[governance] Taiwanese nationals and the IGF

Fri Sep 6 09:01:32 EDT 2019

Hi everyone,

Apologies in advance if I sound petulant. Hearing that she can't
participate in person really made me angry and also feel helpless. I
remember the words of Prof. Robin Kelley that he delivered at a guest
lecture once, essentially that solidarity is standing up for injustice even
if it doesn't impact you personally. Surely this is not the first time
someone has been denied access to something solely because of the
geographic lottery that is their birthplace.

Anyways, thanks to everyone who chimed in about this. I already suggested
remote participation to her. It seems that, as Nadira and others have
suggested, that the case of the Vatican and especially Palestine are
special.

Also @Chantal – all IGF sessions are recorded (main sessions, DCs, BPFs,
etc.), but many of the side meetings aren't – and honestly, those as with
any conference, are often the most professionally meaningful.

Have a good weekend all,
-Michael

On Fri, Sep 6, 2019 at 1:11 PM Nadira Alaraj <nadira.araj at gmail.com> wrote:

> Thanks to Michael for kicking of this discussion, and thanks to the
> insights of Ian and Tapani,
>
> In my case as Palestinian, I worked with the secretariat to add Palestine
> on the countries list because it was accepted as an observing country like
> the Vatican. If the Vatican is not listed then it seems no one followed on
> this issue.
>
> Earlier we used to apply as Jordanian because Palestinian in the West bank
> and Jerusalem are allowed to have a temporary Jordanian passport. Hence
> Ian's advise could work if the host country can issue this temporary
> passport, with limited timespan say one year. This is just an idea,
>
> Best wishes
> Nadira
>
> On Fri, Sep 6, 2019, 12:51 Tapani Tarvainen <tapani.tarvainen at effi.org>
> wrote:
>
>> Just a minor point but Taiwan is not the only country that isn't a
>> member of the UN (others include Vatican, Palestine, Kosovo, Niue,
>> Cook Islands at least). If someone wants to push this it might be
>> better to frame it more generically rather being than just about
>> Taiwan.
>>
>> Tapani
>>
>> On Sep 06 08:44, ian.peter at ianpeter.com (ian.peter at ianpeter.com) wrote:
>>
>> > I wish there was an easy answer to this Michael.
>> >
>> > But as I understand it, we are dealing with a whole-of-UN problem,
>> > not just an IGF one. For whatever historic reasons, and they are to
>> > do with recognition of the Peoples Republic of China, Taiwan is not
>> > recognised by the UN as a nation state - although they would like to
>> > be and have a few allies pushing their cause.
>> >
>> > I believe it goes back to 1971. China's attitude has been "The
>> > United Nations is an international organization composed of
>> > sovereign states.Taiwan as a province of China is completely not
>> > qualified and has no right to participate in it. Due to the
>> > well-known reasons, the Taiwan authorities illegally usurped China's
>> > UN seat for as long as 22 years"
>> > (http://ae.china-embassy.org/eng/zt/twwt/t150866.htm)
>> >
>> > But having said that - others might be able to provide more
>> > background - since IGF is not a meeting of nation states, but also
>> > includes civil society and other stakeholders, one would think there
>> > might  be a way around it. Yes, to register one needs a passport -
>> > maybe an ally of Taiwan would be prepared to issue passports or
>> > acceptab;e documents for Taiwanese citizens?
>> >
>> > I don't know how we could get around this, just brainstorming. In an
>> > ideal IGF, stateless people would have a voice and be able to
>> > attend, subject of course to standard security clearances. Maybe MAG
>> > could explore this?
>> >
>> >
>> > Ian Peter
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > ------ Original Message ------
>> > From: "Michael J. Oghia" <governance at lists.riseup.net>
>> > To: "IGC" <governance at lists.riseup.net>
>> > Sent: 6/09/2019 5:49:07 PM
>> > Subject: [governance] Taiwanese nationals and the IGF
>> >
>> > >Hi everyone,
>> > >
>> > >I'd like to raise a serious concern I have regarding the IGF. A
>> > >contact of mine in Taiwan is having trouble registering for the
>> > >IGF. She solely has a Taiwanese passport, but the IGF, as a UN
>> > >event, can only register individuals who have a passport from a UN
>> > >member state (of which Taiwan is not a member). I checked with the
>> > >IGF Secretariat, and unfortunately, there's not much they can do
>> > >about it.
>> > >
>> > >I know that the politics surrounding China and Taiwan are
>> > >contentious, however, this essentially means that she (and anyone
>> > >else) from Taiwan – more than 23.5 million people – are
>> > >essentially barred from attending the IGF if they don't have
>> > >another passport.
>> > >
>> > >I find this deeply problematic and in violation of the fundamental
>> > >principles of the multi-stakeholder model, namely the fact that
>> > >it's meant to be inclusive and open to all.
>> > >
>> > >Has anyone encountered this problem in the past, either in the IG
>> > >sector or another development sector? Does anyone have ideas for
>> > >how it can be resolved? I'm well aware this is not the first
>> > >instance of a Taiwanese national being excluded from participation
>> > >in a global event, so perhaps this is a moot point and no one can
>> > >help. Still, it still strikes me as incredibly unjust and unfair
>> > >that regional politics would prevent individuals from attending
>> > >the IGF.
>> > >
>> > >Best,
>> > >-Michael
>> > >__________________
>> > >
>> > >Michael J. Oghia | Advocacy & Engagement Manager
>> > >Global Forum for Media Development (GFMD <https://gfmd.info>)
>> > >Belgrade, Serbia | Twitter <https://www.twitter.com/MikeOghia> |
>> > >LinkedIn <https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikeoghia>
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