<P>Thanks Robert for this useful complementary information. I naively thaught to eventually get this accreditation for attending the upcoming meetings...</P>
<P>I completely support your opinion on CS participation in meetings that are in diret connection with WSIS follow-up. As far as I know, even the calamitous Tunis Summit didn't exlude its follow-up process to be a multistakeholder process. Which in my understanding means that CS has the same rights as have its other partners.</P>
<P>Therefore I also ask CONGO to be our voice in this issue and hope they'll succeed, at least for the february "IGF" meeting .</P>
<P>All the best</P>
<P>Jean-Louis Fullsack <BR><BR><BR></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #ff0000 2px solid">> Message du 18/01/06 01:57<BR>> De : "Robert Guerra" <RGUERRA@LISTS.PRIVATERRA.ORG><BR>> A : plenary@wsis-cs.org<BR>> Copie à : <BR>> Objet : Re: [WSIS CS-Plenary] Next session of CSTD 15-19 May<BR>> <BR>> Realistically it takes about a year and a half to go through all the paperwork and approvals required to obtain consultation status with ECOSOC. I say this, as that's how long it took CPSR...<BR>> <BR>> It takes a while and requires a rather lengthy process to complete. <BR>> <BR>> The pros - well, it's easier to access UN venues and participate at events that follow ECOSOC accreditation rules (not all UN agencies do..)<BR>> <BR>> Personally, I must say it's a bit of a farse that only ECOSOC accredited organizations seem to be allowed to participate in a meeting that is the result of WSIS. If anything BOTH ECOSOC and organizations that were accredited in the WSIS process should be allowed in. I would hope that groups such as CONGO and others will lobby hard for the meeting to be reflective of the WSIS principles of inclusion - and not exclusion. <BR>> <BR>> regards,<BR>> <SPAN class=sg><BR>> Robert</SPAN> </BLOCKQUOTE>