7:10 p.m.
Hello advisors. Just wanted to update you on various activities on the
international scene.
1. I am continuing to participate in the bi-weekly meetings organized by
ISED -- the informal working group on WSIS+20 -- intended to gather
various stakeholder comments to inform the Canadian government's input
to the WSIS+20 discussions later on this year. My interventions tend to
stick pretty closely to the comments we put together in our responses to
the questionnaires re: Global Digital Compact and WSIS+20. Our most
recent meeting focused on the importance of continuing to support the
multistakeholder system in Internet governance. I will circulate a
summary of that meeting shortly. There is another meeting Feb. 26 which
will focus on the role of the technical community in Internet governance.
2. Global Affairs Canada offered members of the informal working group
an opportunity for input into a document call a zero draft for WSIS+20
input. Some of the language referred to opportunities that should be
afforded to "relevant stakeholders" -- such as opportunities for input,
consultations, etc. I indicated that we were highly supportive of the
fact that "relevant stakeholders" should be part of the process. But
also suggested that the wording could be more precise using the language
in the Netmundial+10 guidelines as an example: "Internet governance and
digital policy processes should fully involve academia, civil society,
government and international organizations, private sector, technical
community and endusers."
3.. I received an e-mail from the ITU (International Telecommunication
Union) who were the originators of the most recent questionnaire we
submitted on January 31. It was requesting permission to post our
submission on their site -- which, of course, I was pleased to agree to.
I have subsequently found out that there were only 78 responses to that
questionnaire. It was quite a challenge for small organizations to
complete. In an effort to gather more responses they extended the
deadline to March 14. I have, to date, not yet found that place where
all these responses are posted for public viewing.
Marita