[governance] [Bill-of-Rights] Rights in IG research

[Milton L Mueller]

Hi, Lisa:
Some questions for you...

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Lisa Horner [mailto:lisa at global-partners.co.uk] 
> I agree with Jaco that the existing institutions are already 
> in place to protect and interpret rights at various levels 
> from the sub-national to international.  IMHO, the challenge 
> is to bring these institutions up to standard so that they're 
> capable of doing this job in relation to new and emerging 
> issues concerning internet communications.

How would you relate to the fact that a clearly defined right to
privacy, articulated in both national laws and in international norms
and instruments, is abrogated by the ICANN Whois obligation? Two prongs
to this question. First, how and why do you think that happened? Second,
why is there so much interest in general declarations of rights amogn
civil society and so little interest and involvement in the actual ICANN
processes that could affect how that right is translated into reality in
the context of the Internet domain name system? 

>  I agree that 
> constitutional amendments are unlikely in many countries, but 
> that doesn't prevent communications policy and practice 
> concerning issues that might seem unrelated to rights 
> (interoperability, commercial net neutrality...) from being 
> in line with human rights standards. Part of the power of the 
> international rights system stems from the moral obligations 
> it places on people to uphold rights - we might not always 
> need legal enforcement.

This is interesting. You are talking about political pressure by human
rights advocates, are you not? In this case what really matters is not
the articulation of the right in an international legal text, but the
willingness of civil society activists to mobilize around the issue. 

A secondary question: You say "we might not always need legal
enforcement." This assumes that there actually _is_ legal enforcement of
free expression rights in the international context. Here I plead
ignorance but hope you can supply me with information. Can you provide
an example of a case (or more than one case) in which UN institutions,
acting on the basis of international human rights "law" or declarations,
have put an end to an act of censorship or some other form of
suppression of free speech in some country? If I am a blogger in China
or Burma or the U.S. or Venezuela and my rights to free expression are
violated can I petition the UN, or initiate litigation based on
international rights and get that changed? 

> I was interested in an idea put forward by the WSIS human 
> rights caucus about the creation of an internet governance 
> institution that would be responsible for monitoring 
> governance policy and processes and assessing whether they 
> uphold or undermine minimum rights standards.  Does anyone 
> know if there was any more work done on that front?

Of course not, if by "additional work" you mean a commitment was made by
the UN system and its member states to invest resources in it and
execute it. The problem is that there is no consensus among states on
what rights exist and even if there was consensus in principle states
would always disagree that they were violating them once so accused. 


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