[At-Large] ICANN75: Selecting Malaysia and inclusiveness

Sun Jul 31 19:14:46 UTC 2022

Hi Hank

Since you address this to me, I feel obliged to provide my opinion.

You are absolutely right, in principle ICANN should not hold meetings in countries where there are restrictions - or even more difficulties - for citizens from some countries to get visas. Incidentally, I am under the impression - but I may be wrong - that the are not many countries for which getting a visa has the same level of difficulty for all citizens of the world.

However, there is another principle that ICANN stands for, that is to hold meetings in different geopolitical areas. And there is another non trivial restriction, that is that ICANN can hold meetings only in countries that put their candidature for holding a meeting.

But back to your original point, that is that for citizen of one country entry in Malaysia is more difficult - although not impossible - than for citizens of all other countries, let me point out that similar restrictions apply in many other cases where ICANN has held - or is about to hold - meetings. One case in point is, just to make an example, ICANN77 in Washington, DC, where Iranian citizen will have more difficulties than others at least for the fact that there is no US consular office in Iran.

I would like to draw everybody’s attention to the fact that, while occasionally some nationalities are at a disadvantage, depending on where the meeting is held, there are citizens that are *often* at disadvantage because very few countries have consular offices in their country. A case in point that I know is Gambia, because during my tenure a fellow Board member was a citizen and resident of that country: he has even missed Board meetings because of visa problems - and even when he got a visa it was at the cost of a big loss of time and money.

My personal opinion is that, considering that we are in a world where there are geopolitical issues and visa restrictions, ICANN is doing a pretty good job in balancing all different factors. I am also sure that ICANN will proactively help participants to ICANN75 to get their visas - as they did in the past for any location.

Cheers,
Roberto

On 31.07.2022, at 09:03, Hank Nussbacher <hank at post.isoc.org.il<mailto:hank at post.isoc.org.il>> wrote:

On 22/07/2022 20:35, Roberto Gaetano via At-Large wrote:

I think you should all be grateful that you can attend ICANN 75.  To quote from:
https://www.icann.org/diversity-en
"To live up to this responsibility, ICANN is committed to promoting greater diversity and supporting broad, inclusive participation in its processes."

The upcoming ICANN 75 meeting takes place in Kuala Lumpur .  Quoting from the Wikipedia page:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel%E2%80%93Malaysia_relations
"Malaysian passports bear the inscription: "This passport is valid for all countries except Israel". Israeli passport holders are forbidden to enter Malaysia without written permission from the Malaysian Ministry of Home Affairs."

One can of course claim that travel restrictions have been eased recently as per:
https://visalist.io/malaysia/visa-requirements/israel
which requires 9 documents and an appearance at the Malaysian embassy - closest of which is in Jordan.

How does ICANN live up to its commitment to "inclusiveness" if it selects a country that forbids the participation of Israel (or makes it close to impossible to get a visa)?

Regards,
Hank Nussbacher

Caveat: The views expressed above are solely my own and do not express the views or opinions of my employer

Hi Bill

Not radical, but with some imaginative clauses that sound weird to the ears of somebody that is not a lawyer and does not live in a country that is particularly inclined to solve matters in courts.

Here is an example that, if taken seriously, would oblige me to ask some questions:

   /This Liability Waiver and Release is specifically binding upon my
   heirs and assigns and is knowingly given./

Do I need to ask my (hopefully future) heirs to also sign the waiver? And if they don’t want, or even produce an official document, signed in the hands of a notary or other official authority, that they specifically do not acknowledge the obligation of being obliged to comply with this clause - maybe saying that they formally recommended that I take this trip, what would happen? How can ICANN enforce this clause in my jurisdiction - actually, in the jurisdiction of my heirs - in front of a formal statement of them prior to the fact? And if I attach this document of my heirs to my application, what would ICANN do? Reject my registration because one of the clauses of the waiver is not enforceable?

This is one more reason for loving the ICANN community, never a dull moment and a lot of fun :-)

Cheers,
Roberto

On 22.07.2022, at 18:18, Bill Jouris via At-Large <at-large at atlarge-lists.icann.org<mailto:at-large at atlarge-lists.icann.org>> wrote:

As such things go, this isn't a particularly radical waiver.  A bit wordier than average, but nothing novel in substance.

Bill Jouris

Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android <https://go.onelink.me/107872968?pid=InProduct&c=Global_Internal_YGrowth_AndroidEmailSig__AndroidUsers&af_wl=ym&af_sub1=Internal&af_sub2=Global_YGrowth&af_sub3=EmailSignature>

   On Fri, Jul 22, 2022 at 8:20 AM, Marita Moll via At-Large
   <at-large at atlarge-lists.icann.org<mailto:at-large at atlarge-lists.icann.org>> wrote:
   _______________________________________________
   At-Large mailing list
   At-Large at atlarge-lists.icann.org<mailto:At-Large at atlarge-lists.icann.org>
   https://atlarge-lists.icann.org/mailman/listinfo/at-large

   At-Large Official Site: http://atlarge.icann.org
   _______________________________________________
   By submitting your personal data, you consent to the processing
   of your personal data for purposes of subscribing to this mailing
   list accordance with the ICANN Privacy Policy
   (https://www.icann.org/privacy/policy) and the website Terms of
   Service (https://www.icann.org/privacy/tos). You can visit the
   Mailman link above to change your membership status or
   configuration, including unsubscribing, setting digest-style
   delivery or disabling delivery altogether (e.g., for a vacation),
   and so on.

_______________________________________________
At-Large mailing list
At-Large at atlarge-lists.icann.org<mailto:At-Large at atlarge-lists.icann.org>
https://atlarge-lists.icann.org/mailman/listinfo/at-large

At-Large Official Site: http://atlarge.icann.org
_______________________________________________
By submitting your personal data, you consent to the processing of your personal data for purposes of subscribing to this mailing list accordance with the ICANN Privacy Policy (https://www.icann.org/privacy/policy) and the website Terms of Service (https://www.icann.org/privacy/tos). You can visit the Mailman link above to change your membership status or configuration, including unsubscribing, setting digest-style delivery or disabling delivery altogether (e.g., for a vacation), and so on.

_______________________________________________
At-Large mailing list
At-Large at atlarge-lists.icann.org<mailto:At-Large at atlarge-lists.icann.org>
https://atlarge-lists.icann.org/mailman/listinfo/at-large

At-Large Official Site: http://atlarge.icann.org
_______________________________________________
By submitting your personal data, you consent to the processing of your personal data for purposes of subscribing to this mailing list accordance with the ICANN Privacy Policy (https://www.icann.org/privacy/policy) and the website Terms of Service (https://www.icann.org/privacy/tos). You can visit the Mailman link above to change your membership status or configuration, including unsubscribing, setting digest-style delivery or disabling delivery altogether (e.g., for a vacation), and so on.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://atlarge-lists.icann.org/pipermail/at-large/attachments/20220731/b99141a2/attachment-0001.html>