[WSIS CS-Plenary] Proposed Guidelines for CS Plenary

[west]

Dear Vitorio

Thanks for your comments, I should request you to attend the WGWM meeting at 
noon in NGO lounge close to cafeteria, and to discuss your points with the 
drafting group, as tomorrow we are aiming to finalize this document and 
avoid reopening of the discussion as there is not much time  and there are 
other important issues such as statements and CS position on govts work. I 
should also request all other people to come up with text or language for 
the drafting group,assisting them to finalize the document and to be able to 
share the final version for adoption by tonight.

I sincerely request your cooperation and understanding on this issue.
Best wishes

Amir
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Vittorio Bertola" <vb at bertola.eu.org>
To: <plenary at wsis-cs.org>
Sent: Monday, September 26, 2005 8:20 PM
Subject: Re: [WSIS CS-Plenary] Proposed Guidelines for CS Plenary


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> _______________________________________
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> Since they came too late for consideration, I am forwarding my comments on
> the proposed Plenary Charter to the plenary list.
>
> ======
> Sorry for being late, I was traveling over the weekend. I hope my comments
> can still be useful.
>
> I support Avri's comments. It should be very clear that the Plenary is the
> "most sovereign" entity in the CS galaxy, and, as such, is the source of
> power which delegates tasks to other groups such as the CSB, C&T or
> caucuses themselves. There should be (elsewhere) clear mandates, rights,
> limits and duties for each of these entities. Also, the Plenary should
> keep the right to overturn decisions and decide whatever it wants,
> independently from what the other entities say, as long as some procedural
> requirements are met to ensure that Plenary meetings cannot be captured.
> CSB etc should not have the power to veto Plenary meetings or decisions
> (at most, it can be the opposite).
>
> I would suggest that we foresee a way to run online plenaries when
> necessary. I mean, for example, taking decisions on the mailing list, with
> sufficient procedural guarantees (e.g. at least 7 days to vote). However,
> I understand that we might not be entirely ready for that yet :)
>
> I object to point 5, in that we should not subject ourselves to UN
> accreditation processes, that in some cases can be thwarted to deny
> accreditation to legitimate entities (I remember a case with a Chinese
> organization, not much time ago). Also, I think that more and more
> individuals, acting on a personal basis, are getting involved in these
> processes, and more will come. Thus I would propose the following
> formulation for 5.:
>
> "All individuals who either represent accredited civil society entities,
> or subscribe to the online Plenary mailing list, or register in person at
> physical Plenary meetings, are members of the Plenary."
>
> If you want, you might add a clause of incompatibility between being part
> of delegations from other stakeholders, and having the right to vote. I
> must point out that that would exclude plenty of the most active CS
> members (me included) that have obtained accreditation through
> governmental delegations so to be able to enter closed rooms and inform
> the rest of us.
>
> Or, if you want, you might introduce a no-objection procedure by which the
> Plenary, by qualified majority, can deny membership to selected
> individuals.
>
> Consequently, the quorum should be determined in terms of individual
> members of the Plenary.
>
> I think it should be said clearly that the Chairs (in whichever mode of
> the Plenary) have the sole and only purpose of running the meeting. They
> do not have any representational value, nor can speak on behalf of civil
> society. In any case, Chairs should be selected by the Plenary; I am fine
> with CSB running a nomination process, not with CSB chairing the Plenary -
> unless CSB becomes a sort of elective "executive group" for CS, but I've
> seen no proposal to that purpose until now.
> -- 
> vb.               [Vittorio Bertola - v.bertola [a] bertola.eu.org]<------
> http://bertola.eu.org/  <- Vecchio sito, nuovo toblòg...
>
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