[bestbits] Who is going to CSTD? Civil society pre-meeting?

[Lea Kaspar]

Hi Nick, all,

I might come to Geneva for a day on the 14th to see the follow up on the WGEC discussions - the CSTD is to decide whether or not to extend the mandate of the Group.

While the WGEC extension is still up in the air, it is likely that at least the gaps analysis that the WGEC Correspondence Group initiated is taken forward through the CSTD Secretariat. A fact-based gaps analysis is the right way to go IMO and could help bring about a more sober discussion on IG reform. On the WGEC itself, it would be useful to discuss a CS position on a potential extension. Some delegations in favour a continuation see it as a strategy to keep the IG discussions out of the upcoming ITU Plenipotentiary. However, it is unclear to me what value the extension could yield beyond this potential strategic benefit (the current deadlock seems unlikely to be broken even if they have 50 additional meetings). On the other hand, if the Group is discontinued, a number of sticky debates, including the one on roles and responsibilities, will likely spill over into other fora, like the WSIS+10 review process.

Which brings us to the status of the WSIS modalities discussion - Nick, are you saying that there hasn't been any movement towards consensus on the most recent modalities draft (attached)? At the moment, the modalities in the draft seem to revert back to the 2003/2005 WSIS process. Part of the difficulty in NY is the inability to splinter the G77 and get countries like Brazil to bring lessons and experiences from their national environments (and from for instance NetMundial) to the table instead of automatically siding with the positions pushed for by China and Russia. This makes it difficult to get modalities that are more open and participatory, which we as CS would presumably want. Perhaps one thing to lobby for at the CSTD is to acknowledge the NetMundial outcomes in some way? We have precedent for this in the most recent GA ICT4D Res<http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/LTD/N13/603/54/PDF/N1360354.pdf?OpenElement> from December which had the following text: "Welcoming the announcement by Brazil that the country will host the Global Multi-stakeholder Meeting on Internet Governance, to be held in São Paulo on 23 and 24 April 2014." Just an idea.

Not really an answer to what a plan B could be, sorry :)

I'd be interested to hear what others think.

Best,
Lea

From: nashton at consensus.pro [mailto:nashton at consensus.pro]
Sent: 08 May 2014 07:48
To: Anne Jellema
Cc: bestbits at lists.bestbits.net; Sonia Jorge
Subject: Re: [bestbits] Who is going to CSTD? Civil society pre-meeting?

I will be there, as IDEA (Internet & Digital Ecosystem Alliance<http://www.internet-ecosystem.org>), which is an NGO that brings together companies and NGOs, so a bit of a hybrid. I won't be there all day every day, but in and out, though I'll be around all of Wednesday I'm sure.

A question I would pose: given that negotiations in NY on the WSIS review are stuck, what is the proposed plan B if it remains stuck? I've asked various countries this question, and while they acknowledge that we need a 'plan b' there isn't one.
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On 8 May 2014, at 08:38, Anne Jellema <anne at webfoundation.org<mailto:anne at webfoundation.org>> wrote:


Hi all
Are there any plans for a civil society pre-meeting before, or caucus during, the upcoming CSTD meeting in Geneva?
My colleague Sonia will be there and we're keen to coordinate interventions and lobbying.
Best
Anne


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Anne Jellema
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World Wide Web Foundation | 1110 Vermont Ave NW, Suite 500, Washington DC, 20005, USA | www.webfoundation.org<http://www.webfoundation.org/> | Twitter: @webfoundation


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