[WSIS CS-Plenary] On conditional support to Shirin Ebadi

[Izumi AIZU]

I am not sure if I am supposed to make a comment on this matter, but
I cannot help express my reaction.

I fully agree with both wha Elizabeth wrote below and also what
Hiroshi responded.

I don't think any caucus/working group can and should dictate the substance
of the speech by our speaker. But by the same token, if we, the Civil
Society, are to recommend a speaker, she or he is expected to at least
listen to the issues or voices from the constituencies in a reasonable
manner.

What Meryem implied or indicated sounds like that is not
the case. I hope there is some misunderstandings and Ms. Ebadi
will be given full messages from us, especially from the voices
of minorities or excluded, not filtered or blocked. I am sure
Ms. Ebadi is such a person of careful listener.

And I don't think their supports be treated as "conditional".
They are very reasonable endorsements.

respectfully,

izumi

At 17:50 05/10/16 -0400, Elizabeth Carll, PhD wrote:
>[Please note that by using 'REPLY', your response goes to the entire list. 
>Kindly use individual addresses for responses intended for specific people]
>
>Click http://wsis.funredes.org/plenary/ to access automatic translation 
>of this message!
>_______________________________________
>
>Dear Meryem,
>
>The endorsement of Shirin Ebadi by the Health and ICT Working Group was not
>made contingent on the inclusion of the mention of access to physical and
>mental health information in her speech, as it was a recommendation not a
>stipulation.  Obviously, Ms. Ebadi will write her own speech.  Therefore, it
>is an unconditional endorsement.
>
>However, it may be helpful for her to know the concerns of the various
>groups within the WSIS CS as often development and human rights issues have
>taken the back burner on WSIS II discussions.   Therefore,  forwarding these
>concerns to her may be helpful in her becoming cognizant of the various
>issues.
>
>Hope this has helped clarify.  Thank you for your efforts in having Shirin
>Ebadi speak at the opening session.
>
>Best regards,
>
>Elizabeth
>
>Dr. Elizabeth Carll
>Coordinator, WSIS Health and ICT Working Group
>Affiliations:
>Representative to the UN & Focal Point to WSIS
>International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies;
>Vice President
>Communications Coordination Committee for the UN;
>Chair, Media/ICT Working Group
>UN NGO Committee on Mental Health
>New York, USA
>Tel: 1631-754-2424
>Fax: 1631-754-5032
>ecarll at optonline.net
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: plenary-admin at wsis-cs.org [mailto:plenary-admin at wsis-cs.org]On
>Behalf Of Meryem Marzouki
>Sent: Sunday, October 16, 2005 5:33 PM
>To: plenary at wsis-cs.org
>Cc: hr-wsis at iris.sgdg.org
>Subject: [WSIS CS-Plenary] On conditional support to Shirin Ebadi
>
>
>[Please note that by using 'REPLY', your response goes to the entire list.
>Kindly use individual addresses for responses intended for specific people]
>
>Click http://wsis.funredes.org/plenary/ to access automatic translation of
>this message!
>_______________________________________
>
>Dear all,
>
>I'm afraid it would be difficult to include supports to Shirin Ebadi
>that seem conditional to having something very specific said. This
>applies to the Disability Caucus support as well as to the Health and
>ICT Working Group support, following the messages sent by,
>respectively, Hiroshi and Elizabeth. The Human Rights Caucus is
>grateful for these two supports, but we cannot seriously commit, on
>behalf of Ms. Ebadi, that she would specifically address a given point.
>If we do that, then we will soon end with a kind of "shopping list".
>This is not reasonable.
>
>So, unless there is a message posted, on time, by both Hiroshi and
>Elisabeth, confirming their support on the general basis that Ms. Ebadi
>would address in her speech the necessary human rights and social
>justice foundations for an information society, in the way she
>personally feels appropriate to address this issue, the Disability
>Caucus and the Health and ICT Working Group would not be included, so
>that no one may feel disappointed or, worse, utilized in some way or
>another. I think this is fair enough, and honest.
>
>I understand the importance of the issue of the rights of persons with
>disabilities, and in particular the rights of women with disabilities
>(Hiroshi request). I also understand the importance to have access to
>physical and mental health information and services via ICT (Elizabeth
>request). I share these concerns. But anyone would reasonably recognize
>that if this level of details is reached for all issues of concerns of
>whole CS @ WSIS, then the opening speech would need to last some hours,
>and would loose any strength. There are numerous other speaking slots
>(round-tables, high-level panels, plenaries) where the development of a
>given issue is more relevant. But we're speaking of the opening.
>
>More generally speaking, I would like to refer to a message by Ronald
>Koven on this list (Tue, 11 Oct 2005 17:29:14 EDT, Subject: speakers
>list transmitted to the ITU), on this issue. I share this viewpoint
>expressed by Rony, specially since we're talking here of a really
>outstanding figure, with true intellectual authority worldwide.
>Moreover, this person is known all over the world, and has a public
>status. In other words, everyone know, or may find out, what she
>previously said in numerous top level occasions. If we support her,
>this means that we know she would make a strong high-level address, of
>which we all will be proud.
>
>Finally, may I remind everyone that, at the Geneva Summit opening,
>Kicki Nordstr$B‹N(B was the plenary speaker, and half of her speech was
>dedicated to the specific issue of people with disabilities, specially
>blind people. The speech may be found at:
>http://www.itu.int/wsis/geneva/coverage/
>archive.asp?lang=en&c_type=op%7C10
>
>On a more practical issue, I have to tell you that my mail (pop) server
>has had problems since last night, and as a consequence I'm able to
>write from but not to receive emails at my usual address. This means
>that I am able to gather all the supports expressed on the plenary list
>(through the web archives), but not those sent directly to my email
>address after Saturday 23:00 GMT. Sorry about that.
>
>Best,
>Meryem
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