[Internal-cg] GNSO Joint Statement on ICANN Accountability and IANA Transition

[Drazek, Keith]

All, for your information, the text below is the final GNSO Joint Statement on ICANN Accountability and IANA Transition from the ICANN London meeting three weeks  ago. I wanted to share this with you to help inform our discussions and to help everyone better understand the perspectives of the GNSO. This is a consensus position of the GNSO with full support of all constituencies and stakeholder groups. Such a consensus statement of the entire GNSO was actually an unprecedented event.

Here’s the text:


The entire GNSO joins together today calling for the Board to support community creation of an independent accountability mechanism that provides meaningful review and adequate redress for those harmed by ICANN action or inaction in contravention of an agreed upon compact with the community.



This deserves the Board's serious consideration - not only does it reflect an unprecedented level of consensus across the entire GNSO community, it is a necessary and integral element of the IANA stewardship transition.



True accountability does not mean ICANN is only accountable to itself, or to some vague definition of "the world."  It does not mean that governments should have the ultimate say over community policy without regard to the rule of law.  Rather, the Board's decisions must be open to challenge and the Board cannot be in a position of reviewing and certifying its own decisions.



We need an independent accountability structure that holds the ICANN Board, Staff, and various stakeholder groups accountable under ICANN's governing documents, serves as an ultimate review of Board/Staff decisions, and through the creation of precedent, creates prospective guidance for the board, the staff, and the entire community.



As part of the IANA stewardship transition, the multi-stakeholder community has the opportunity and responsibility to propose meaningful accountability structures that go beyond just the IANA-specific accountability issues.  We are committed to coming together and developing recommendations for creation of these mechanisms.  We ask the ICANN Board and Staff to fulfill their obligations and support this community driven, multi-stakeholder initiative.



Regards,

Keith


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