[governance] A Civil Society Caucus must be able to speak out on human rights issues

[Norbert Bollow]

Hi Adam and all

It certainly does not work to demand of someone who cares about
human rights, as a matter of conscience, to stop caring about them
whenever a concrete human rights issue comes up. It would be highly
inappropriate for any organization to demand that of any office holder.

When human rights issues become concrete, speaking up about them is
always to some extent controversial (except in the context of
specialized human rights advocacy groups), because there will always
be potential damage to relationships etc.

Of course I'm not demanding that the Caucus must always agree with my
views on human rights matters. If there are disagreement/"lack of
consensus" problems only occasionally and/or only for a small part of
what is expected of a coordinator, recusal will work.

But if it should happen that a Civil Society Caucus should get into a
pattern of again and again not being able to speak out, in a timely
manner, about concrete human rights issues (that are inconvenient for
some particular stakeholder group for which some of us have sympathies),
that would in my eyes be a serious problem.

Please let's make sure to avoid that kind of dysfunctional Caucus
where "consensus" and "working together" is in practice valued higher
than the internationally accepted human rights.

Greetings,
Norbert


Adam Peake <ajp at glocom.ac.jp> wrote:

> I doubt that will work.  There's much to do, that why there are two
> coordinators.  In my experience.
> 
> Adam
> 
> 
> 
> On Mon, Mar 18, 2013 at 10:27 PM, Norbert Bollow <nb at bollow.ch> wrote:
> > Adam Peake <ajp at glocom.ac.jp> wrote:
> >
> >> I think as coordinator it's best if you take a step back from
> >> discussions.  You will find it easier to help the caucus reach
> >> consensus if you are not personally involved.  At least I think
> >> most of us who have been coordinators attempted that.
> >
> > I agree that helping the Caucus (or any group for that matter) reach
> > consensus is not possible while at the same time vigorously arguing
> > a viewpoint that has turned out to be controversial.
> >
> > It is good that the Caucus has two coordinators. So it should be
> > possible for either of the coordinators to recuse him- or herself
> > from exercising the coordinator role with regard to any particular
> > topic on which he or she has (what turns out to be) controversial
> > views, and feels strongly about them.
> >
> > Sala, would be possible for you to handle the consensus process(es)
> > regarding the issue about representation of communities of
> > non-technical academics in the CSTD Working Group on Enhanced
> > Cooperation?
> >
> > This would in particular include the consensus process for the
> > proposed letter to the Chair of the CSTD.
> >
> > Greetings,
> > Norbert
> 


-------------- next part --------------
____________________________________________________________
You received this message as a subscriber on the list:
     governance at lists.igcaucus.org
To be removed from the list, visit:
     http://www.igcaucus.org/unsubscribing

For all other list information and functions, see:
     http://lists.igcaucus.org/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