[alac] WGIG members announced
FYI. Congratulations, Vittorio.
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United Nations
MEDIA ADVISORY
UNITED NATIONS ESTABLISHES WORKING GROUP ON INTERNET
GOVERNANCE
NEW YORK, 11 November -- Secretary-General Kofi Annan announced
today the members of the United Nations Working Group on Internet
Governance, which is to prepare the ground for a decision on this
contentious issue by the second phase of the World Summit on the
Information Society in 2005.
The establishment of the Working Group was requested by the first
phase of the Summit, held in Geneva last December. At that time,
countries agreed to continue the dialogue on the management of the
Internet, at both the technical and policy levels. Many countries were
happy with the current minimalist arrangements under the aegis of the
U.S.-based Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).
But others felt there was a need for some intergovernmental framework,
as with telecommunications, preferably under a United Nations umbrella.
The Working Group will be chaired by Nitin Desai, Special Adviser
to the Secretary-General for the World Summit. It includes 40 members
from governments, private sector and civil society, representing all
regions (see below).
"The Working Group is not a negotiating forum," said Mr. Desai.
"Its purpose is to facilitate the negotiations that will take place in
Tunis. We come into this process as facilitators, and will strive to
establish a dialogue of good faith among all participants."
The first meeting of the Working Group will take place in Geneva
from 23 to 25 November. On 24 November, the meeting will be held in an
open format, allowing all governments and other stakeholders to
interact with the Working Group.
The two documents adopted by the Geneva Summit -- the Declaration
of Principles and the Plan of Action -- ask the Working Group "to
investigate and make proposals for action, as appropriate, on the
governance of the Internet by 2005." The Working Group is to present
the result of its work in a report "for consideration and appropriate
action" by the Tunis phase of the Summit (16-18 November 2005). Among
its task are to:
· Develop a working definition of Internet governance;
· Identify the public policy issues that are relevant to Internet
governance;
· Develop a common understanding of the respective roles and
responsibilities of governments, international organizations and other
forums as well as the private sector and civil society from both
developing and developed countries.
"There is a general convergence of views on the need to treat
Internet governance from a broad perspective and to build on what has
been done elsewhere," said Markus Kummer, the Swiss diplomat who heads
the Geneva-based secretariat of the Working Group. "Issues that we
expect to address include the management of Internet resources, network
security, cyber-crime, spam and multilingualism."
The two Summit documents call for an "open and inclusive" process
and "a mechanism for the full and active participation of governments,
the private sector and civil society from both developing and developed
countries, involving relevant intergovernmental and international
organizations and forums". On the basis of these guidelines, the
Working Group will carry out its work in an open, inclusive and
transparent manner. It will hold regular consultations in an open
format and will seek to make the best possible use of electronic
working methods, including online consultations.
The report of the Working Group is expected to be submitted to
the Secretary-General in July 2005.
Members
- Nitin Desai, Chair
- Abdullah Al-Darrab, Deputy Governor of Technical Affairs, ICT
Commission of Saudi Arabia;
- Carlos Alfonso, Technical Director, RIT, Rio de Janeiro;
- Peng Hwa Ang, Dean, School of Communication, Nanyang Technological
University, Singapore;
- Karen Banks, Director, GreenNet, Association for Progressive
Communications, London;
- Faryel Beji, President and CEO, Tunisian Internet Agency;
- Vittorio Bertola, ICANN at-large Advisory Committee, Turin;
- José Alexandre Bicalho, Member, Brazilian Internet Steering
Committee; Advisor, Board of Directors, National Telecommunications Agency;
- Kangsik Cheon, Chief Operating Officer, International Business
Development, Netpia, Seoul;
- Trevor Clarke, Permanent Representative of Barbados to the United
Nations in Geneva;
- Avri Doria, Technical Consultant, Providence, Rhode Island;
- William Drake, Chairman, Computer Professionals for Social
Responsibility, Geneva;
- Raúl Echeberría, Executive Director, LACNIC, Montevideo;
- Dev Erriah, Chairman, ICT Authority of Mauritius;
- Baher Esmat, Telecom Planning Manager, Ministry of Communications and
Information Technology, Egypt;
- Mark Esseboom, Director, Strategy and International Affairs, Ministry
of Economic Affairs, the Netherlands;
- Juan Fernandez, Coordinator, Commission of Electronic Commerce, Cuba;
- Ayesha Hassan, Senior Policy Manager for E-Business, IT and Telecoms,
International Chamber of Commerce, Paris;
- Qiheng Hu, Adviser, Science and Technology Commission, Ministry of
Information Industry, China;
- Willy Jensen, Director, Norwegian Post and Telecom Authority;
- Wolfgang Kleinwächter, Professor, International Communication Policy
and Regulation, University of Aarhus;
- Jovan Kurbalija, Director, DiploFoundation, Geneva;
- Iosif Charles Legrand, Researcher, California Institute of Technology
and CERN, Geneva;
- Donald MacLean, Director, MacLean Consulting, Ottawa;
- Allen Miller, Executive Director, World Information Technology and
Services Alliance, Arlington, Virginia;
- Juan Carlos Moreno Solines, Executive Director, Gobierno Digital,
Quito;
- Jacqueline A. Morris, Consultant, Port of Spain;
- Olivier Nana Nzépa, Coordinator, Africa Civil Society, Yaoundé;
- Alejandro Pisanty, Director, Computing Academic Services, Universidad
Autonoma de Mexico;
- Khalilullah Qazi, Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the United Nations
in Geneva;
- Rajashekar Ramaraj, Managing Director, Sify Limited, Chennai;
- Masaaki Sakamaki, Director, Computer Communications Division,
Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Japan;
- Joseph Sarr, President, NTIC Commission, Dakar Regional Council;
- Peimann Seadat, Permanent Mission of Iran to the United Nations in
Geneva;
- Charles Sha'ban, IT Manager, Talal Abu- Ghazaleh International,
Amman;
- Lyndall Shope-Mafole, Chair, Presidential National Commission on
Information Society and Development, South Africa;
- Waudo Siganga, Chairman, Computer Society of Kenya;
- Mikhail Vladimirovich Yakushev, Director, Ministry of Information
Technology and Communications, Russia;
- Peter Zangl, Deputy Director-General, Information Society Directorate
General, European Commission, Brussels;
- Jean-Paul Zens, Director, Media and Telecom Department, Ministry of
State, Luxembourg.
Contact: Markus Kummer, Executive Coordinator, Secretariat of
the Working Group on Internet Governance, Tel.: +41 0 22 917 54 88,
e-mail: mkummer@xxxxxxxx Websites: http://www.wgig.org/ and
http://www.un-wgig.org/.
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