[governance] Rights issues in Azerbaijan / What will CS @ Baku do?

[Robert Guerra]

Adam,

On 2012-05-02, at 11:54 AM, Adam Peake wrote:

> I worked for the IGF secretariat in Nairobi and at the time didn't hear anything about this event (or non-event event).
> 
> On checking, have found that the workshop organizers were the ones who cancelled.  They did so by email at short notice. The reason given for
> cancelation being that three of the key speakers had been unable to travel to Nairobi.
> 
That wasn't communicated at all, to those of us who showed up expecting to hear what looked like a great workshop.


> The IGF secretariat uploaded video of the event to YouTube, but felt
> they couldn't use the original title as that workshop had not been
> held. Instead they chose "The Internet and Post Revolution" as being a
> close-ish alternative.  If you search the IGF YouTube channel
> <http://www.youtube.com/user/igf/videos> with the word "revolution"
> you find it.

I disagree. At first there was an exchange that suggested that the transcript and session would be deleted as what took place "was an unofficial event". A number of exchanges with several members of the secretariat luckily convinced them to keep the content up.

This message and the earlier conversation about the Open Net incident in Sharm makes it clear to me that Civil Society's passion to organize and get its message across can at times clash with UN protocol. When a member state complains and invokes procedure - the secretariat's  hands become tied . If we don't agree with the action, then we should direct our criticisms to the govt who may have complained and not our allies in the secretariat.

As such, let me make a suggestion - that experts with an expert understanding of diplomatic and UN protocol  strategically advise Civil Society groups who are keen to address and report on the rights issues in Azerbaijan at the upcoming IGF in Baku. Let's not run afoul of the rules, instead let's use them in our favour.

regards

Robert

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