<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<META content="MSHTML 5.50.4611.1300" name=GENERATOR></HEAD>
<BODY><FONT face=Tahoma><FONT size=2><SPAN class=120415318-23072003><FONT
face=Arial color=#0000ff><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#000000
size=3></FONT>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Dear
All:</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt"><?xml:namespace prefix = o
ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Thank you Sean and others for
sending these important comments in regards to Veni's initial
email.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoBodyText>I think there are two issues on the table: 1. Functioning
of the caucuses / Speaking Slots; 2. Modalities of the CS mechanisms at the WSIS
(2a. CS Information Session and Debriefing & 2b. Speaking Slots.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">***<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">1. Functioning of the caucuses /
Speaking Slots</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">I would have to say that while I see
Veni's issue as very important, I do not believe that it prompts a discussion
(although always important) concerning the role of the C&T Group, CSB,
etc. It is more of an issue of the internal workings of each individual
caucus group.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">I was present when Veni’s situation
occurred in Paris and I believe it is really an issue for the caucus. How
the caucuses function is an issue for the caucuses themselves, which they may
wish to take up with the Content and Themes (CT) working group due to the fact
that they deal with substance.</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><SPAN
class=120415318-23072003>B</SPAN>asically (and Veni may wish to elaborate) the
issue was that Veni asked me for some help in mediating a situation (which I
thought was asked of me in my personal capacity, not as the current chairperson
of the CSB), which included a Civil Society representative speaking on behalf of
the Internet Governance caucus in the Plenary. The speech in the Plenary
supposedly was not going to (or did not) reflect the sentiments of the
caucus. I believe it was resolved, but still remains an issue that Veni
wishes to address.</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">2.
Concerning the modalities of the CS mechanisms at the
WSIS:<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<OL style="MARGIN-TOP: 0in" type=A>
<LI class=MsoNormal
style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; TEXT-TRANSFORM: uppercase; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">CS
Information Session and Debriefing</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">—There does not exist a forum
at the WSIS referred to as "Civil Society Plenary", nor was there ever one at
any other U.N. sponsored Summit in the past. A “Plenary” signifies a
fixed group of members or member states and the actual official definition is:
<I>1. Complete in all respects, unlimited or full: a diplomat with plenary
powers, 2. Fully attended by all qualified members: a plenary session of the
council.</I> As you can see, Civil Society does not fulfill this
definition or its prerequisites. In Paris, we had three (3)
mechanisms:<o:p></o:p></SPAN></LI></OL>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN-LEFT: 1.5in; TEXT-INDENT: -1.5in; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-list: l1 level3 lfo2; tab-stops: list 1.5in; mso-text-indent-alt: -9.0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><SPAN
style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'">
</SPAN>i.<SPAN
style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'">
</SPAN></SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">CS Information
Session and Debriefing (every morning from 9:00 – 10:30am)<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN-LEFT: 1.5in; TEXT-INDENT: -1.5in; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-list: l1 level3 lfo2; tab-stops: list 1.5in; mso-text-indent-alt: -9.0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><SPAN
style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'">
</SPAN>ii.<SPAN
style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'">
</SPAN></SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">CS Bureau
(everyday from 14:00 – 15:30)<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN-LEFT: 1.5in; TEXT-INDENT: -1.5in; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-list: l1 level3 lfo2; tab-stops: list 1.5in; mso-text-indent-alt: -9.0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'">
</SPAN>iii.<SPAN
style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">CS Content & Themes Group
(everyday – times varied).</SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<OL style="MARGIN-TOP: 0in" type=A start=2>
<LI class=MsoNormal
style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; TEXT-TRANSFORM: uppercase; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Speaking
Slots</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">--I agree with
Sally Burch on the issue that the Content and Themes Group (or the caucuses)
should choose the persons who are to occupy the “Speaking Slots” afforded to
us by the WSIS Secretariat, however, as I mention above, there is no CS
Plenary; and especially not one that makes decisions on behalf of Civil
Society.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This idea would never
work especially due to the fact that the composition of Civil Society at the
WSIS is always changing from meeting-to-meeting, session-to-session; and is
never consistent.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Please see the
definition of “Plenary” above.</SPAN></LI></OL>
<DIV class=MsoNormal
style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Perhaps we can hear comments regards
to these issues.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>If you could be
specific concerning the points and sub-points we have mentioned, it would be
appreciated and would possibly allow us to focus our comments and
concerns.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">I hope this
emails clarifies the series of emails, which have transpired since the meeting
in Paris.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p><SPAN
class=120415318-23072003>Sincerely,</SPAN></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p><SPAN class=120415318-23072003>John R. Gagain Jr.
(Family of Think Tanks)</SPAN></o:p></P>
<DIV> </FONT></SPAN></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Tahoma><FONT size=2><SPAN
class=120415318-23072003></SPAN></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Tahoma><FONT size=2><SPAN
class=120415318-23072003> </SPAN>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B>
plenary-admin@wsis-cs.org [mailto:plenary-admin@wsis-cs.org]<B>On Behalf Of
</B>Sean O Siochru<BR><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, July 23, 2003 11:05
AM<BR><B>To:</B> ct@wsis-cs.org; plenary@wsis-cs.org<BR><B>Cc:</B>
bureau@geneva2003.org<BR><B>Subject:</B> [WSIS CS-Plenary] Speaking Slots - CSB
Role<BR><BR></DIV></FONT>
<BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"></FONT><BR>Hi to the C&T
Group and Plenary Groups<BR><BR>The following are some ideas floating around
the Bureau. <BR><BR>I think there should be joint discussions on this
and other questions of common concern, so I am circulating to these lists
(there are no contentious personal views, I hope). It concerns
guidelines for the allocation of speaker slots at the PrepComs etc. There is a
proposal from Veni Markovki (at the bottom), followed by a comment from John,
then myself (with comments from Veni in there)<BR><BR>But I also think it
raises the issue of communication between the Bureau, the C&T Group and
the Plenary Group, and how we make decisions that affect us all. And the
role of the Plenary, in terms of consulting and approving. Perhaps the
C&T Groups would have proposals to put forward? And the Plenary?
<BR><BR>Sean <BR><BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=cite cite type="cite">Envelope-to:
nexus2@hub.mail.iol.ie<BR>X-Sender: nexus2@gpo.iol.ie<BR>X-Mailer: QUALCOMM
Windows Eudora Version 5.2.0.9<BR>Date: Wed, 23 Jul 2003 09:11:24
+0100<BR>To: bureau@geneva2003.org, bureau@wsis-cs.org<BR>From: Sean O
Siochru <sean@nexus.ie><BR>Subject: Re: Speaking Slots - CSB
Role<BR>Reply-To: bureau@geneva2003.org<BR>Sender:
bureau-request@geneva2003.org<BR><BR>Bureau members:<BR><BR>A few
points:<BR><BR>1) If anything is to be done about this - and my
feedback too, is that something must - then the Content and Themes Groups
should be having the key input. So I agree with John - they must
be contacted to determine the right procedure. But it should also go forward
for approval at the first Civil Society Plenary meeting, to be clear
everyone is clear and has a say.<BR><BR>A couple of points on the proposal
itself.<BR><BR>2) The 48 hour wait might restrict the ability to react
to what is going on at a meeting. For example, while caucuses should
certainly draw up a common position even prior to each meeting, the actual
content and emphasis of the presentation might be better decided by those on
the spot (based on the consensus positions).</BLOCKQUOTE><BR><I>From Veni
Markovski: </I>I agree that it's a lot, but we need to know who is speaking,
and mainly - what. If there is an urgent need, then we can have the proposed
speech on paper the night BEFORE the actual presentation. I definintly think
we need to be aware of what will be said on behalf of the CS the next day, and
have some time for thinking it over.<BR><BR><BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=cite cite type="cite">3. We might also want to make a
distinction between some longer and more general statements (such as the
civil societies priorities - though it was longer than needed) and short
statements on very specific issues related to current debates.<BR><BR>There
are also issues such as finding fair and transparent ways to prioritise and
decide who is to speak.</BLOCKQUOTE><BR><I>From Veni Markovski: </I>I agree,
but there are quite a lot of people who've done great work in the last 2
meetings, so we can continue using them?<BR><BR><BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=cite cite type="cite">But let us first ensure we have the
right procedure for discussing this important topic. As there does not
exist an 'offical' transparent mechanism for communication between the
Bureau and C&T group I assume we contact Bill McIver and Sally
Burch.</BLOCKQUOTE><BR><I>From Veni Markovski: </I>the C&T are
actually working quite well, for which we all have to thank them! I believe
the mailing list of the C&T is the best place for discussion of whatever
is on the agenda, and as per the "official" transparent mechanism, I believe
that many of the CSB are members of the C&T, and we can either a) sign the
whole CSB to the C&T mailing list, or have the most important issues
mailed to the CSB mailing list.<BR><BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=cite cite type="cite">Sean<BR><BR>I am copying this to the
other, openly archived, list (bureau@wsis-cs.org) to enhance
transparency.<BR><BR>At 15:06 20/07/2003 -0400, you wrote:<BR><BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=cite cite type="cite">Veni,<BR><BR>Renata and I were
selected as the CSB Chairpersons from now until the end of PrepCom 3 in
order to keep the "dynamic" going (said Africa, motion by
Volunteers).<BR><BR>I like what you have below concerning speaking
slots. Could we hear some feedback from others? Considering
certain situations at the Paris meeting, the CSB should perhaps take a
role to coordinate this more.<BR><BR>We should also see what Content and
Themes says. They may feel that we are assuming their
responsibility, however, they may agree concerning the situations and
disagreements among the caucusing in
Paris.<BR><BR>John<BR><BR>-----Original Message-----<BR>>From:
bureau-request@geneva2003.org<BR>[<A
href="mailto:bureau-request@geneva2003.org"
eudora="autourl">mailto:bureau-request@geneva2003.org</A>]On Behalf Of
Veni Markovski<BR>Sent: Friday, July 18, 2003 9:35 AM<BR>To:
bureau@geneva2003.org<BR>Subject: Proposals, please,
respond!<BR><BR><BR>Dear Bureau members,<BR>I'd like to propose for the
Geneva meetings the following rule, based on the Paris
experience:<BR><BR>When we have slots for speaking at the plenary
sessions, I think that we should follow the following rules:<BR><BR>1.
Topics should be discussed within the caucus (via mailing list) at least
48 hours in advance.<BR>2. The CS Bureau should have the text to be
presented at least 24 hours in advance.<BR>3. The text should be no more
than 1800 characters (one standard A4 page)<BR>4. Text should be present
to the translators 1 hour before the start of reading it.<BR><BR>Failure
to fulfil these requirements means that the person responsible will not
have the chance to speak!<BR><BR>If we don't act organized, we'll be
facing the same problems every time between now and 2005, and at the end
noone will pay attention to what we say, no matter how important it
is.<BR><BR>We should always require from our own secretariat to have all
contributions from the Civil Society being distributed to the governmental
delegations. I'd actually propose even more - let's have them printed on a
different paper (green, red, yellow), so that the governmental delegations
will pay attention to them. However, it is not only important what we say,
but also<BR>in what form we say it. The shorter - the better. Shortest -
best. We will not have a chance to make our cause presented, because there
are 200 countries that want to do the same. In this aspect, I think from
the slots so far Y J Park's presentation Friday morning was the best -
less than 1 page, which she read for about 2 minutes. That's how we can
say many things<BR>within a short period of time. That's what we have to
do!<BR><BR>If you have proposals, please, send them to the list, otherwise
I propose a<BR>motion to vote on this.<BR><BR>There will be another
message shortly about the way we can work better in<BR>Geneva. I am
writing them at the airport, unfortunately no wireless access,<BR>so can't
send them
immediately...<BR><BR>sincerely,<BR>veni</BLOCKQUOTE><BR>___________________________________________________<BR>Seán
Ó Siochrú<X-TAB> </X-TAB>Central office: tel: +353 1 473
0599 fax: +353 1 473 0597 <BR>NEXUS
Research<X-TAB> </X-TAB>Mobile: +353 87 20 48 150<BR>14 Eaton
Brae <X-TAB> </X-TAB>Direct office tel: +353 1 272 0739
fax: +353 1 272 0034
<BR>Shankill<X-TAB> </X-TAB><X-TAB> </X-TAB><X-TAB> </X-TAB><BR>Co.
Dublin<X-TAB> </X-TAB><X-TAB> </X-TAB>e-mail:
sean@nexus.ie<BR>Ireland<X-TAB> </X-TAB><X-TAB> </X-TAB><X-TAB> </X-TAB>Web
site: <A href="http://www.iol.ie/nexus"
eudora="autourl">http://www.iol.ie/nexus</A>
</BLOCKQUOTE></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>