[bestbits] Your sign on requested- Civil society statement post-WCIT

[Deborah Brown]

Dear all,

As a follow up to the civil society letter to WCIT (
https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1LiM3FfKF8Fgih7Um7v2vK20J2AigneGrgJ93YTbqLSM)
that a number of organizations on this list have signed on to, civil
society representatives in Dubai drafted a statement on the new ITRs and
the future of multi-stakeholder engagement. The text of the statement is
pasted below.

This statement assesses the opportunities and challenges faced by civil
society at WCIT and sets out shortcomings we would like to see addressed to
achieve meaningful civil society participation at the ITU moving forward.
It is meant to be complementary to other post-WCIT civil society statements
that focus on the substance of the ITRs.

We would very much like to secure sign on from your organization. We feel
that there is a strategic importance of having this communication with the
ITU Secretariat on record as we look to future conversations/events. Though
the timing is not ideal, we plan to publish this statement with the list of
signatories and send a copy to the ITU on Monday. Therefore,* we request
that you reply to this email by 0900 EST/1400 UTC on Monday, January 24 if
you would like to sign on*. Like with the earlier letter, we will leave the
statement open for sign on and update the list of signatories regularly. I
will send out a publicly accessible link with the statement and list of
signatories on Monday for people to post and circulate, but it would also
be great to discuss ways to draw attention to this statement in the New
Year.

Please let me know if you have any questions, and thank you for your
attention to this. Warm wishes over the holidays.

Best regards,

Deborah

*
*

*Civil Society statement on the new ITRs and the future of
multi-stakeholder engagement*

December 21, 2012

Civil society is disappointed that the World Conference on International
Telecommunications (WCIT) could not come to consensus in revising the
International Telecommunications Regulations (ITRs).  We understand,
however, the serious concerns that a number of governments have expressed
with regard to the potential impact of the new regulations.

As civil society stated in its Best Bits statement, a key criterion for
ITRs should be that “any proposed revisions are confined to the traditional
scope of the ITRs” and “where international regulation is required around
technical issues [it] is limited to telecommunications networks and
interoperability standards.”  We regret that an Internet governance-related
resolution has been included in the Final Acts of WCIT, despite assertions
by many that WCIT was not about Internet governance. We are also concerned
by the lack of clarity around the applicability of the treaty, which as
defined could have unforeseen consequences for an open internet, and the
lack of specificity in key terms, such as security, which may negatively
impact the public’s rights to privacy and freedom of expression.

This said, civil society would like to acknowledge and thank those
governments that opened their delegations to members of civil society and
other stakeholder groups.  This was a very important initial step in
establishing a civil society voice in the proceedings and we trust that it
signals a wider commitment to multi-stakeholder approaches in public policy
development and decision-making on telecommunications and Internet-related
matters.  We trust that this openness and inclusive approach will continue
and extend to upcoming ITU-related work and beyond, and we urge other
governments to welcome and engage with civil society going forward.

As we communicated to ITU Secretary General Touré, we also commend the ITU
on first steps towards greater transparency and openness with regard to
access to and webcasting of plenary sessions and Committee 5 sessions, as
well as soliciting public submissions.  These initial steps enabled civil
society to play a constructive, albeit limited, role at the WCIT.

However there remain serious limitations to engaging with the ITU.  The
substantive policy deliberations in working groups were neither webcast nor
open to unaffiliated civil society.  Further, while it is positive that the
ITU opened the process to public comment, these comments were never part of
the official record.  We raised both of these challenges with the Secretary
General, in writing and in person, and he committed to addressing these
concerns and appealing to member states, as appropriate. Although the WCIT
has concluded, we renew our request to have the public comments submitted
as official ITU documents to capture these positions for the historical
record.

We also raised the issue of the lack of any institutional mechanism for
civil society participation at the ITU. While the participation of civil
society representatives in government delegations benefits both the
delegations and the WCIT’s deliberations as a whole, it cannot substitute
for engagement with independent members of civil society.  We will be
following up on these important matters with the Secretary General and
welcome his commitment to considering institutional remedies to this
challenge.

Looking forward, civil society seeks to work with governments and other
stakeholders around the globe towards an ever more inclusive and
substantive multi-stakeholder engagement on telecommunications, Internet,
and related matters.  Much more needs to be done with regard to opening the
ITU to greater genuine multi-stakeholder participation and in particular
independent civil society participation - institutional change will need to
occur and we will work with the ITU and other stakeholders to bring this
about.  These changes are vitally important and need to be addressed as
soon as possible given the upcoming 2013 World Telecommunication Policy
Forum, World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS+10) and 2014 ITU
Plenipotentiary Conference.

**

**

-- 
Deborah Brown
Policy Analyst
Access | AccessNow.org
E. deborah at accessnow.org
S. deborah.l.brown
T. deblebrown
PGP 0x5EB4727D
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