[governance] Re: [WSIS CS-Plenary] ECOSOC reviewing WSIS follow up and implementation: CSTD, UNGIS, ALF, IGF, GAID

Mon Jul 9 06:45:42 EDT 2007

Hi Philippe and Parminder,

The concerns you have raised clearly are valid and merit rapid responses.

With regard to enhanced cooperation, as Parminder notes, the IG caucus
already agreed a letter months ago saying we¹ve been told nothing and would
like/expect to be consulted in keeping with the spirit of the TA. There is
no need for prolonged debate over whether and how to reiterate already
adopted language.  Parminder and Vittorio should just draft a few sentences
referencing the prior letter and saying these concerns are raised anew by
the SG Report and we look forward to a response, and submit it for a quick
consensus call under the charter procedure.

With regard to broader WSIS F&I, it¹s clear that GAID cannot play a
channeling role to CSTD given its institutional arrangements and mandate.
Absent any agreed structures for post-WSIS, it¹s not obvious how these
concerns could be raised other than via a letter from CONGO as facilitator
for ECOSOC-related CS.

Best,

Bill

On 7/9/07 11:20 AM, "Parminder" <parminder at itforchange.net> wrote:

> This is about enhanced cooperation process and the SG¹s report to the ECOSOC
> which will be considered later this month. The report has been forwarded by
> Philippe with his email below.  
>  
>> > Internet Governance Forum and enhanced cooperation
>> >The SG Report states that WSIS ³requested the Secretary-General to convene
>> the Internet Governance Forum, a new forum for multi-stakeholder policy
>> dialogue, to >discuss, inter alia, public policy issues related to Internet
>> governance in order to foster the sustainability, robustness, security,
>> stability and development of the >Internet. The inaugural meeting, entitled
>> ³Internet governance for development², was held in Athens from 30 October to
>> 2 November 2006, and the second meeting is >scheduled to be held in Rio de
>> Janeiro from 12 to 15 November 2007. Consultations are under way to start a
>> process towards enhanced cooperation among all >relevant stakeholders with
>> regard to Internet governance, as requested by the Summit² (§ 14 of
>> E/2007/76).
>  
> Civil society, and IGC on its behalf and of itself, should obviously make a
> comment that we are unaware of the consultation process being carried out, and
> not only we have never been contacted, our official correspondence to the
> special advisor to SG remains unanswered and un-acknowledged. We should insist
> that the consultations underway¹ should include civil society and this
> caucus. These consultations should involve CS especially because the documents
> speaks of towards enhanced cooperation among all >relevant stakeholders with
> regard to Internet governance¹ and obviously any enhanced cooperation cannot
> involve all stakeholders when its preparatory doesn¹t involve all
> stakeholders. 
>  
> CONGO is ready to include such language on behalf of CS and / or IGC if we can
> agree on it, in its statement to the ECOSOC when this report is considered
> with regard to its WSIS parts on 23rd this.
>  
> It is my personal opinion that something to the effect written by me above is
> the least that IGC must say at the moment. I will like to hear the views of
> the other .
>  
> Are members willing to engage with this issue at all? If so, how?
>  
> Philippe can take in the views contributed on this list, and if there is a
> fair consensus these can go on IGC¹s behalf.
>  
> I must remind that the time is short.
>  
> Parminder 
>  
>  
> 
> ________________________________________________
> Parminder Jeet Singh
> IT for Change, Bangalore
> Bridging Development Realities and Technological Possibilities
> Tel: (+91-80) 2665 4134, 2653 6890
> Fax: (+91-80) 4146 1055
> www.ITforChange.net <http://www.itforchange.net/>
> 
> 
> From: plenary-admin at wsis-cs.org [mailto:plenary-admin at wsis-cs.org] On Behalf
> Of CONGO WSIS - Philippe Dam
> Sent: Friday, July 06, 2007 11:35 PM
> To: plenary at wsis-cs.org; bureau at wsis-cs.org; governance at lists.cpsr.org
> Cc: rbloem at ngocongo.org; 'CONGO - Philippe Dam'
> Subject: [WSIS CS-Plenary] ECOSOC reviewing WSIS follow up and implementation:
> CSTD, UNGIS, ALF, IGF, GAID
> Importance: High
>  
>  
> Dear all, 
>  
> As some of you might know, the UN ECOSOC opened its annual substantive session
> earlier this week.
> Issues related to the follow up and implementation of WSIS will be discussed
> and addressed by ECOSOC later this month (according to the provisional
> timetable of the ECOSOC session, WSIS follow up might be tabled on 23rd and on
> 25th July).
>  
> In general, the documents addressing WSIS follow up to be considered by ECOSOC
> will be:
> -       The SG report on ³integrated and coordinated implementation of the
> outcomes of and follow up to major UN conferences and summit² (E/2007/76, here
> attached, to be discussed on 23 July; it contains a series of paragraphs in
> relation to WSIS); See below for some extracts on the various post WSIS
> processes.
> -       The final report of the 10th session of the Commission on Science and
> Technology for Development (21-25 May 2007), including the two WSIS related
> decisions of the CSTD (on the flow of information for WSIS follow up, and on
> multi-year programme of work): see E/2007/31, hereby attached as well, to be
> discussed on 25 July.
>  
> As far as we understood from diplomats here in Geneva, there might not be any
> additional negotiation in Geneva. It is expected that the CSDT decision will
> be confirmed by ECOSOC. We will anyway monitor the on going process and keep
> you posted  and hopefully engaged.
>  
> CONGO would be willing to address the ECOSOC on these various issues, under
> the two segments that might be available in this regard. We will of course
> need your remarks, suggestions and feedback.
>  
> General note
> The SG report recognises that ³implementation and follow-up require a broad
> engagement of non-governmental stakeholders and partners² (§ 12 of E/2007/76).
>  
> Commission on Science and Technology for Development
> The SG report seems quite restrictive in defining the involvement of CS actors
> in the CSTD processes. Contrary to the Tunis Agenda which requested to take
> into account the multi-stakeholder approach, the SG Report defines quite
> poorly the CSTD as an intergovernmental process ³with contributions from
> non-governmental stakeholders channelled through the multi-stakeholder Global
> Alliance for Information and Communication Technologies and Development² (§14
> of E/2007/76). CONGO considers that this quotation is not reflecting paragraph
> 105 of the Tunis Agenda for the IS and ECOSOC Resolution 2006/46: we
> understand GAID is a multi-stakeholder component in CSTD and ECOSOC, but
> certainly not the only one, and that NGO contributions should not be
> channelled / screened before reaching the CSTD / ECOSOC: CONGO is therefore
> willing to correct that in the ECOSOC Plenary.
>  
> UNGIS and Action Line Facilitators process
> The SG Report only provides a factual description of the creation of the UN
> Group for the Information Society (³Coordination among the United Nations
> system entities is undertaken by the United Nations Group on the Information
> Society, created by the Secretary-General in accordance with the request of
> the Summit², § 14 of E/2007/76) and of the May 2007 cluster of WSIS action
> line facilitation meetings.
>  
> Internet Governance Forum and enhanced cooperation
> The SG Report states that WSIS ³requested the Secretary-General to convene the
> Internet Governance Forum, a new forum for multi-stakeholder policy dialogue,
> to discuss, inter alia, public policy issues related to Internet governance in
> order to foster the sustainability, robustness, security, stability and
> development of the Internet. The inaugural meeting, entitled ³Internet
> governance for development², was held in Athens from 30 October to 2 November
> 2006, and the second meeting is scheduled to be held in Rio de Janeiro from 12
> to 15 November 2007. Consultations are under way to start a process towards
> enhanced cooperation among all relevant stakeholders with regard to Internet
> governance, as requested by the Summit² (§ 14 of E/2007/76).
>  
> Global Alliance for ICT and Development
> The SG Report includes an annexed two-page description of GAID and a synopsis
> of its activities. See pages 21-22 of E/2007/76.
>  
>  
>  
> Please send us your comments and suggestions in this regard. We will come back
> to you early next week with more details.
> All the best, 
>  
> Philippe
>  
> Philippe Dam
> CONGO - Information Society &
> Human Rights Coordinator
> 11, Avenue de la Paix
> CH-1202 Geneva
> Tel: +41 22 301 1000
> Fax: +41 22 301 2000
> E-mail: philippe.dam at ngocongo.org <mailto:wphilippe.dam at ngocongo.org>
> Website: www.ngocongo.org <blocked::">http://www.ngocongo.org>
> <http://www.ngocongo.org>
>  
> The Conference of NGOs (CONGO) is an international, membership association
> that facilitates the participation of NGOs in United Nations debates and
> decisions. Founded in 1948, CONGO's major objective is to ensure the presence
> of NGOs in exchanges among the world's governments and United Nations agencies
> on issues of global concern.  For more information see our website at
> www.ngocongo.org <blocked::">http://www.ngocongo.org/>
> <http://www.ngocongo.org/>
>  
> 

***********************************************************
William J. Drake  drake at hei.unige.ch
Director, Project on the Information
  Revolution and Global Governance/PSIO
  Graduate Institute for International Studies
  Geneva, Switzerland
http://hei.unige.ch/psio/researchprojects/Drake.html
***********************************************************

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.igcaucus.org/pipermail/governance/attachments/20070709/cf012375/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed...
Name: message-footer.txt
URL: <http://lists.igcaucus.org/pipermail/governance/attachments/20070709/cf012375/attachment.txt>