[NCUC-DISCUSS] Fw: [bestbits] FYI: A letter to IGF Secretariat re: the outcome of the MAG Nominations 2017

[Remmy Nweke]

Was really taken aback when I got the mail.
So, this open letter is timely.
Lets wait for the anticipated response
Thanks
Remmy

____
REMMY NWEKE, mNGE,
Lead Strategist/Group Executive Editor,
DigitalSENSE Africa Media [*Multiple-award winning medium*]
(DigitalSENSE Business News
<http://www.digitalsenseafrica.com.ng/businessnews>; ITREALMS
<http://www.itrealms.com.ng>, NaijaAgroNet <http://www.naijaagronet.com.ng>)
Block F1, Shop 133 Moyosore Aboderin Plaza, Bolade Junction, Oshodi-Lagos
M: 234-8033592762, 8023122558, 8051000475, T: @ITRealms
<http://www.twitter.com/ITRealms>
Author: A Decade of ICT Reportage in Nigeria
<https://www.facebook.com/adecadeofictreportageinnigeria‎>
PC Summit 2017 <http://www.pcsummit.com.ng>, December 7-8 @Federal Palace,
Victoria Island, Lagos.

*Vice President, African Civil Society on the Information Society (ACSIS
<http://www.acsis-scasi.org/en/>)
_________________________________________________________________
*Confidentiality Notice:* The information in this document and attachments
are confidential and may also be privileged information. It is intended
only for the use of the named recipient. Remmy Nweke does not accept legal
responsibility for the contents of this e-mail. If you are not the intended
recipient, please notify me immediately, then delete this document and do
not disclose the contents of this document to any other person, nor make
any copies. Violators may face court persecution.

On Wed, Mar 1, 2017 at 5:31 PM, Ayden Férdeline <icann at ferdeline.com> wrote:

> While I wasn't particularly happy with the nomination 'process' that the
> CSCG ran last year, I agree with the general sentiment expressed in this
> letter that there were civil society vacancies on the MAG which were not
> filled — and that deserves an explanation. Likewise, to announce the
> appointments to the MAG just days before the preparatory cycle for IGF 2017
> began is extremely poor form.
>
> - Ayden
>
>
> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: [bestbits] FYI: A letter to IGF Secretariat re: the outcome of
> the MAG Nominations 2017
> Local Time: 1 March 2017 4:21 PM
> UTC Time: 1 March 2017 16:21
> From: sheetal at gp-digital.org
> To: bestbits at lists.bestbits.net> < <bestbits at lists.bestbits.net>
>
> Dear all,
> I'm writing regarding the outcome of the MAG nomination process this year.
> As you know, the CSCG ran a nomination process to select candidates to the
> MAG 2017 nominations and submitted the three names selected (Norbert
> Bollow, Jeremy Malcolm, Arsene Tungali) by the deadline, 16 December.
>
> The CSCG was informed of the outcome on 27 February. We received the
> communication that "there will be no new Civil Society MAG member being
> added".
> The IGF 2017 MAG has now been been approved by the Secretary-General's
> office. The list of members can be found on the following url:
> https://www.intgovforum.org/multilingual/content/mag-2017-members.
> <https://www.intgovforum.org/multilingual/content/mag-2017-members>
>
> In response, we have sent the following letter to the IGF Secretariat,
> copied in full under the dotted line below. The first Open Consultations
> and MAG meeting of the IGF 2017 preparatory cycle are taking place now
> (01-03 March) in Geneva, so we expect for this to be brought up during the
> course of the discussions there, and to receive a response soon.
>
> Should you have any questions at all,
>
> Best
> Sheetal and Poncelet.
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> ----------------------------------------------------
>
>
> 1 March 2017
>
>
> Dear Chengetai,
>
>
>
> We are writing, as members of the Civil Society Coordination Group (CSCG),
> to respectfully express our concern at the notice received via the Internet
> Governance Forum’s (IGF) Secretariat, that there will be no new civil
> society member added to the Internet Governance Forum's Multistakeholder
> Advisory Group (MAG) this year (2017). The reason provided to the CSCG was
> that there is no civil society MAG member being rotated out.
>
>
>
> The Civil Society Coordination Group (CSCG) exists solely to ensure a
> coordinated civil society response and conduit when it comes to making
> civil society appointments to outside bodies. Please see the website for
> more information on the mechanism: <http://internetgov-cs.org/#about>
> http://internetgov-cs.org/#about.
>
>
>
> According to the FAQ provided
> <https://www.intgovforum.org/multilingual/content/mag-renewal-2016>,
> there is not a fixed number of civil society representatives. We understood
> that one of the current members (Ms. Amelia Andersdotter
> <https://www.intgovforum.org/multilingual/content/Ms-Amelia-Andersdotter>)
> has served three terms and would be be rotated out. On the IGF website
> <https://www.intgovforum.org/multilingual/content/mag-members-0>, her
> affiliation is listed as Civil Society, we therefore do not fully
> understand the explanation provided about her past and current affiliation
> in your email (dated 27 February) 2017 to us. We understand that, apart
> from Amelia Andersdotter's retirement,  another civil society vacancy has
> been created by John Dada stepping down over the last year. This vacancy we
> understand was never filled.
>
>
>
> Once again, it was our understanding from the beginning that at least one,
> perhaps two, vacant position(s) was available and to be filled by a Civil
> Society representative. The CSCG conducted an open, transparent and
> democratic selection process, following which three candidates were
> selected. These three names were submitted
> <http://www.internetgov-cs.org/2016-12-15> before the deadline to UNDESA
> for consideration.
>
>
>
> However, the decision to not elect a civil society representative to
> replace the outgoing member comes as both a surprise and disappointment to
> the CSCG. The selection process conducted via CSCG paid respect to the
> factors outlined by UNDESA, “notably: priorities for regional diversity,
> with an emphasis on representation from developing and least developed
> countries; gender balance; and diversity of institutions and organizations
> with which members are affiliated”.
>
>
>
> We strongly regret that, following an open, transparent and democratic
> selection process, we will not be able to provide a satisfactory
> explanation for this situation to the members of the various constituencies
> which we represent. Moreover we are concerned about the possibility that
> this situation may deter, or at least reduce willingness of, civil society
> members to engage in the process going forward considering the time lost
> and unaccounted for on this occasion.
>
>
>
> While we would like to thank the UNDESA for its leadership we hereby
> respectfully request that UNDEA reconsider its decision and agree to
> appoint at least one additional representative from civil society on the
> basis of our proposal, or, at a minimum, that UNDESA provide further
> explanation as to the decision not to nominate a replacement for the
> outgoing civil society MAG member.
>
>
>
> Thank you for your time and consideration of this matter.
>
>
>
> With best wishes,
>
>
>
> The CSCG.
>
>
>
> --
>
>
> *Sheetal Kumar*
> Programme Lead | GLOBAL PARTNERS DIGITAL
> Second Home, 68-80 Hanbury Street, London, E1 5JL
> T: +44 (0)20 3 818 3258 0337| M: +44 (0)7739569514  |
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Ncuc-discuss mailing list
> Ncuc-discuss at lists.ncuc.org
> http://lists.ncuc.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/ncuc-discuss
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.ncuc.org/pipermail/ncuc-discuss/attachments/20170301/0e2ab038/attachment-0002.html>