[governance] RE: WSIS Forum 2011

Mon Sep 6 16:22:32 EDT 2010

The phrase in the ICC's statement is awkward in my view:  "...the
participation of many stakeholders, business included...."
Stakeholder governance was born and raised in the corporate business
context, it is only by attempted extension that it applies to CS if it
does at all. Thus, the clarify that "stakeholders" means "business
included" is redundant and awkward, unless one was intending to send a
signal that business was on board and/or desirous of this particular
venue of Geneva.

I'm not expressing an opinion on where it should be, but I do find of
interest to note who the text below wants to make sure we understand
is being facilitated by a selection of Geneva, but it does seem to me
that NYC does more business than Geneva does, but with a declining
economy and decreased freedom of movement into and out of  the USA,
I'm open to contrary presentations of fact.

Paul Lehto, J.D.

On 9/6/10, Ian Peter <ian.peter at ianpeter.com> wrote:
> Looks good to me  replace ICC with IGC and we have it!
>
> Ian Peter
>
> From: William Drake <william.drake at graduateinstitute.ch>
> Reply-To: <governance at lists.cpsr.org>, William Drake
> <william.drake at graduateinstitute.ch>
> Date: Mon, 6 Sep 2010 21:23:19 +0200

> Just read the ICC's statement, which states in part, "The WSIS action lines
> Forum events in Geneva have drawn upon the fact that many key organizations
> are located in Geneva, and the participation of many stakeholders, business
> included, has been facilitated by the fact that other WSIS related
> activities take place around the same dates. This has enabled participation
> by many because it took into account the limited time, financial and human
> resources of many across stakeholder groups. Organizing the WSIS action
> lines Forum 2011 in New York risks decreasing participation because it would
> require extensive travel for those participating in the other WSIS related
> activities in May in Geneva. Feedback from ICC BASIS members and other
> stakeholders indicates that obtaining visas for the US is extremely
> difficult for many particularly from developing countries. This would in
> turn decrease the range of participants. ICC BASIS supports having the WSIS
> action lines Forum 2011 hosted in Geneva, or by the next lead facilitator,
> UNESCO in Paris."
>
> http://www.iccwbo.org/uploadedFiles/BASIS/Documents/ICC_BASIS_stmt_re_WSIS_F
> orum_2011_venue_FINAL_6Sept10.pdf
>
> Is this a reasonable position from an IGC perspectiveŠ?
>
> Best,
>
> Bill
>
>
>
> On Sep 6, 2010, at 8:56 PM, Sivasubramanian M wrote:
>
>>
>> 2010/9/6 William Drake <william.drake at graduateinstitute.ch>
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> We can toss around ideas about where an ideal venue that causes the least
>>> hassle for the most people might be, but the WSIS Forum will be held in
>>> either New York or Geneva.   Lee is probably right about mainstreaming;
>>> the
>>> question is, on what/whose terms?  Personally, I have never noticed that
>>> all
>>> that many CS people actually attend the WSIS Forums in the first place;
>>> they're certainly not much in evidence on the panels, which are largely
>>> selected by ITU on an "expert" rather than "stakeholder" basis.  But to
>>> the
>>> extent that IG/ICT-oriented CS people do wish to attend, one would think
>>> there's probably greater synergies and cost effectiveness for them in
>>> keeping
>>> it in Geneva during the same two week bloc as the IGF consultation
>>> (assuming
>>> those remain in Geneva) and the CSTD.  For CS people working in the other
>>> areas that are in the UN NY's bailiwick, e.g. disarmament et al, NY is
>>> obviously more convenient, but would they be all that interested enough
>>> in
>>> the typical WSIS Forum topics to attend?  Unclear.  And I suppose one
>>> could
>>> widen the optic further and wonder whether this might fit in with larger
>>> discussions about the management of ICT-related activities connected to
>>> DESAŠ
>>>
>>> Should there be an IGC response to ITU's "Open Consultation" (means we
>>> can
>>> use their website, not enter the building), or would consensus being
>>> difficult to achieve?
>>
>> If CS does not assert its stakes in WSIS process, the WSIS panels could be
>> engineered to lead to conclusions that the ITU desires, which would be a
>> step
>> back from the progress that the IGF has made.
>>
>> There needs to be an IGC response. Also, IGC could reach out to fair and
>> neutral international organizations to  object to and alter the process.
>>
>> Sivasubramanian M
>>
>>
>>>
>>> Best,
>>>
>>> Bill
>>>
>>> On Sep 6, 2010, at 6:35 PM, Lee W McKnight wrote:
>>>
>>>> > Hi,
>>>> >
>>>> > Speaking as an academic for whom I admit New York City is convenient
>>>> > and
>>>> would lowering my personal costs and logistics hassles, we can agree
>>>> that UN
>>>> venue decisions have impacts that may vary depending upon where one is
>>>> coming from. Geneva is a fine (expensive) city, New York has its virtues
>>>> too.
>>>> >
>>>> > A move to New York for wsis 2011 would to me signal a mainstreaming of
>>>> > IG
>>>> issues wthin UN system; as would establishment of a permanent
>>>> secretariat in
>>>> yet a 3rd (developing?) location.
>>>> >
>>>> > But Wolfgang, the argument that it would be more difficult to get
>>>> media/public attention - in New York City -  doesn't make much sense to
>>>> me.
>>>> In principle it should be easier. There's certainly plenty of media
>>>> outlets
>>>> hanging around already looking for things to talk and write about.
>>>> >
>>>> > Anyway, as I suggested before, while civil society has some success at
>>>> substantive issues around IG, venue/location decisions I am afraid
>>>> remain
>>>> power politics/business as usual choices.
>>>> >
>>>> > Lee
>>>> > ________________________________________
>>>> > From: "Kleinwächter, Wolfgang"
>>>> [wolfgang.kleinwaechter at medienkomm.uni-halle.de]
>>>> > Sent: Monday, September 06, 2010 11:33 AM
>>>> > To: wsis-info at itu.int
>>>> > Cc: governance at lists.cpsr.org
>>>> > Subject: [governance] WSIS Forum 2011
>>>> >
>>>> > Dear friends
>>>> >
>>>> > I disagree with the argument that a move from Geneva to to New York of
>>>> > the
>>>> WSIS Forum 2011 would improve outreach and bring WSIS implementation
>>>> forward. In contrary I am afraid that a move to NewYork will weaken in
>>>> particular the involvement of civil society and the academic community
>>>> as
>>>> important stakeholders in the WSIS process. A large number of civil
>>>> society
>>>> organisations, including represenations of organisations from developing
>>>> countries, are based in Geneva or not far from Geneva. Moving the event
>>>> to
>>>> New York would create additional costs and logistic problems for them
>>>> which
>>>> would result in lower participation of civil society organisations. This
>>>> would certainly undermine the multistakeholder nature of the WSIS
>>>> implementaiton process.
>>>> >
>>>> > Another risk moving the WSIS Forum 2011 to New York would be that the
>>>> important WSIS issues would be discussed in the shadow of more important
>>>> political and security issues which dominate the day to day UN
>>>> acitvities in
>>>> New York. The WSIS Forum would be just "another conference" and would
>>>> have
>>>> difficulties to get the needed public attention.
>>>> >
>>>> > Finally I want to flag that in same week the European Union has its
>>>> > annual
>>>> Future of the Internet Week meetings under the Hungarian Presidency in
>>>> Budapest.
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> > Regards
>>>> >
>>>> > Wolfgang Kleinwächter
>>>> > ____________________________________________________________
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>>>
>>> ***********************************************************
>>> William J. Drake
>>> Senior Associate
>>> Centre for International Governance
>>> Graduate Institute of International and
>>>  Development Studies
>>> Geneva, Switzerland
>>> william.drake at graduateinstitute.ch
>>> www.graduateinstitute.ch/cig/drake.html
>>> <http://www.graduateinstitute.ch/cig/drake.html>
>>> www.linkedin.com/in/williamjdrake
>>> <http://www.linkedin.com/in/williamjdrake>
>>> ***********************************************************
>>>
>
>
>
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-- 
Paul R Lehto, J.D.
P.O. Box 1
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