[NCUC-DISCUSS] RightsCon Session Update

[Michael Karanicolas]

Hi all,

Just writing with an update on the NCUC RightsCon session. As I mentioned
last month, the proposal has been accepted. The RightsCon folks followed up
requesting that we collaborate with UNESCO on it, merging our session with
one they had proposed based on last year's publication on
multistakeholderism
<https://en.unesco.org/news/unesco-releases-new-publication-advancing-multistakeholder-participation-internet-governance>.
As a result, the session will now be co-moderated by Xianhong Hu, alongside
myself, but the session description, structure, and speakers are basically
unchanged from the version we submitted. I am attaching our revised
description below, along with initial the list of proposed panelists. Happy
to hear any thoughts or feedback.

Best,

Michael

PS: Our NCUC outreach booth for RightsCon has also been approved. No
details on the timing of that as of yet, but please let me know if any of
you are planning to attend RightsCon, and might be willing to join me there
for a bit.


Title: Is Multistakeholder Internet Governance Advancing, Dying, or
Evolving?

This session, jointly organized by UNESCO and ICANN’s Non-Commercial Users’
Constituency, aims to foster a robust discussion on the strengths and
weaknesses of multistakeholder models and to develop recommendations to
improve these processes in the future. Multistakeholder governance models
are built around the idea of bringing diverse stakeholders together to
collaborate on policy making solutions. These models have become
particularly prevalent in Internet governance, where representatives from
the commercial, technical, academic, governmental and civil society sectors
all have a seat at the table and share a role in policymaking. However,
systems that are designed to be egalitarian can nonetheless manifest biases
in practice. In ICANN’s case, although the IANA transition has already
occurred, uncertainty persists over where governments’ role in Internet
governance ends and ICANN’s begins, allowing the former to wield a powerful
stick over the process. Meanwhile, human rights advocates and other
non-commercial interests, who in theory engage on an equal footing with
their counterparts from the business community, can be placed at a natural
disadvantage by the fact that they generally have fewer resources to work
with. The session will welcome participants from ICANN staff, its
Governmental Advisory Committee, and commercial and non-commercial (civil
society) participants in the ICANN process. Among the entry points to the
discussion will be a recent study released by UNESCO, “What if we all
governed the Internet? Advancing multistakeholder participation in Internet
governance”, which was developed as part of the UNESCO Series on Internet
Freedom. The session will be moderated by UNESCO representative Ms.
Xianhong Hu and Mr. Michael Karanicolas of the Executive Committee of
ICANN's Non-Commercial Users’ Constituency.

Speakers (all TBC):

Ms. Anri van der Spuy, Research ICT Africa, civil society, South Africa
Mr. Benedicto Fonseca (Brazilian Ambassador for Internet issues), Brazil
Mr. Jeremy Malcolm (Australian, M), Senior Global Policy Analyst at
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Ms. Susan Kawaguchi (American, F), Facebook representative to ICANN
Ms. Theresa Swinehart (American, F), Senior Vice President,
Multistakeholder Strategy And Strategic Initiatives, ICANN
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