Having Ms. Shirin Ebadi as opening speaker for Civil Society in Tunis
would present obvious advantages and her nomination could be forwarded
to the Secretariat after a simple endorsement process described below.
Main advantages
1) It would of course put human rights and gender balance at the
forefront of the building of inclusive information societies,
uderlining that the WSIS process is not only about technology, and
that appropriate "enabling environments" also mean freedom of
expression and access to information, and "capacity building" also
means equal opportunities for men and women, including access to
education.
2) She comes from a country that is very vocal during the WSIS process
and the last PrepCom in Internet Governance and Follow-up discussions
: in the first domain, the iranian national representative strongly
advocates that Internet Governance should be "transparent and
democratic, with full linvolvement of all stakeholders"; and in the
second one, that follow-up at all levels should be done with the
participation of all stakeholders.
If properly briefed on the status of discussions on the draft Tunis
Declaration and the written commitments that governments plan to make
in WSIS II, she would be in an ideal position to take governments at
their own words and describe in plain language how far from these
commitments actual practice in some countries really is. This is the
opportunity to point the often too large gap between what governments
say in international arenas and what they indeed practice at home.
The WSIS has introduced something new in the international negociation
process : witnesses. Civil Society's participation was not what it
should have been; but enough organizations were nonetheless present
during the process to hear government representatives make commitments
they now can be held accountable for.
Summits are not traditional bilateral negociations where secret is the
natural rule. Summit processes are the closest thing to a world
Parliament (far from it I know, but still the closest thing), where
general principles for our global community (Polity) are elaborated.
The first absolute rule of representative democracy is the publicity
of debates.
The ironic situation where citizens of countries (as CS actors) are
not even allowed by the rules of procedure to simply listen to what
representatives of their own government are saying on their behalf is
totally contradictory with the notion of democracy and the
transparency principle.
3) Finally, Shirin Ebadi was, if I understand well, the first woman
judge in Iran. In most countries, the judiciary is a branch of the
State and rightly so. Therefore, she is now a Civil Society actor with
a past in the governmental sector, as are today many ex-ministers,
presidents, parlementarians and civil servants. This brings an
interesting light to the discussion that recently emerged around Adama
or some "senators".
Civil society is and should indeed be open to all individuals that,
irrespective of their past functions, engage in governance processes
as peers with all other actors, relinquishing whatever privilege they
may still have and accepting to be evaluated on their sole "capacity
to contribute", rather than the traditional intergovernmental rule of
"equal right to oppose" (which is, ultimately, the basic foundation of
the UN system under the expression "equal sovereignty of States").
Choosing Shirin Ebadi is therefore also a symbol of the inclusiveness
of Civil Society.
_______________
Endorsement process
Key question is now : if, as it seems from initial reactions, there is
a general agreement on her being the favorite CS choice for the
opening ceremony, how can this be secured ?
1) The principle that Civil society actors accredited to the Summit
process should - at least - have the right to choose who is going to
speak on behalf of civil society for the opening ceremony must be
strongly reaffirmed; this is a "make or break" principle.
2) For obvious reasons, there is no way an absolute consensus can be
achieved on the Plenary list and we should not waste time trying to
obtain it. We are therefore in the typical situation where rough
consensus (as practiced in the internet community) is the only way
out. :
- there is a need to take a decision (only one slot and a real
deadline)
- absolute consensus cannot be achieved
- a large majority seems to emerge on a specific name
- dissenting opinions do not seem to be able to provide an alternative
that would be accepted by all
3) A two-fold process (taking inspiration from the notion of rough
consensus) could therefore be established :
- a general call on the Plenary list would ask individuals or
accredited entities to express support and a formal nomination paper
would be transmitted to the Secretariat and Amb. Karklins with an
attachment listing accredited entities and individuals supporting the
nomination
- the call would simultaneously invite actors who might still have
objections to the nomination (if any) to indicate so and allow them to
submit a separate motion (sort of dissenting opinion) with : their
name, all potential connexions with participating governments (as a
matter of transparency) and - possibly - an alternative speaker they
agree upon.
The second element, that would allow the expression of minority
positions, is essential to make the process fully legitimate.
4) On a separate basis, CS actors with particular connexions with
their governments could make them aware of the ongoing process and ask
them to support publicly or more privately to the Secretariat the
right of civil society to choose its opening speaker, outlining the
bad press the Summit would get if the name of Shirin Ebadi were to be
voluntarily refused.
I hope this will help move forward on this good idea.
Best
Bertrand
-
On 10/14/05, maseger@t-online.de <maseger@t-online.de> wrote:
[Please note that by using 'REPLY', your response goes to the entire
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Click http://wsis.funredes.org/plenary/ to access automatic
translation of this message!
_______________________________________
Hallo, Meryem! & Friends!
On behalf of my (European umbrella-)Organisation
I fully support the nomination of Mrs. Shirin Ebadi
(2003 peace Nobel prize winner) as a keynote speaker
for CS at the WSIS II Summit, TUNIS.
And I thank Renata for her decision to step aside.
MARIANNE
(Gender Caucus and European Caucus)
Marianne Seger
permament European NGO observer
at the U.N. New York and Geneva
for
EURAG European Federation of Older Persons
GRAZ/AUSTRIA
( www.eurag-europe.org)
---------------------------------------------------
> On behalf of the small organization which I
> represent, I wish to say that we most strongly
> support the nomination of Ms. Ebadi as a keynote
> speaker for CS at the Tunis Summit, especially
> under the circumstances and regardless of how
> much solidarity Adama Samassékou feels with CS
> (sorry Tracey--but we just don't believe that
> he's an appropriate CS representative).
>
> Regards,
>
> Lisa
> Union for Democratic Communications
>----------------------------------------------------------------------
--
> >Dear Amir,
> >
> >This is to confirm that Ms. Ebadi has finally managed to make
herself
> >available for the Tunis Summit, despite her busy agenda. We have got
> >the news very late, that is the reason why I posted only yesterday
the
> >message and have sent yesterday also the letters to Mr Utsumi and to
> >Amb. Karklins.
> >The Human Rights caucus is in contact with her, through one of its
> >members. Her participation is entirely confirmed.
> >We would be happy to include the West-Asia Family in the list of CS
> >entities proposing Ms. Ebadi as a speaker for WSIS opening.
> >
> >Kind regards,
> >Meryem
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
--
> Lisa McLaughlin, Ph.D.
> Associate Professor, Mass Communication & Women's Studies
> Editor, Feminist Media Studies
> Director of Graduate Studies, M.A. Program in Mass Communication
> Union for Democratic Communications Representative,
> World Summit on the Information Society (http://www.udc.org)
>
> Mass Communication
> Williams Hall
> Miami University-Ohio
> Oxford, OH 45056
> USA
> Tele: 513-529-3547
> Fax: 513-529-1835
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