[WSIS CS-Plenary] Fwd: [governance] Internet Governance Caucus statement, final version

[Adam Peake]

>From: jeanette at wz-berlin.de
>Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2005 16:11:47 +0100 (CET)
>Subject: [governance] Internet Governance Caucus statement, final version
>
>
>The following is the final version of the statement, which was composed in
>a truely collective way and read by Adam Peake. A big thank you for all
>who contributed!
>
>Statement on behalf of the Internet Governance Caucus:
>
>1. The Civil Society Internet Governance Caucus would like to express its
>support for the Working Group on Internet Governance's multi stakeholder
>approach. We believe that legitimate and successful Internet Governance
>can only be achieved if all concerned or affected groups have an
>opportunity to influence the outcome of governance processes. We want to
>stress that there is a fundamental difference between multilateral and
>multi stakeholder processes.
>
>It should be remembered at all times that the WSIS declaration of
>principles states that Internet governance decision making should be
>pursued on a multi-stakeholder basis reflecting the full participation or
>civil society. The governments that agreed to this new international norm
>should now take positive steps to ensure its full implementation.
>
>As a first step, conformity with this norm should be carefully assessed
>with respect to existing arrangements at intergovernmental level, like the
>ITU, OECD and WIPO, private sector arrangements like ICANN, and to any new
>emerging mechanisms.
>
>2. The Internet Governance caucus proposes that the WGIG places greater
>emphasis on basic principles such as human rights, freedom of expression,
>openness and innovation. The caucus believes that two outcomes of the WGIG
>that will add significant value are: - an understanding of how governance
>mechanisms can further these basic principles, and, - an elaboration of
>the concept of democratic internet governance in the context of the
>interplay between local and global decision-making.
>
>3. We would like to point out that the extent of participation from the
>developing parts of the world in the various Internet governance
>mechanisms is still far from sufficient. This is especially true for civil
>society actors. We would like to suggest that the WGIG make appropriate
>recommendation to ensure the effective participation of ALL stakeholder
>groups from developing countries.
>
>4. We think it is important for WGIG members to recognize the diversity of
>processes and mechanisms involved in Internet governance, including: -
>decisions by individual users
>- private agreements
>- national policies, and,
>- international and transnational bodies.
>
>These correspond to a diversity of perspectives on what issue areas are
>important in Internet governance. The caucus would recommend that all
>relevant issues of importance to stakeholder groups should be addressed by
>the working group. Unresolved controversies should be documented in papers
>and statements and not used as a basis to omit particular issues.
>
>END
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>governance mailing list
>governance at lists.cpsr.org
>https://ssl.cpsr.org/mailman/listinfo/governance