[governance] Statement by IGC supporting rights and principles

Thu Sep 3 10:19:41 EDT 2009

Hi again Fouad,

I think we don't have any disagreement here. I understand and share  
your concern about the vagueness of "internet rights", thus my  
reluctance to use this wording, and my insistance on sticking to the  
fundamentals. Basically, we want to bring on the table the human  
rights issue, as a cross-cutting issue, and we want to see it taken  
into account in the overall IGF program, so as to be able to discuss  
this issue in the internet context. This was the objective of the  
written IGC statement prepared by Anja and submitted to the IGF  
secretariat, and remains the objective of this oral statement  
prepared by Lisa and intended for presentation in Geneva later this  
month.
Unfortunately I wont be able to go to Geneva this time, and as a  
matter of fact I had to decline an invitation to participate to one  
of the EuroDIG workshops. But there are many of them intending to  
raise different rights issues (program at: http://www.eurodig.org/),  
not to mention other specific meetings during this Geneva week, among  
them the DC IRP meeting, your own workshop, etc.). These are  
opportunities to deal with the substantive issue, but we want it  
officially recognized and implemented at IGF too.

Best,
Meryem

Le 3 sept. 09 à 14:52, Fouad Bajwa a écrit :

> Hi Meryem,
>
> My intention earlier was neither to start a new argument nor go into
> any other direction of things. Please be clear on this. As for the IGC
> interventions on the issues of Internet Rights, members from CS will
> be able to confirm that I was actively participating and deliberating
> on these issues at the open consultations and MAG meetings.
>
> Just in case this isn't on IGC record, we have intervened on the
> Internet Rights issue at the May meetings in Geneva as well as during
> the MAG meetings and thus have brought it on the table of the IGF. The
> problem is, that I personally felt, vagueness to the term Internet
> Rights and what it refers to for the other anti-internet rights groups
> to twist and confuse the pursuit. Yes the documents on Human Rights
> are available and we continuously quote them, but the funnelling down
> with a focus on Internet is not happening and then we find countries
> like China and other private sector lobbyists throwing out the topic
> of the window. The APC Internet Rights document is there but again,
> that is attributed to a single organization because it says APC
> Internet Rights Charter and within a multilateral scope of issues and
> interventions, either many more have to team up with APC or there
> should be a more strengthened backing to it.
>
> I think my comment was taken in a different understanding, indeed the
> intention in not a battle, the intention is simply to refer back to
> the particular clauses like a footnote or something.
>
> Once again, I will be at my end raising the issue of Internet Rights
> and IG4D in meeting and the IGF. Secondly, I have plans to get in
> touch with CS organizations and groups from the various countries of
> the developing world and pursue a more focused pressure group to
> convince the IGF to take on Internet Rights and IG4D as main session
> themes.
>
> Just in case, this discussion may be paused here to complete the IGC
> IR statement and we can discuss this face to face with IGC/CS
> participants during the EuroDIG session on IR or the IGF Preparatory.
>
> On Thu, Sep 3, 2009 at 5:35 PM, Meryem  
> Marzouki<marzouki at ras.eu.org> wrote:
>> Fouad,
>>
>> a couple of anwers below. Meryem
>>
>> Le 3 sept. 09 à 14:07, Fouad Bajwa a écrit :
>>
>>> There are two things I thought I'd share.......
>>>
>>> First can we explicitly mention the particular article/clause number
>>> from the WSIS Principles and the Tunis Agenda so that when the
>>> statement is read, it is recorded accurately during the preparatory.
>>
>> You may have noticed that it's not a quote of WSIS Decl. or TA,  
>> rather a
>> general reminder. As a matter of fact, the word "centrality" is not
>> explicitly used in these texts, but rather in the CS Decl. The  
>> goal is not
>> here to argue with clauses or articles. The discussion at next  
>> preparatory
>> meeting is not expected to turn into a legal battle over these  
>> texts that
>> anyone car refer to - at least I hope so.
>> If really felt needed, one may refer to the first part of the Decl  
>> ("our
>> common vision of the information society"), especially para. 1-5  
>> of the
>> Decl. Similar references can be found in the Tunis Commitment, and  
>> in the TA
>> (e.g. paras 42, 44, 46, etc.).
>> Again, I strongly advise not to enter into this.
>>
>>> Secondly, can we have a backup document on Internet Rights, not
>>> particularly the APC one but a very independent one specifically  
>>> from
>>> IGC that can be sent with this statement to the IGF Secrertariate.
>>
>> As for now, the international bill of rights (UDHR + the two  
>> international
>> covenants on civil and political rights and on economic social and  
>> cultural
>> rights) or even the sole UDHR are enough. There are no such "Internet
>> rights", but human rights as they apply on the internet. Charters  
>> such as
>> the APC one tries to define such application. And the whole point  
>> of this
>> IGC statement and of the existence of many coalitions, like the  
>> IRP one, is
>> to try to discuss and commonly agree on how HR translates in the  
>> ifnromation
>> society. It's easy to understand that if such a "very independent"  
>> document
>> exists, then the whole discussion and the statement wouldn't be  
>> necessary.
>> Thus the request is, as for now, to officially put the issue on  
>> the IGF
>> table.
>>
>> Best,
>> Meryem ____________________________________________________________
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>
>
>
> -- 
> Regards.
> --------------------------
> Fouad Bajwa
> @skBajwa
> Answering all your technology questions
> http://www.askbajwa.com
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