[governance] < 24 hours remaining to vote YES + thematic working

[Ian Peter]

Yes with thematics



From: Jeremy Malcolm <jeremy at ciroap.org>
Reply-To: <governance at lists.cpsr.org>, Jeremy Malcolm <jeremy at ciroap.org>
Date: Sat, 30 Jan 2010 17:32:34 +0800
To: <governance at lists.cpsr.org>
Subject: [governance] < 24 hours remaining to vote YES + thematic working
groups, YES or NO

If you have not voted on the IGC statement for the next open consultation
meeting, please vote now.  At present the statement might not pass the
consensus call - not because there has been a lot of opposition to it, but
because the total number of responses is still relatively low.

Please also remember that we have another thread in which to discuss the
agenda for the Vilnius meeting: so far there has been no response to
Parminder's suggestion of a theme on "Network Neutrality/Open Internet".

Here once again is the statement on which we have a consensus call.
Everyone who has voted YES so far has been contacted off-list to clarify
their attitude towards thematic working groups - none have yet changed their
vote.

Please vote:

YES + thematic working groups to accept the statement as shown here
YES to accept the statement without the [underlined passage]
NO to reject the statement

Submission of the IGC in taking stock of the Sharm el Sheikh meeting of the
IGF

The Internet Governance Caucus (IGC) strongly supports the continuation of
the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) as a multi-stakeholder forum for the
discussion of Internet-related public policy issues.  When, as we expect,
the forum's mandate is extended for a further term, there are a number of
adjustments that we believe should be taken into account, continuing the
IGF's pattern of incremental improvement since its inauguration in 2006.

None of these suggestions would fundamentally alter the IGF as an
institution; for example, we are content that it remain formally convened by
the UN Secretary General, with an independent budget and a Secretariat under
contract with the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs
(UNDESA).  We do not see any benefit to the IGF in moving underneath a
different UN body such as the ITU.

One question on which the IGC is in clear agreement is that the composition
of the Multistakeholder Advisory Group (MAG) itself should be more evenly
divided between the stakeholder groups.  Many also believe that the
stakeholders should have a more direct role in the selection of MAG members,
and that MAG discussions should continue to be made more transparent.

One particular aspect of the IGF's operations in which the participation of
stakeholders could be improved is in setting the substantive agenda of IGF
meetings.  We understand that the MAG might not be rotated this year (though
in our view the uncertainty about the IGF's future need not preclude that).
If a rotation does not take place, care must be taken that this does not
result in the programme for the Vilnius meeting being prematurely set in
stone.  [[The IGC is ready to make innovative contributions to enhance the
present "Secretariat-MAG-Open Consultation" mechanism for the preparation of
IGF meetings.]]

The IGF should also consider how to improve its orientation towards the
development of tangible outputs, even if these would amount to "messages"
rather than to recommendations, declarations or statements (though many of
our members would also support outputs of these stronger kinds).  Whatever
form its outputs take, efforts should be taken to ensure that they are
transmitted to relevant external institutions through appropriate
mechanisms.

Similarly, attention must be given to the effectiveness of the IGF's
intersessional work program, which is currently limited to open
consultations, MAG meetings, dynamic coalition meetings, and loosely
connected national and regional meetings.  In particular, there should be a
better mechanism than at present for these other groups and meetings to
present their outputs to the IGF as a whole.  This would require the IGF to
set more stringent standards for such groups and meetings, including open
membership, democratic processes, and perhaps multi-stakeholder composition.

[The MAG should also organize thematic working groups to develop background
material, IGF discussion synthesis etc on major themes selected to be taken
up by the IGF.]

We thank you for the opportunity to present you with these thoughts, which
reflect a "rough consensus" of our several hundred members from civil
society.  We look forward to continuing to constructively engage with and
participate in the IGF over the course of its renewed term.

About the IGC

The IGC is an association of individuals in civil society, with a wide
spread of geographic and gender representation, who are actively engaged in
internet governance and the IGF. Formed during the lead up to the World
Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), our mission is to promote global
public interest objectives in Internet governance policy making. It now
comprises more than 400 individual subscribers to its mailing list, who have
subscribed to its Charter.  More about our coalition can be found at
http://www.igcaucus.org.
-- 
Jeremy Malcolm
Project Coordinator
Consumers International
Kuala Lumpur Office for Asia Pacific and the Middle East
Lot 5-1 Wisma WIM, 7 Jalan Abang Haji Openg, TTDI, 60000 Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia
Tel: +60 3 7726 1599
CI is 50
Consumers International marks 50 years of the global consumer movement in
2010.
Celebrate with us as we continue to support, promote and protect consumer
rights around the world.
http://www.consumersinternational.org/50
<http://www.consumersinternational.org/50>

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