[CCWG-ACCT] Human rights - way forward

[Mathieu Weill]

Dear Colleagues,

As announced during our last call, the co-Chairs have reviewed where we 
are on this issue. Our group is tasked to work on the basis of 
consensus, and we have focused on assessing where this condition was met.

It is our conclusion that :
1) our group has achieved consensus on including a human rights related 
Commitment in Icann's Bylaws.
2) no particular wording currently proposed achieved consensus.

As a consequence, we propose to include into the public comment 2 report 
(in the Mission & Core value section, a draft is included below)
- this assessment and a firm commitment to add a human rights related 
Commitment into Icann's Bylaws,
- the underlying requirements expressed during the debate,
- the concrete language proposals that were considered by our group so 
far, as examples

Finally, given the strong momentum on the issue, both during the meeting 
and on list before and after, and taking into account the high level of 
complexity involved, we suggest to kick off ASAP a subgroup to further 
refine the requirements and assess potential options based on further 
studies of the current situation and "agreed-on" language.

We thank you all for your understanding and commitment on this topic, as 
well as the extensive discussions both on list and during the calls 
about this.

As a reminder, Minority statements filed until Saturday 12.00 UTC will 
be incorporated into the report to be published on Monday. Statements 
filed after this deadline will be published online but not incorporated 
into the report.

Best regards,
Leon, Thomas & Mathieu
Co-chairs

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NEW SUBSECTION IN 3A Mission, Commitmennts & Core Values

Elaborating an Icann Commitment to Human Rights

The CCWG-Accountability extensively discussed the opportunity to include 
into Icann Bylaws a Comittment related to Human Rights. The group 
commissioned a legal analysis of whether the termination of the IANA 
contract would induce changes into Icann's obligations with regards to 
Human Rights (LINK). While no significant issue was found to be directly 
linked to the termination of the IANA contract, the group acknowledged 
the recurring debates around the nature of Icann's accountability 
towards the respect of fundamental human rights.

These discussions identified the following, non-exhaustive, list of 
accountability-related requirements :
- the NTIA criteria to maintain the openness of the Internet, including 
free expression and the free flow of information
- the need to avoid extending Icann's mission into content regulation
- the importance of assessing the impact of Icann policies on Human rights

Examples of language that could serve as a Commitment were as follows :
- Within its mission and in its operations, ICANN will be committed to 
respect the fundamental human rights of the exercise of free expression 
and the free flow of information.
- Within its mission and in it operations, ICANN will be committed to 
respect internationally recognized fundamental human rights.

The group has achieved consensus on including a human rights related 
Commitment in Icann's Bylaws. However no particular wording currently 
proposed achieved consensus. Reiterating its commitment to elaborate 
concrete proposals as part of its mandate,  the CCWG-Accountability is 
calling for comments on this approach and the underlying requirements.



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Mathieu WEILL
AFNIC - directeur général
Tél: +33 1 39 30 83 06
mathieu.weill at afnic.fr
Twitter : @mathieuweill
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