[bestbits] NOTE - Call for Nomination: Stakeholder Speakers at the General Assembly High-level Meeting on WSIS+10

[parminder]

Please see the below announcement.

 It seems that there is a strong effort to institutionalise a system of
civil society reps for speaker roles, but perhaps later also for more
substantive roles, being selected by multistakeholder committees,
meaning that big business and technical community gets a veto over civil
society rep selection. (Do remember here that 'technical community' here
is not that odd free and open software group volunteering their time in
supporting government schools or the such. This term is accepted in the
IG world now to denote those who work for and represent organisations
engaged with technical governance of the Internet, and thus represent a
governance status quo group. The semantic confusion about the term, as
being people with technical capacities, is deliberate in order to
utilise a certain legitimacy for what is a power based governance system.)

The structural problem with such a process should be obvious.

This is not acceptable for me, my organisation and the networks that I
work with. Civil society has traditionally been fiercely protective of
its independence, which includes the right to choose its own nominees
(for instance, any efforts at national govs 'clearing' civil society
reps from their countries has been strongly resisted at the UN and other
global governance levels).  I think we need to write back to those
responsible for this process that , thanks but no thanks, you tell us
how many CS sepakers you want and we have a process of selection for CS
reps and we will deliver the names by the date you want.

May I appeal to Ian and the CSCG to frame and send such a letter to WSIS
process co-facilitators, and the concerned UN bureaucracy, at the
earliest. Before these mentioned deadlines pass.

Meanwhile, let me give some background on this....

Just Net Coalition did write a letter addressed to the co-facilitators
against such a process of big business sitting over decisions on CS
reps. It seems to have had no effect.

A few years back, there was an attempt by a certain group in the IGF
MAG, led by the then Exec Director of the IGF, Markus Kummer, to
institute a method of selections of non gov MAG members by a committee
of older non gov MAG members. I was able to attend MAG meetings in those
days as a Special Advisor to the chair. I opposed such a process of CS
nominee selection by a committee that included big business and
technical community  (read the ICANN/ ISOC system). I was able to get
the support of a few CS MAG members in the room, and I distinctly
remember Graciala, Katitza, and Foaud in this regard, and perhaps a
person or two more whose names may have dropped from my memory (my
apologies).... And because of the CS opposition this problematic move
had to be abandoned.  Now it seems to be coming back from another door,
and we need to stand up against it once again.

Again, we have very little turnaround time here.

parminder

On Friday 30 October 2015 08:04 PM, Carolina Rossini wrote:
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: *NGO News* <ngonews at un.org <mailto:ngonews at un.org>>
> Date: Fri, Oct 30, 2015 at 10:14 AM
> Subject: [NGO News:] Call for Nomination: Stakeholder Speakers at the
> General Assembly High-level Meeting on WSIS+10
> To: crossini at publicknowledge.org <mailto:crossini at publicknowledge.org>
>
>
> *Deadlines:            *
>
> *8 November 2015: Apply for Selection Committee*
>
> *12 November 2015: Apply for Speaking Roles*
>
> *The General Assembly High-level Meeting on the overall review of the
> implementation of the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information
> Society will take place on 15-16 December 2015 at the UN Headquarters
> in New York.*
>
> This high-level meeting will provide an opportunity for in-depth
> discussions on important issues in the implementation of the WSIS
> outcomes, including the progress, gaps and challenges, as well as
> areas for future actions.
>
> *To apply to speak at the High-level Meeting, please complete the form
> available here
> <https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1ffRSw8C5UGYRKrzdpCiWnyc2EMVTbmZ1SVGNnhs0FcQ/viewform>*.
> Applications will be accepted from *30 October to* *12 November 2015*.
>
> *A Selection Committee will be established* in order to ensure broad
> and inclusive participation of stakeholders in the high-level meeting.
> Applications to the Selection Committee will be accepted
> from *30 October to 8 November 2015*. To learn more about the
> Selection Committee, please see the Terms of Reference by clicking on
> this link
> <http://csonet.org/content/documents/WSIS+10_ToR_Steering_Committee.pdf>. *To
> apply to participate in the stakeholder Selection Committee, please
> complete the form available **here*
> <https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1pzCRKLri16XUMNYNA9QECFnhCrO9Ub7ex0Ho2vdYp2k/viewform>*.*
>
> *Background*
>
> In December of 2003, the world came together in Geneva at the World
> Summit on Information Society (WSIS) to declare a "common desire and
> commitment to build a people-centred, inclusive and
> development-oriented Information Society," and ushered in an era of
> harnessing the power of information and communication technology to
> contribute to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals
> (MDGs). The resulting Geneva Plan of Action established targets and
> the eleven action lines, which guide development in specific areas.
>
> The second phase of WSIS, conducted in Tunis in 2005, built upon the
> achievements of the Geneva Plan, with the resulting Tunis Agenda
> addressing additional issues, such as financing and internet
> governance. Paragraph 111 of the Tunis Agenda, endorsed by the General
> Assembly in resolution 60/252, requested the General Assembly to
> undertake the overall review of the implementation of the outcomes of
> WSIS in 2015.  In response, the General Assembly in resolution 68/302,
> decided that the overall review will be concluded by a two-day
> high-level meeting of the General Assembly, to be preceded by an
> intergovernmental process that also takes into account inputs from all
> relevant stakeholders of WSIS.
>
>
>
>
> -- 
>
> /Carolina Rossini /
> /Vice President, International Policy and Strategy 
> /
> *Public Knowledge*
> _http://www.publicknowledge.org/_
> + 1 6176979389 | skype: carolrossini | @carolinarossini
>
>
> -- 
>
> /Carolina Rossini /
> /Vice President, International Policy/
> *Public Knowledge*
> _http://www.publicknowledge.org/_
> + 1 6176979389 | skype: carolrossini | @carolinarossini
>
>
>
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