[bestbits] [governance] CSCG and the speaker selection process for WSIS+10

[Ian Peter]

Following up on this letter -

We have heard today from the Head of the NGO Branch of DESA as follows:

”I have discussed the matter with the representatives of the co-facilitators and of the President of the General Assembly this afternoon and wish to inform you that there is a common understanding that the members of the selection committee for civil society speakers will be composed exclusively of civil society representatives. Selection of private sector speakers will follow a parallel track.”

Which is good news and what we asked for. (and presumably the same pattern applies for technical community and academic reps)

We will know Monday who is involved in the Selection Committee as civil society representatives. (Applications for this close November 8)

Also please be aware that applications for speaker positions close November 12 – we need good candidates! The application form is available at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1ffRSw8C5UGYRKrzdpCiWnyc2EMVTbmZ1SVGNnhs0FcQ/viewform

Ian Peter


From: Lee W McKnight 
Sent: Saturday, November 07, 2015 3:09 AM
To: governance at lists.igcaucus.org ; Ian Peter ; bestbits at lists.bestbits.net ; forum at justnetcoalition.org ; Mueller, Milton L 
Subject: Re: [governance] CSCG and the speaker selection process for WSIS+10

+1



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: governance-request at lists.igcaucus.org <governance-request at lists.igcaucus.org> on behalf of Mueller, Milton L <milton at gatech.edu>
Sent: Friday, November 6, 2015 10:09 AM
To: governance at lists.igcaucus.org; Ian Peter; bestbits at lists.bestbits.net; forum at justnetcoalition.org
Subject: RE: [governance] CSCG and the speaker selection process for WSIS+10 

Nice job, support the content of the letter

--MM



From: governance-request at lists.igcaucus.org [mailto:governance-request at lists.igcaucus.org] On Behalf Of Ian Peter
Sent: Friday, November 6, 2015 4:45 AM
To: governance at lists.igcaucus.org; bestbits at lists.bestbits.net; forum at justnetcoalition.org
Subject: [governance] CSCG and the speaker selection process for WSIS+10



Dear Civil Society members,  (with apologies for cross posting)

Below is a letter just sent by CSCG to the organisers of the WSIS speaker selection process, a matter  which has been under discussion on various lists. (and as a result much discussion within CSCG)

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  selection committee. 

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.



LETTER FOLLOWS



Dear Co-facilitators of WSIS + 10 process, 

We are writing to you on behalf of the Internet Governance Civil Society 
Coordination Group (CSCG), a “coalition of coalitions” working actively on 
internet governance issues. Our member coalitions (Association for 
Progressive Communications, Best Bits Coalition, Internet Governance Caucus, 
Just Net Coalition,  and Non Commercial Stakeholders Group of ICANN) extends 
to some thousands of individual members and hundreds of civil society 
organisations working actively on internet governance issues. Many have been 
involved with the WSIS process since its inception.

Firstly, we wish to commend you for your efforts to include voices of 
non-governmental actors in the WSIS + 10 process.

However, we would like to raise a serious concern about one part of the 
process, whereby selection of civil society speakers for various events 
appears to be being done by a selection committee which includes 
representatives of other non-governmental stakeholder groups.

You will understand that it is of utmost importance for maintaining the 
independence of civil society that its representatives are chosen by civil 
society alone, and having other stakeholder representatives as part of a 
selection committee for civil society representation, or as final arbiters 
of our representation, is problematic for us.

Indeed, in the evolution of the multistakeholder model of internet 
governance, this was made quite clear in the Netmundial Outcomes 
Declaration. I quote:

"Stakeholder representatives appointed to multistakeholder Internet 
governance processes should be selected through open, democratic, and 
transparent processes. Different stakeholder groups should self - manage 
their processes based on inclusive, publicly known, well defined and 
accountable mechanisms."

In accordance with this principle, CSCG has established its own internal 
selection processes, which can be found at 
http://www.internetgov-cs.org/procedures. 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.  

Since some deadlines are quite close with respect to the currently announced 
process, we request your urgent intervention in this regard. Our proposal is 
that each stakeholder group choose its own speaker representatives and put 
these forward.


We do realise that increasing - both as widening and as deepening - civil
society engagement with the UN is a challenging and complex process, and we 
salute your pioneering efforts in this regard. The Internet Governance Civil 
Society Co-ordination Group (CSCG) remains available to assist you in this 
matter.


Sincerely

Ian Peter
Independent Chair, Internet Governance Civil Society Coordination Group

Endorsed by CSCG Members:

Chat Garcia Ramilo, Association for Progressive Communications
Jeremy Malcolm, Best Bits Coalition
Deirdre Williams and Analia Apsis, Internet Governance Caucus,
Norbert Bollow, Just Net Coalition
Robin Gross, Non Commercial Stakeholders Group of ICANN
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