[governance] Taiwanese nationals and the IGF

[Salanieta T. Tamanikaiwaimaro" (via governance Mailing List]

The IGF in Geneva had an all Taiwanese panel but they were brought in under
South American PRUNOG. The Chinese went ballistic of course and it was all
over the media. Some of us who were in the room captured it on video on our
phones but I have deleted my archives.

Needless to say this was aired by Ji on the MAG so it should be on record
somewhere. They can only register as Chinese Taipei but the person you
should ask is Wu from the NRO who is from Taiwan. Will ask him.

On Fri, 6 Sep 2019, 8:49 am "Michael J. Oghia", <governance at lists.riseup.net>
wrote:

> 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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