[governance] Fwd: Letter from stakeholders re: Working Group on Improvements to the IGF membership

[Izumi AIZU]

This is the letter sent to Frederic.

izumi


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Bill Graham <graham at isoc.org>
Date: 2010/12/10
Subject: Letter from stakeholders re: Working Group on Improvements to
the IGF membership
To: Frédéric Riehl <frederic.riehl at bakom.admin.ch>


To:  Mr. Frédéric Riehl, Vice Chair, Commission on Science and
Technology for Development  (frederic.riehl at bakom.admin.ch

CC:  H.E. Ms. Sherry Ayittey, Chair, Commission on Science and
Technology for Development (c/o Mongi Hamdi: mongi.hamdi at unctad.org)

We are surprised and deeply concerned about the decision taken by an
extraordinary meeting of the Commission on Science and Technology for
Development (CSTD) Bureau on Monday.  As we understand it, the meeting
decided that the Working Group on Improvements to the Internet
Governance Forum (IGF), mandated by resolution (2010/2) of the United
Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), will be composed
exclusively of member states.

This ECOSOC resolution, which was initially negotiated during the CSTD
in May 2010 by or in the presence of many of the signatories below,
invites “the Chair of the Commission on Science and Technology for
Development to establish, in an open and inclusive manner, a working
group seek, compile and review inputs from all Member States and all
other stakeholders on improvements to the Internet Governance Forum
(IGF), in line with the mandate set out in the Tunis Agenda".

These words are a clear reference to the paragraph of the WSIS Plan of
Action (Geneva 2003) that led to the establishment of the very
successful Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG) and ultimately
the creation of the IGF itself:

We ask the Secretary-General of the United Nations to set up a working
group on Internet governance, in an open and inclusive process that
ensures a mechanism for the full and active participation of
governments, the private sector and civil society from both developing
and developed countries, involving relevant intergovernmental and
international organizations and forums, to investigate and make
proposals for action…

We therefore expected that the composition of the Working Group would
be strongly inspired by the methodology adopted for setting up the
multi-stakeholder WGIG, as stated as the CSTD Vice-Chair’s
recommendation in his report on the meeting he convened on 16
September 2010, and we were dismayed to learn that would not be the
case.

The format decided by the Bureau of the CSTD is contrary to both the
report and the spirit of the ECOSOC resolution and is therefore
disappointing.

In any event, it is not up to the Bureau of the CSTD to make a
decision on this matter. This is not a Working Group of the CSTD, but
rather a Working Group to be convened by the Chair of the CSTD as
instructed by the ECOSOC resolution.

The CSTD Chair entrusted you with the mission of implementing the
request made to her. In light of that and the above information we
urge you to retract the decision of 7 December, and to establish an
appropriately constituted Working Group consistent with the WSIS
formulation ensuring “the full and active participation of
governments, the private sector and civil society from both developing
and developed countries, involving relevant intergovernmental and
international organizations and forums”.

Because little time remains before the 17 December meeting, we
respectfully request that you respond at your earliest possible
convenience, preferably by 14 December, so that we may make plans to
participate in the Working Group meeting if appropriate.

Sincerely yours,

Asia Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC)
http://www.apnic.net/
Contact: German Valdez (german at apnic.net)

Association for Competitive Technology
http://actonline.org/
Contact: Jonathan Zuck (jzuck at actonline.org)

Australian Domain Name Administration (AuDA)
http://www.auda.org.au/
Contact: Chris Disspain (ceo at auda.org.au)

East African Internet Governance Forum
http://www.eaigf.or.ke/
Contact: Lillian Nalwoga (Lillian at cipesa.org) or Alice Munyua (alice at apc.org)

International Chamber of Commerce - Business Action to Support the
Information Society
http://www.iccwbo.org/basis/
Contact: Ayesha Hassan (ayesha.hassan at iccwbo.org)

Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
http://www.icann.org/
Contact: Baher Esmat (baher.esmat at icann.org)

Internet Governance Caucus
http://www.igcaucus.org/
Contacts: Izumi Aizu (iza at anr.org) or Jeremy Malcolm (jeremy at ciroap.org)

Internet Society
http://www.isoc.org/
Contact: Bill Graham (graham at isoc.org)

NetChoice
http://www.netchoice.org/
Contact: Steve del Bianco (sdelbianco at netchoice.org)

Nominet
http://www.nominet.org.uk/
Contact: Lesley Cowley (lesley.cowley at nominet.org.uk)
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