[NCUC-EC] revised statement - please indicate support or comment this week

[Mueller, Milton L]

STATEMENT OF THE NONCOMMERCIAL USERS CONSTITUENCY EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE (NCUC-EC) ON SEXUAL HARASSMENT

Accusations of sexual harassment at ICANN 55 raise two issues, which must be kept distinct. One is whether this particular incident constituted sexual harassment and if so, what would be an appropriate response. The other is whether ICANN needs to be better prepared to handle situations like this with well-defined policies and procedures. We believe that these two issues are being confused.

With regard to the alleged incident, there is very little objective evidence, and the community is grappling with this issue in the absence of a clear, commonly accepted definition of sexual harassment.* We hope that this question is resolved fairly and proportionately through further investigation and verification rather than through allegations in public forums and email lists. 

With regard to the second issue, we strongly agree that action needs to be taken and look forward to assisting the staff and the board with the development of appropriate policies and procedures. Since NCUC is a rights-focused stakeholder group, the Executive Committee takes a principled stance toward the issue and requests that any sexual harassment policy must:
 
 a) be developed in an atmosphere of impartial, open discussion in which all viewpoints can be heard and respected;
 b) be based on clear, unambiguous definitions of sexual harassment that can be readily understood and applied by all ICANN participants;
 c) respect the privacy, procedural and substantive rights of both the accuser and the accused


 
* A typical definition of SH from U.S. law is: "Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature constitute sexual harassment when submission to such conduct is made either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of an individual's employment, submission to or rejection of such conduct by an individual is used as the basis for employment decisions affecting such individuals, or such conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual's work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment. (29 C.F.R. § 1604.11 [1980])