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Dear all<br>
<br>
Just wanted to say hello, rather late into this really interesting
and productive conversation on this CCWP for ICANN. The thread was
quite long and substantial so have had to take time to get up to
speed; nothing like a long train-ride to enable that!. <br>
<br>
Being relatively new to ICANN at this level of work, it is quite
encouraging to see how far this work has gone.<br>
<br>
I have not much to add in terms of the discussions around the title
of the document, and also the symbolic and legally substantive
issues around Human Rights as enshrined in international law and
CSR. All the points raised are for a non-expert make sense. <br>
<br>
A couple of comments if I may though on the document as it is
readied for circulation to the iCANN community; based on reading the
penultimate draft but hopefully still relevant for the final tweaks,
and future references. <br>
<br>
1) The revised preamble/framing of this initiative for ICANN folk:
this works pretty well now as long as there remains room for
eventual inclusion of later human rights treaties and covenants that
tend to drop off the list e.g. those on disability, the rights of
women, rights of children etc. ICANN may want to, at this very early
stage, restrict its thinking to privacy and freedom of expression,
or focus on consumer rights at the expense of more inclusive human
rights norms and keep stipulating this, particularly in terms of
consumer rights and CSR frameworks. Nonetheless, revising this
project in a way that continues to more inclusive is in the long
term the right way to go even if there may be push-back:
international human rights law and norms do not stop with the ICCPR
and ICESCR, and norms change slowly over time as do legal
instruments such as the UN Bill of Rights .... :) . <br>
<br>
a) So moving from there to the current introduction; where a clear
distinction is made between protecting and respecting human rights.
This makes sense so do make sure that the remaining references to
'protecting' human rights are redacted later in the document (e.g.
page 18). <br>
<br>
b) That said and recalling point 1 above, the strong emphasis on how
this initiative will only acknowledge"human rights content [that] is
limited to internationally recognized human rights..." (page 8)
strikes me as a bit too restrictive in that international
recognition of the full range of human rights instruments that have
been put in place since the UDHR varies across these treaties and
covenants. <br>
<br>
This prominent place given to limitations and restrictions on which
human rights instruments will be taken on board, even if for
strategic purposes, This could in the future put this whole
initiative on to the back foot as these "later" human rights
instruments become relevant to ICANN's work. <br>
<br>
I am not a legal expert nor scholar of international human rights
law but could this second limitation on page 8 perhaps be rephrased
to accommodate just these nuances and in way that does not scare the
horses (so to speak) but also does not shut the door for future
developments. Not sure how to rephrase this but something like
"human rights content refers specifically to recognized
international human rights law and norms....."<br>
<br>
2) The latter point affects what follows in the document and how
different stakeholders will respond: So If I could just make one
longer comment on the current text in light of comments related to
the IRPC Charter. And, as some of you know, what comes next is from
the point of view of the work of the IRP Coalition and its Charter
of Human Rights and Principles of the Internet. This is mentioned,
and referenced on page 12; <br>
<br>
It was suggested that the IRPC Charter does not have the requisite
status because some of its Clauses "fall below international
standards". The legal point - and ensuing debates - raised here
notwithstanding (which Gabrielle provided for the IRPC Charter
review at the 2014 IGF so they are well taken), I would like to note
that seeing the IRPC Charter given its due place in the final draft
confirms that these reservations need not preclude mention of the
IRPC Charter in the context of this new opening for ICANN. <br>
<br>
This is because whatever the verdict on its content at present may
be (Version 1.1) in the ICANN work the IRPC Charter is being rightly
attributed its role as a foundational framework for thinking about
human rights (broadly defined) within the more technically focused
IG spaces - within and beyond ICANN. This is because it is arguably
the first document that takes international law seriously as well as
those more ethical though less legally rigorous positions advocated
in civil society spaces i.e. the IRPC Charter links human rights (in
toto) obligations for states to those articulated for corporations
through CSR undertaking. For this reason alone it deserves this
mention. <br>
<br>
What do I mean here? The critical points about some parts of the
IRPC Charter referring to emerging rather than existing rights reach
back to the earliest days of the IRPC Charter drafting process back
in 2009; a period of starting out that saw discussions not unlike
the ones we have had on this thread for the ICANN application of
human rights in its work 5-6 years, and several UN resolutions etc,
later. But even with these imperfections the IRPC Charter, in its
own terms a "living document" (taking its cue from the UDHR) is a
formative part of the ethical and legal landscape in which this
ICANN-based initiative has emerged. <br>
<br>
So good to see that the IRPC Charter reference is still there though
could I suggest the following revision of this paragraph on page 12
for accuracy: <br>
<br>
"Within the framework of the Internet Governance Forum, the Internet
Rights & Principles Coalition was created in 2009 with the
mission ÃÂÃÂto make rights on the Internet and their related
duties, specified from the point of view of individual users, a
central theme of the internet governance debate held in the IGF
context". In 2010-11 the Internet Rights & Principles Coalition
developed its Charter of Human Rights and Principles for the
Internet, distilling its 21 clauses into 10 Rights and Principles
for the Internet based on international human rights laws and
norms.."<br>
<br>
3) A minor editing point: Page 12, note 29 is incomplete so a minor
edit could be "The IRPC Charter is available, in booklet form, in 8
languages, at <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://internetrightsandprinciples.org/site/">http://internetrightsandprinciples.org/site/</a>"<br>
<br>
4) And on fiddly things like spelling and typos: Other edits too are
needed to have consistent spelling (US or UK Spelling) and there are
still some typos still need correcting. <br>
<br>
5) On Stephanie's points about human rights scaring people; too
true. So all the more reason for this initiative in ICANN to take
courage; they scare not only the very states that are supposed to
uphold them and in so doing protect their citizens, by law and in
principle, but also powerful corporations, and ICANN is one, who too
often fudge fundamental freedoms under CSR waffle or step back from
"respecting" human rights in deed as well as words by appealing to
the limits set on them by various sorts of national jurisdictions..
:) <br>
<br>
Will try and make the upcoming call tomorrow. Thanks Niels for all
this great text-shepherding work.<br>
<br>
best wishes<br>
Marianne F<br>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 27/05/2015 16:32, Niels ten Oever
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote cite="mid:5565E375.6070603@article19.org" type="cite">
<pre wrap="">Hi all,
For your information, please find the comments from Gabrielle attached.
Would be great to see the comments from Stephanie as well.
If we want to make this a product of the CCWP, it would be great to have
a bit more people.
Also happy to discuss this at our call on Friday.
Best,
Niels
</pre>
<br>
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</pre>
</blockquote>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Marianne Franklin, PhD
Professor of Global Media and Politics
Convener: Global Media & Transnational Communications Program
Goldsmiths (University of London)
Department of Media & Communications
New Cross, London SE14 6NW
Tel: +44 20 7919 7072
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:m.i.franklin@gold.ac.uk"><m.i.franklin@gold.ac.uk></a>
@GloComm
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://twitter.com/GloComm">https://twitter.com/GloComm</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.gold.ac.uk/media-communications/staff/franklin/">http://www.gold.ac.uk/media-communications/staff/franklin/</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.gold.ac.uk/pg/ma-global-media-transnational-communications/">https://www.gold.ac.uk/pg/ma-global-media-transnational-communications/</a>
Chair of the Global Internet Governance Academic Network (GigaNet)
Steering Committee/Former Co-Chair Internet Rights & Principles Coalition (UN IGF)
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.internetrightsandprinciples.org">www.internetrightsandprinciples.org</a>
@netrights</pre>
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