[governance] Call for consensus - Statement by IGC supporting

Parminder parminder at itforchange.net
Thu Sep 10 20:57:01 EDT 2009


Yes.
Think it is  a very well done statement. thanks for those who took time 
to pull it together.

parminder

Jeremy Malcolm wrote:
> I also support the statement.
>
>
>
> Lisa Horner wrote:
>>
>> Hi all
>>
>>
>>
>> We’re now past the deadline for comments, so I’ve pasted a final 
>> version below for the consensus call.  Please could you send a 
>> message to the list to say if you support the statement or not.  I’ll 
>> now hand over to Ginger and Ian to finalise and coordinate it getting 
>> read out at the IGF planning meeting.  I’ll also get in touch with 
>> the DCs.
>>
>>
>>
>> Shaila – this version includes your edits, apart from in the final 
>> para as I think Parminder’s comments made sense.  Hope that’s 
>> acceptable to you.
>>
>>
>>
>> Thanks everyone for your inputs.  I think it’s a strong statement now.
>>
>>
>>
>> All the best,
>>
>> Lisa
>>
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>
>>
>> FINAL STATEMENT (V6) – for consensus call
>>
>>
>> The Caucus [and undersigned DCs] repeat their request that the 
>> programme for IGF-4 in Egypt gives greater priority to human rights.  
>> The WSIS Declaration and Tunis Agenda strongly reaffirmed the 
>> centrality of human rights in the information society. Despite this, 
>> human rights and associated principles have received too little 
>> attention at the IGF so
>> far. This is problematic because :
>>
>> *    Fundamental human rights such as the rights to freedom of 
>> expression, privacy, civic participation, education and development 
>> are strongly threatened by the actions and restrictive policies of a 
>> growing number of actors vis a vis the internet, including state and 
>> private actors at both national as well as global levels.
>>
>>
>> *    The internet presents new opportunities for upholding and 
>> advancing human rights, for example through enhancing access to 
>> knowledge and common resources. It is vital that we build on and 
>> enhance these opportunities. Ignoring these avenues to uphold human 
>> rights implies a serious opportunity cost for the well being of 
>> peoples, globally.
>>
>>
>> *    International human rights, as contained in the Universal 
>> Declaration of Human Rights and confirmed by the core human rights 
>> treaties and other universal human rights instruments, are legally 
>> binding.  The growing role of information and communication 
>> technologies has not changed the legal obligation of states that have 
>> ratified these instruments to respect, protect and implement the 
>> human rights of their citizens.
>>
>>
>> *    The human rights framework is an internationally agreed set of 
>> standards that has practical as well as ethical value.  It balances 
>> different rights against each other to preserve individual and public 
>> interest.  In addition to its legally binding implications, human 
>> rights are therefore a useful tool for addressing internet governance 
>> issues, such as how to deal with security concerns on the internet in 
>> compliance with the rights to freedom of expression and privacy.  
>> Besides stating the obligations of states and governments, the human 
>> rights framework also allows us to derive the rights and 
>> responsibilities of other stakeholders.
>>
>> The Internet Governance Caucus [and undersigned DCs] call for the 
>> human rights dimension of all internet governance issues to be 
>> included in the planning and implementation of all future IGF 
>> sessions, so that human rights are given the attention they deserve 
>> as cross-cutting issues.  This should include explicit consideration 
>> of how global, regional and national policies affect human rights, 
>> and the development of positive policy principles to build an open 
>> and accessible internet for all.  The Caucus [and undersigned DCs] 
>> would like to offer assistance to the organisers of the main plenary 
>> sessions to do this, and would like to support all stakeholders 
>> through providing access to relevant guidelines and experts. We see 
>> this upcoming IGF in Egypt and future IGFs as renewed opportunity to 
>> make Rights and Principles a core theme.
>>
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.igcaucus.org/pipermail/governance/attachments/20090911/06453ccf/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
____________________________________________________________
You received this message as a subscriber on the list:
     governance at lists.cpsr.org
To be removed from the list, send any message to:
     governance-unsubscribe at lists.cpsr.org

For all list information and functions, see:
     http://lists.cpsr.org/lists/info/governance


More information about the Governance mailing list