[governance] Should IGF negotiate recommendations? (Re: IGC

[Bertrand de La Chapelle]

Dear all,

I've only been following the discussions on the satement only in the last
hour or so - being stuck in my bed with an awful back ache due in part to
the long economy-class flight coming back from the ICANN meeting in Sydney
(would support business class tickets indeed ..). Want to congratulate
Ginger for an amazing job and her patience.

Just a few comments if I can help on the issue of "recommendations", with a
proposed formulation in the end.

1) The title of the thread (should the IGF *negotiate* recommendations ?)
goes beyond what the Tunis Agenda says ("make" recommendations). I do not
think anybody in the IGC wants to go backwards on the Tunis document : the
capacity of IGF to produce recommendations is in the text and it is
important. What the reluctant people mean is that "negotiations" as a way to
produce recommendations is the wrong way to go. The experience of those of
us who participated this year in meetings like CSTD and ITU WTPF shows the
danger of reverting to traditional ways of intergovernmental negotiations.

2) During the Hyderabad meeting last year, an interesting distinction was
made between "recommendations *by* the IGF" and "recommendations *at* the
IGF". This would mean that groups of actors, including Dynamic Coalitions
for instance but also ad hoc gatherings after a workshop, could take the
opportunity of an IGF meeting to prepare recommendations that they would
make public at the IGF and invite other actors to join. This is a truly
multi-stakeholder and bottom-up approach.

3) In such an approach, some process could be envisaged for the IGF to
record such recommendations in a specific rubric, like the IGF site already
incorporates the reports of the workshops. In the simplest form, the reports
themselves can already contain such recommendations.

Because of the above, I do not think the opposition in the IGC is between
those who want recommendations (as a condition of IGF's credibility) and
those who oppose recommendations in general. The debate is more around how
to produce something useful  without getting in traditional negotiation
mode. The answer in my view is that the IGF's main mission is to build
consensus on 1) the correct understanding of an issue and its various
dimensions, 2) the existence (or not) of a commonly agreed goal, and 3) the
best procedural method to address the issue (this can mean for instance, a
recommendation for a specific group to be formed, or for an issue to be
addressed by a given organization - or a group of them).

The term recommendation evokes for too many, the lengthy "resolutions"
adopted in traditional fora. On the other hand, the IGF, in its innovative
manner, could come up with much more specific guidance, for instance if a
critical mass of the relevant actors dealing with an issue get together at
an IGF meeting and, in the course of a workshop, agree on a specific action
(cf. the notion of roundtables when an issue is considered "ripe" or
"mature"). Recommendations can be on an issue-by-issue basis and do not
necessarily engage all of the IGF.

In that context, I'd like to contribute a possible formulation, trying to
combine the two proposals under discussion :

Q6 Tunis Agenda 72g mandates the IGF to make recommendations "where
appropriate". This dimension of the IGF mandate should not be forgotten, but
this does not necessarily mean traditional resolution drafting. The IGC
believes that it is important in that respect for the outcomes of workshops
and main sessions, and of the IGFs in general, to be presented in more
tangible, concise and result-oriented formats. IGF participants should also
be encouraged to engage in concrete cooperations as a result of their
interaction in the IGF or in the Dynamic Coalitions and to present their
concrete recommendations at the IGF, that would be posted on the IGF web
site.

This is just a starting proposal. Feel free to edit as needed.
I hope this helps.
Best
Bertrand


-- 
____________________
Bertrand de La Chapelle
Délégué Spécial pour la Société de l'Information / Special Envoy for the
Information Society
Ministère des Affaires Etrangères et Européennes/ French Ministry of Foreign
and European Affairs
Tel : +33 (0)6 11 88 33 32

"Le plus beau métier des hommes, c'est d'unir les hommes" Antoine de Saint
Exupéry
("there is no greater mission for humans than uniting humans")
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