[governance] Civil Society participants statement on Funding support

[parminder]

On Wednesday 11 January 2012 09:41 PM, michael gurstein wrote:
> A couple of points about Izumi's statement...
>
> One very minor... There is I believe, a typo at the beginning of the third
> paragraph... "We believe that his lack of support" should presumably be "We
> believe that THIS lack of support", the former changing the sense and
> personalizing the comment in an unfortunate and I'm assuming unintentional
> way.
>
> The second is rather more fundamental.  In certain recent statements (I'm
> forgetting which ones) CS has not accepted the common UN etc. position of
> funding "Developing Country" reps in favour of funding for civil society
> representatives overall...
>    
I agree all civil society representation, at least in committees etc, 
should be publicly funded. I did raise this point yesterday in informal 
discussions with Izumi. parminder

> Many/most will realize that in these days of sometimes quite severe
> financial cut-backs and a vast array of unsympathetic governments, CS folks
> from developing countries may have equal difficulty in finding/allocating
> funding for travel to these kinds of events and thus the process of
> "exclusion" extends now to those from poorer DC's and from poorer
> organizations/representatives overall within DC's.
>
> Mike
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: governance at lists.cpsr.org [mailto:governance at lists.cpsr.org] On Behalf
> Of Izumi AIZU
> Sent: Wednesday, January 11, 2012 7:23 AM
> To: Governance List
> Subject: [governance] Civil Society participants statement on Funding
> support
>
>
> Dear all,
>
> Here follows and attached is the statement I read this morning on the lack
> of travel support for CSTD WG participation.
>
> We will discuss this issue further when we reach the issue of IGF funding,
> tomorrow.
>
> iz
>
> ----
>
> Statement from civil society participants in the CSTD working group on IGF
> improvements - Submitted to the 4th meeting of the working group, 11 January
> 2012
>
> On behalf of the civil society participants in this process we want to draw
> your attention to a concern which we believe could have an impact on whether
> this group succeeds or fails in achieving the goals mandated to it by
> ECOSOC.
>
> On December 21 2011 civil society participants in the working group were
> informed that the CSTD would not be able to provide financial support
> towards the participation of civil society representatives from developing
> countries in the working group's fourth meeting. After seeking clarification
> from the Secretariat we were informed by Mr. Mongi Hamdi that the CSTD fund
> for civil society participation can only be utilised by participants from
> Least Developed Countries. Currently developing country participants in the
> working group are from Brazil, India and South Africa and therefore none of
> them qualify for support. Mr. Hamdi did clarify that this restriction is
> imposed by the donor and not by the CSTD itself.
>
> We believe that his lack of support will have a negative impact on the
> participation of civil society during this crucial last leg of the process.
> Moreover, we want to emphasise that our concern extends beyond just the
> participation of civil society; it raises fundamental questions about the
> CSTD's commitment to and capacity to sustain multistakeholder participation
> in all its processes.
>
> Deepening democracy and multistakeholder participation in governance
> requires the inclusion of groups and people who have a stake in the issues
> under discussion but who are frequently   excluded or marginalized. As has
> been stated in several submissions to the working group, it is not enough to
> grant the right to participate to these stakeholders; provisions must be
> made to ensure that they can exercise this right in full.
>
> Civil society and other groups with limited resources, such as associations
> or networks of small businesses, need support to participate in Internet
> Governance processes. Such support has been inconsistent -- not just in the
> case of the working group, but also in the case of other important fora such
> as MAG meetings. This consistently hampers full multistakeholder
> participation and restricts the overall evolution - and results - of these
> processes. If the rules and mechanisms of participation in IG processes
> privileges groups that already have power and resources this 'imbalance'
> will be reflected in the outcomes of these processes. We believe this is
> contrary to what we have all been trying to achieve through the IGF since
> the Tunis Summit in 2005.
>
> Thus far the work of this CSTD working group could be well-synthesized by
> the words "diversity" and "openness". In our discussion we have always
> relied on a plurality of views to achieve synergy and to push us forward. We
> want to commend all working group members, participants, and chairpersons,
> for their commitment to this inclusive and open style of work. We also want
> to to acknowledge and express our appreciation for the support from donors
> who have made multistakeholder participation in the working group possible
> up to this point. But at the same time we want to call attention to the fact
> that such donations tend to be unpredictable. Civil society participation in
> the IGF process (and indeed the participation of all other stakeholders from
> developing countries who lack the necessary resources) cannot remain
> dependent on unpredictable funding. We urge this group to discuss the
> funding of the IGF in depth, including the financial support needed for
> diverse and inclusive participation.
>
> Ensuring multistakeholder participation in the context of the WSIS
> principles and the Tunis Agenda is not just about adhering to commitments
> which many governments agreed to.  The ultimate goal is to generate better
> and more sustainable policy outcomes that reflect the diversity of voices,
> ideas, concerns and needs of all relevant stakeholders.
>
> ----
>
>
>    
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.igcaucus.org/pipermail/governance/attachments/20120112/04f63b6d/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, visit:
     http://www.igcaucus.org/unsubscribing

For all other list information and functions, see:
     http://lists.cpsr.org/lists/info/governance
To edit your profile and to find the IGC's charter, see:
     http://www.igcaucus.org/

Translate this email: http://translate.google.com/translate_t