[WSIS CS-Plenary] Re: [governance] Internet governance :roles of plenary and governance lists

Mon Jan 26 12:17:09 GMT 2004

Hi,

Chun Eung Hwi, you're right.   As I said last week, it's an internal ITU
event, full stop, there is no ambiguity.  WSIS rules do not apply, and they
were not assuming any need to provide for CS constituency representation.  I
asked them to reconsider, but asking them to adhere to the principle that CS
as constituency has a right to be there would be odd if nobody other than
those invited as individuals actually wants to come.  Hence, we need to hear
from any interested parties ASAP in order to follow up while there's time,
as I imagine governments and businesses are quickly snapping up the
available, limited slots.

Izumi, Vittorio, et al, beyond just saying we adhere to certain baseline CS
principles, wouldn't it be possible for us to agree on something like a
short benchmarks (I wouldn't say non-negotiables) document of general
principles on both process and substance?  They've expressed willingness to
make room in the program for someone to outline a shared position, and I
think it'd be a waste to let that opportunity slip away because some of us
variously disagree on specific details....

Bill

> -----Original Message-----
> From: plenary-admin at wsis-cs.org
> [mailto:plenary-admin at wsis-cs.org]On Behalf Of Chun Eung Hwi
> Sent: Monday, January 26, 2004 9:38 AM
> To: plenary at wsis-cs.org
> Cc: bjaffre at csdptt.org
> Subject: Re: [WSIS CS-Plenary] Re: [governance] Internet
> governance :roles of plenary and governance lists
>
>
> Dear all,
>
> So far as I know, it is definitely ITU workshop.
> Refer to http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/forum/intgov04/index.html
>
> There, you can find out the following phrase.
>
> "The workshop's goal is to initiate a process to prepare ITU's position
>
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> vis-a-vis the UN Secretary-General's Working Group on Internet Governance
> to be established as a result of the World Summit on the Information
> Society Declaration of Principles and Action Plan agreed on 12 December
> 2004."
>
> And regarding attendee,
>
> "Attendance is by invitation only to ITU Member States and Sector
> Members."
>
>
>
> On Mon, 26 Jan 2004, Fullsack Jean-Louis wrote:
>
> > Bonjour ?tous
> >
> > Another problem with this meeting is its ambivalence :
> > - is it an "ITU internal meeeting" , or
> > - is it a "WSIS informal meeting".
> > This ambivalence is based on the dual role of Utsumi : he is
> both the ITU SG
> > and the Head of WSIS organisation/structure.
> > Iin the first case the meeting is submitted to ITU rules, whereas in the
> > second it is compulsorily open to all WSIS "stakeholders", whatever its
> > nature may be (informal, restricted, specialized, ...).
> > It would be helpful to listen to the opinion of the CS
> Secretariat ... if
> > there is still one !
> > But it should also be the role of C&T group "co-chairs" Sally
> and Bill to
> > lead the way at least until it is clarified which type of
> meeting Utsumi is
> > preparing, unless a "chair of the CS Plenary" could be agreed
> upon by the
> > largest possible CS organisations involved in the WSIS process.
> >
> > Best regards
> > Jean-Louis Fullsack
> > CSDPTT
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Vittorio Bertola" <vb at bertola.eu.org>
> > To: <plenary at wsis-cs.org>
> > Sent: Sunday, January 25, 2004 7:36 PM
> > Subject: Re: [WSIS CS-Plenary] Re: [governance] Internet
> governance :roles
> > of plenary and governance lists
> >
> >
> > On Sat, 24 Jan 2004 23:11:36 +0900, Adam Peake <ajp at glocom.ac.jp> wrote:
> >
> > >With respect, I think you are being naive, and civil society is
> > >likely being disadvantaged.
> >
> > I agree with your considerations, but I also think we have to agree on a
> > realistic plan.
> >
> > On one hand, you can't credibly go to an ITU internal meeting and try to
> > revert their internal working rules; if the only way we have to
> participate
> > in this event at this stage is to be invited as individuals, well, let's
> > take it. And by the way, I'm not even sure whether all civil
> society people
> > will be participating thanks to an invitation as individual
> expert, rather
> > than, for example, as accredited person from some governmental
> delegation,
> > as happened during the summit. Also, you can't force people who
> were invited
> > as individuals to go there and say something different from
> their individual
> >
> > thought.
> >
> > But on the other hand, we do have to coordinate so that our message is
> > effective, that the positions on which there is general
> agreement among us
> > are exposed loudly and repeated again and again, and that it is
> made clear
> > that those positions have the support of the civil society
> individuals and
> > organizations which participate in WSIS. This is the only way not to
> > disperse our strength.
> >
> > I think that some of these agreeable positions might be easy to
> find: for
> > example, I think we should stress that the UN working group on Internet
> > Governance, as part of the WSIS process, should be equally
> composed by civil
> > society, private sector and government representatives; that Internet
> > Governance needs the full involvement of civil society organizations and
> > individual Internet users, as recognized by the Declaration of
> Principles;
> > that ITU itself, if willing to organize future events on this
> matter, should
> > ensure better and more open ways for participation by civil society, and
> > that, more generally, ITU should offer a viable way for NGOs to
> participate
> > in its activities; and that the Internet Governance caucus, as
> a subgroup of
> > the WSIS civil society plenary, is the right place to coordinate civil
> > society participation in the process.
> >
> > So what we should propose to all those who were invited as
> "individual civil
> > society experts" is to go there, say what they want to say, and
> then add the
> > above message.
> > --
> > vb.               [Vittorio Bertola - v.bertola [a]
> bertola.eu.org]<------
> > http://bertola.eu.org/  <- Vecchio sito, nuovo tobl?...
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>
> --
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> Chun Eung Hwi
> General Secretary, PeaceNet | phone:     (+82)  2-2166-2205
> Seoul Yangchun P.O.Box 81   |   pcs:     (+82) 019-259-2667
> Seoul, 158-600, Korea  	    | eMail:   chun at peacenet.or.kr
> ------------------------------------------------------------
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