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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 13pt"><FONT
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Dear Civil Society members, (with apologies for
cross posting)</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 13pt"><FONT
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Below is a letter just sent by CSCG to the organisers of
the WSIS speaker selection process, a matter <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>which has been under discussion on
various lists. (and as a result much discussion within CSCG)</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 13pt"><FONT
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">This is also to let you know that CSCG has also decided
to endorse Ian Peter and Lea Kaspar to represent its interests on the selection
committee, and they will be forwarding details in due course. We acknowledge and
respect the decision of JNC not to participate in the process as outlined by
DESA, and hence in the selection of candidates to be endorsed by CSCG for their
proposed<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>selection
committee.</FONT><FONT style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"> </FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 13pt"><FONT
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">We imagine that some discussions will take place in
forthcoming days as regards the issues raised in our letter. We will keep you
informed of any major developments.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 13pt"><FONT
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 13pt"><FONT
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">LETTER FOLLOWS</FONT></P>
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style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"></FONT> </P>
<DIV><FONT style='face: "Times' new roman?>Dear Co-facilitators of WSIS + 10
process, <BR><BR>We are writing to you on behalf of the Internet Governance
Civil Society <BR>Coordination Group (CSCG), a “coalition of coalitions” working
actively on <BR>internet governance issues. Our member coalitions (Association
for <BR>Progressive Communications, Best Bits Coalition, Internet Governance
Caucus, <BR>Just Net Coalition, and Non Commercial Stakeholders Group of
ICANN) extends <BR>to some thousands of individual members and hundreds of civil
society <BR>organisations working actively on internet governance issues. Many
have been <BR>involved with the WSIS process since its
inception.<BR><BR>Firstly, we wish to commend you for your efforts to include
voices of <BR>non-governmental actors in the WSIS + 10 process.<BR><BR>However,
we would like to raise a serious concern about one part of the <BR>process,
whereby selection of civil society speakers for various events <BR>appears to be
being done by a selection committee which includes <BR>representatives of other
non-governmental stakeholder groups.<BR><BR>You will understand that it is of
utmost importance for maintaining the <BR>independence of civil society that its
representatives are chosen by civil <BR>society alone, and having other
stakeholder representatives as part of a <BR>selection committee for civil
society representation, or as final arbiters <BR>of our representation, is
problematic for us.<BR><BR>Indeed, in the evolution of the multistakeholder
model of internet <BR>governance, this was made quite clear in the Netmundial
Outcomes <BR>Declaration. I quote:<BR><BR><EM>"Stakeholder representatives
appointed to multistakeholder Internet <BR>governance processes should be
selected through open, democratic, and <BR>transparent processes. Different
stakeholder groups should self - manage <BR>their processes based on inclusive,
publicly known, well defined and <BR>accountable mechanisms."<BR></EM><BR>In
accordance with this principle, CSCG has established its own internal
<BR>selection processes, which can be found at <BR></FONT><A
style='href: "http://www.internetgov-cs.org/procedures"'><FONT
style='face: "Times' new
roman?>http://www.internetgov-cs.org/procedures</FONT></A><FONT
style='face: "Times' new roman?>. These are transparent processes, accepted and
adopted by a wide range of civil society organisations, and used effectively in
the past for selection of civil society representatives for e.g. IGF’s
Multistakeholder Advisory Group, Speakers for IGF Opening and Closing
ceremonies, The Netmundial meeting, and various other UN and international
events where CS speakers and representatives have been required. These
procedures take into account gender and geographic balance as a central matter
of our determinations. <BR><BR>Since some deadlines are quite close with
respect to the currently announced <BR>process, we request your urgent
intervention in this regard. Our proposal is <BR>that each stakeholder group
choose its own speaker representatives and put <BR>these forward.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT style='face: "Times' new roman?><BR>We do realise that increasing -
both as widening and as deepening - civil<BR>society engagement with the UN is a
challenging and complex process, and we <BR>salute your pioneering efforts in
this regard. The Internet Governance Civil <BR>Society Co-ordination Group
(CSCG) remains available to assist you in this
<BR>matter.<BR><BR><BR>Sincerely<BR><BR>Ian Peter<BR>Independent Chair, Internet
Governance Civil Society Coordination Group<BR><BR>Endorsed by CSCG
Members:<BR><BR>Chat Garcia Ramilo, Association for Progressive
Communications<BR>Jeremy Malcolm, Best Bits Coalition<BR>Deirdre Williams and
Analia Apsis, Internet Governance Caucus,<BR>Norbert Bollow, Just Net
Coalition<BR>Robin Gross, Non Commercial Stakeholders Group of
ICANN</FONT></DIV></DIV></DIV></BODY></HTML>