[governance] ITU statement last call

[David Allen]

Bill,

You have good text - you don't need any changes 
now.  So, for your thoughts later:  WSIS 
accreditation will do fine now.  Down the road, 
new NGOs will - inevitably - accrete.  One day we 
will have to face the (bad) bear of 
accreditation, once again.

My org is not the sort who poll easily, and there 
would be a range of views.  Sorry we can't be 
useful as a signatory.  Will try to be useful, in 
conversation with relevant folks on the subject.

David

At 8:47 PM +0100 1/30/06, William Drake wrote:
>Hi,
>
>Having shifted from an individual to group 
>statement, I can't help thinking this would be 
>more effective if there was more of a group 
>associated with it.   Twelve names is ok, but 
>more would be merrier.  I will submit it when I 
>wake up tomorrow morning, if anyone else wants 
>to join please let me know privately before then.
>
>Thanks
>
>Bill
>
>
>
>
>Statement by members of the WSIS-civil society Internet Governance Caucus
>
>
>
>Submitted for the WG-WSIS ITU Reform Meeting
>
>1 February 2006
>
>
>
>
>
>The WSIS Principles state that Internet 
>governance should be multilateral, transparent 
>and democratic, with the full involvement of 
>governments, the private sector, civil society 
>and international organizations.  The ITU 
>clearly does not meet the last criteria.  For 
>the overwhelming majority of civil society 
>organizations and individual academics, the 
>barriers to becoming a sector member or even an 
>associate are simply too high to overcome.  In 
>parallel, there are no options for participating 
>on a more flexible, ad hoc basis in special 
>workshops and seminars, or in the assemblies and 
>conferences.  In consequence, and unlike other 
>UN agencies, true NGOs (as opposed to hybrid 
>business/user/technical organizations) are 
>almost entirely absent and alienated from the 
>ITU.   That this is not in the ITU’s own 
>interest was demonstrated by the WSIS process, 
>in which civil society opposed the ITU playing 
>an expanded, leading role in Internet governance.
>
>
>
>With WSIS follow-up and implementation efforts 
>forthcoming, now would be a particularly 
>appropriate time to make opening up to civil 
>society a central element of ITU reform.  Doing 
>so would not in any way disrupt the work of the 
>Union, and the administrative cost would be 
>negligible (we can print our own documents, 
>etc).  The ITU would not face a stampede of 
>hundreds of organizations seeking to participate 
>in ongoing study group work on frequency 
>propagation, signaling requirements and 
>protocols, and other technical matters.  A much 
>more likely scenario would be that a manageable 
>number of NGOs and academics would seek to 
>participate in some of the above-mentioned 
>workshops, seminars, assemblies and conferences. 
>Civil society experts contributed significantly 
>to the success of the February 2004 workshop on 
>Internet governance, and there is every reason 
>to believe that same constructive engagement 
>would ensue in other forums.  Allowing civil 
>society participation in events like the March 
>2006 meeting on NGN policies would be a good 
>first step, and would not require changes to the 
>Constitution and Convention.  WSIS and/or ECOSOC 
>accreditation would seem sufficient for this 
>purpose.
>
>
>
>It is unfortunate that the ITU’s February 1 
>reform meeting is closed to civil society 
>participation.  Our exclusion from this and 
>similar events has been debated extensively on 
>civil society Internet listservs.  There was 
>little enthusiasm for the website’s cheery 
>invitation to “be part of it” by submitting 
>statements in this “open forum” for a meeting 
>from which we are barred.  If however the ITU 
>were to initiate a genuine, open and inclusive 
>dialogue on the matter, the response would be 
>much more supportive.
>
>
>
>
>
>Dr. William Drake              
>
>Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility/
>
>Graduate Institute for International Studies, Geneva
>
>
>
>Dr. Wolfgang Kleinwächter  
>
>University of Aarhus
>
>
>
>McTim                                         
>
>Internet Infrastructure Consultant
>
>
>
>Dr. Lee McKnight                
>
>Syracuse University/Internet Governance Project
>
>
>
>Parminder Jeet Singh              
>
>IT for Change
>
>
>
>Dr. Jeanette Hofmann        
>
>Social Science Research Center, Berlin
>
>
>
>Avri Doria                                       
>
>Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility/   
>
>Nomadic Women's ICT Network
>
>
>
>Robert Guerra                        
>
>Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility/
>
>Privaterra
>
>
>
>Dr. Ralf Bendrath                    
>
><http://www.worldsummit2005.org/>www.worldsummit2005.org
>
>
>
>Max Senges                           
>
>Committee for a Democratic United Nations
>
>
>
>Veni Markovski                  
>
>Internet Society, Bulgaria
>
>
>
>Karen Banks                          
>
>Association for Progressive Communications
>
>
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