ICANN ICANN Email List Archives

[comments-bc-charter-amend-06jan17]


<<< Chronological Index >>>    <<< Thread Index >>>

Afnic contribution - enhancing diversity

  • To: <comments-bc-charter-amend-06jan17@xxxxxxxxx>
  • Subject: Afnic contribution - enhancing diversity
  • From: Mathieu Weill <mathieu.weill@xxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Mon, 9 Jan 2017 17:16:17 +0100 (CET)

Dear colleagues,



Afnic is the ccTLD manager in charge of .fr and several other ccTLDs.
Afnic is also a registry service provider for 14 new gTLDs, and represents
its clients in the RySG. Afnic is an open, multistakeholder not for profit
designed to foster the development of the Internet in France. Part of our
constituents are French businesses relying on the Internet to grow their
ventures, as well as professional associations.



Afnic has no interest in joining the BC (and would not be eligible), but
would like to see greater participation of its constituents (French
businesses) within the BC. We are convinced that the main area for
improvement in the BC is increasing diversity within its membership, and
especially within its leadership.



In June 2016, Afnic realized a study regarding diversity within ICANN’s
leadership :
https://www.afnic.fr/en/about-afnic/news/general-news/9954/show/afnic-reve
als-figures-on-diversity-within-icann.html



Applying this standard to the Business constituency reveals that the
current Excom is composed of 5 representatives from the United States of
America and 1 from Nigeria. Both countries have English as an official
language. This can hardly be acknowledged as representative of today’s
businesses relying on the Internet unique identifiers to establish and
grow their ventures.



As a consequence, we are strongly concerned that the new Charter does not
demonstrate any stronger commitment towards diversity. The only references
to diversity within the Charter call for extending application deadlines
when all applicants are from the same region, or a vague “endeavor to
achieve geographic diversity.”



This obvious imbalance also raises concerns regarding potential capture by
companies from a single country or Region.



We urge the Board and the BC to include firmer commitments to diversity
within the BC’s membership and leadership before approving any change of
its Charter.



Considering the ongoing work of the CCWG-Accountability to enhance ICANN’s
diversity, as one of the Work Stream 2 items, we encourage the BC to reach
out to the relevant group in order to find out how a stronger commitment
to diversity could materialize.



Best regards,



--
*****************************
Mathieu WEILL
AFNIC - directeur général
Tél: +33 1 39 30 83 06
 <mailto:mathieu.weill@xxxxxxxx> mathieu.weill@xxxxxxxx
Twitter : @mathieuweill
*****************************



<<< Chronological Index >>>    <<< Thread Index >>>

Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | Cookies Policy