[bestbits] NetMundial and Indian CS: Discussing Transparency and Conflict of Interest

[Chinmayi Arun]

Dear All,

I signed the Indian Civil Society
letter<http://www.hindustantimes.com/Images/popup/2014/4/Civil%20Society%20Letter.pdf>because
I thought that a meeting as significant as NetMundial should be
especially careful about the process it follows. Multi-stakeholder dialogue
is and will always be an enterprise that will need to be handled with a
great deal of care. If we seek to replace some inter-governmental processes
with MS processes, surely we need to build the same safeguards into the
multi-stakeholder mechanisms that exist in government functioning. It is
therefore of the utmost importance that transparency and accountability be
a part of multi stakeholder dialogue. I found it problematic that these did
not feature in the appointments of the Chair, and considered an obligation
to point this out. This is of course while maintaing my very high regard
for all the people who worked so hard to put NetMundial together - it
cannot have been easy to achieve so much so fast.

I am sorry that the conversation intended to be about the process by which
the Chairpersons were appointed has turned personal. It was not meant to.
If it helps, had I been appointed a Chair for this conference by the same
process, I would have considered that problematic too. The heart of this is
that the process should have been consultative and transparent, regardless
of who eventually gets appointed.