commitment to build a people-centred,
inclusive and development-oriented Information Society,"
and ushered in an era of harnessing the power of
information and communication technology to contribute to
the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs). The resulting Geneva Plan of Action established
targets and the eleven action lines, which guide
development in specific areas.</p>
<p>The second phase of WSIS, conducted in Tunis in 2005,
built upon the achievements of the Geneva Plan, with the
resulting Tunis Agenda addressing additional issues, such
as financing and internet governance. Paragraph 111 of the
Tunis Agenda, endorsed by the General Assembly in
resolution 60/252, requested the General Assembly to
undertake the overall review of the implementation of the
outcomes of WSIS in 2015. In response, the General
Assembly in resolution 68/302, decided that the overall
review will be concluded by a two-day high-level meeting
of the General Assembly, to be preceded by an
intergovernmental process that also takes into account
inputs from all relevant stakeholders of WSIS.</p>
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<div style="font-size:12.6667px"><i>Carolina
Rossini </i></div>
<div style="font-size:12.6667px"><font
color="#666666"><i>Vice President,
International Policy and Strategy <br>
</i></font></div>
<div style="font-size:12.6667px"><b><font
color="#666666">Public Knowledge</font></b></div>
<div style="font-family:arial"><font
color="#0000ff" face="arial, sans-serif"><span
style="font-size:12.6667px"><u><a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.publicknowledge.org/"
target="_blank">http://www.publicknowledge.org/</a></u></span></font><br>
</div>
<div style="font-size:12.6667px"><a
moz-do-not-send="true" value="+16176979389"
style="color:rgb(102,102,102)">+ 1 6176979389
| </a><font color="#666666">skype:
carolrossini | </font><font color="#0000ff">@carolinarossini</font></div>
<div><font color="#0000ff"><br>
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<div
style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.6667px"><i>Carolina
Rossini </i></div>
<div
style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.6667px"><font
color="#666666"><i>Vice President,
International Policy</i></font></div>
<div
style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.6667px"><b><font
color="#666666">Public Knowledge</font></b></div>
<div><font color="#0000ff" face="arial,
sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.6667px"><u><a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.publicknowledge.org/"
target="_blank">http://www.publicknowledge.org/</a></u></span></font><br>
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<div
style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.6667px"><a
moz-do-not-send="true" value="+16176979389"
style="color:rgb(102,102,102)">+ 1 6176979389
| </a><font color="#666666">skype:
carolrossini | </font><font color="#0000ff">@carolinarossini</font></div>
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