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

[Bertrand de La Chapelle]

Dear Bill,

thanks for the comments.

You wrote :

>
> Right, and a number of us supported that (ie : the notion of
> recommendations "at" the IGF).  And there was
> Wolfgang's related proposal for "messages from the IGF."  But do you think
> the governments calling for recs would be satisfied with that, really?  I'd
> be rather surprised, to put it mildly.
>

My take is that among governments calling for more formal outcomes, many (at
least the most conscious) are concerned that reverting to traditional
drafting would kill the nature of the IGF and its capacity to address issues
in an informal and peer way (the essential benefit of the exercise). It is
the same concern as many on this list.

As for those who call for pure intergovernmental negotiations, they
fundamentally object to the multi-stakeholder approach and talk about other
spaces : so, they are not really part of this debate (and should read again
what they signed in 2003 and 2005, by the way).

The idea of recommendations "at" the IGF is therefore a possible middle
ground forward and the expression actually received significant support from
governments I spoke with.

On a side note, the precedent of the WGIG is interesting : a significant
part of the multi-stakeholder recommendations (including the now famous
definition of Internet Governance and the proposal of a Forum) was
integrated in the document finally negociated by governments in the Tunis
meeting. So, a mechanism could emerge whereby all actors, on a peer level,
discuss an issue and agree on some formulation that could afterwards be
given a "higher" status if it is integrated in traditional drafting
exercises in other organizations. Just a thought. But let's keep it for
another discussion :-)

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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