Additional Comments on Red Cross Red Crescent Protection

[Christopher RASSI <christopher.rassi@xxxxxxxx>]

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the International 
Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and the 189 National 
Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (hereafter the "Movement") are providing 
the following additional public comments to the IGO/INGO Initial Report of 14 
June 2013.  After several days of fruitful consultations in Durban, further 
clarification is herewith provided to complement previous comments and 
submissions we have provided throughout the GNSO PDP process, specifically:


1.      The protection sought by the Movement as part of this process is for a 
finite list of protected designations and names:



-    the designations "red cross", "red crescent", "red crystal", "red lion and 
sun" in the six UN languages,

-    the names of the 189 National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in 
English and in the respective national languages of the National Society 
concerned, and

-    the International Committee of the Red Cross and International Federation 
of Red Crescent Societies in the six UN languages.

Confirmation is sought that these designations are permanently protected from 
top and second level registration in the current round and in all future rounds 
of application.  This finite list builds on the list of designations provided 
by the GAC to the ICANN Board in its communication dated 11 September 2011 and 
is grounded in the legal protections accorded under universally recognised 
international treaties (the 1949 Geneva Conventions and their Additional 
Protocols of 1977 and 2005) and under the domestic law in force in multiple 
national jurisdictions.



As the Initial Report of June 14th states in paragraph 5.4, we have 
consistently sought the express extension of the current protection of Red 
Cross and Red Crescent designations, as recognized by ICANN, to the full names 
of the respective Red Cross and Red Crescent organizations (i.e. the 189 
recognised National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the International 
Committee of the Red Cross and the International Federation of Red Cross and 
Red Crescent Societies).  This would conform to the requirements of 
international law and ensure that the reservation covers not only the 
designations per se (i.e. Red Cross or Red Crescent), but also the full names 
of the Red Cross and Red Crescent organisations, such as "American Red Cross", 
"Croix-Rouge française", or "Egyptian Red Crescent",  in the official languages 
of their respective States of origin, as well as in English. The names of the 
International Committee of the Red Cross and the International Federation of 
Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies should be included in the six United 
Nations languages, as well as their usual acronyms or initials (ICRC and IFRC). 
 It should be noted that the possibility remains that the list of National Red 
Cross or Red Crescent Societies could potentially be expanded in the future if 
a new National Society is recognised within the Movement, as in the recent case 
of the South Sudan Red Cross further to the establishment of the new State of 
South Sudan and on the basis of a statutory recognition process.



The Movement has also advocated for the inclusion of the Red Cross and Red 
Crescent designations and names on a "Modified Reserved Names List".  This 
would preserve the entitlement of Movement components to register relevant 
domain names should they require to do so in the future.




2.      The protections sought relate to the acronyms (initials) of the two 
international organisations within the Movement, namely the International 
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the International Federation of Red Cross 
and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).  As submitted as part of the Working Group 
process, we would consider that these protections be addressed through a rights 
protection mechanism, such as a clearinghouse, which we understand is being 
discussed in the context of IGO acronym protection.  We would need to ensure 
that the ICRC and IFRC enjoy the necessary standing under such a mechanism and 
potentially a waiver of fees for its activation.



3.      Finally, we remain concerned regarding strings containing, or which are 
confusingly similar to, protected designations, which legally fall under the 
prohibitions of use defined under relevant international and domestic laws.  We 
are cognizant of the concerns of some in the community that a string similarity 
or "key word" search mechanism, which has been required by the Movement as a 
safeguard to ensure protection of the designations and names, may be difficult, 
particularly at the second level.  For example, that the name of the 
International Committee of the Red Cross would be protected in point 1 above, 
but that the name "International Committee of the Red Crescent" (which does not 
exist) would by omission from the list of names not be protected from 
registration. This is a major concern.  Thus, in pursuance of this protection, 
we will continue to work with relevant ICANN bodies to ensure that the 
potential of such a violation is duly addressed.  It appears that this type of 
string containing protected terms is not covered by the current PDP process 
and, thus alternative mechanisms within ICANN must be sought. We are willing to 
work with ICANN to determine and manage this concern to ensure that abuse of 
the protected designations and names is prevented.

We remain available to provide any further clarification on the above.
Charlotte Lindsey Curtet
Stéphane J Hankins
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)

Christopher M. Rassi
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)