[bestbits] WSIS+10 HLM Civil Society Speakers

[Lea Kaspar]

Dear all,

As a member of the civil society speaker selection committee for the WSIS
High Level Meeting set up by UNDESA, I'm writing to share a short update
regarding the speaker selection process.

We (the selection committee) have just been informed by UNDESA that Office
of the President of the General Assembly has made two changes to the civil
society speakers nominated for WSIS+10. Tatiana Kapinga, who was unable to
secure a US visa, and Anriette Esterhuysen, who was unable to stay to
address the meeting, were replaced by Deborah Brown of APC and Matthew
Shears of Center for Democracy and Technology.

While not wishing to be critical of either of the people chosen, members of
the Civil Society Selection Committee believe that, despite the short
timeframe, it should have been consulted about these changes. In
particular, we are concerned that the changes made by OPGA resulted in four
of our five speakers being from WEOG areas. This lack of geographic balance
is unfortunate, and could have been avoided.

We will convey our disappointment to OPGA at a later stage, but wanted
civil society networks to be aware of this issue.

Best wishes,

*Lea Kaspar*

Head of Programmes and International Policy | GLOBAL PARTNERS DIGITAL

Development House, 56–64 Leonard Street, London EC2A 4LT

T: +44 (0)20 7549 0337 | M: +44 (0)7583 929216 | Skype: l.kaspar

gp-digital.org
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