[AfrICANN-discuss] Latest Draft Interim Report of Working Group on ICANN Geographic Regions Review Available

[Anne-Rachel Inné]

Latest Draft Interim Report of Working Group on ICANN Geographic
Regions Review Available

28 May 2010

In preparation for community discussions at the next ICANN
International Meeting in Brussels, Belgium, the community-wide
Geographic Regions Review Working Group (WGGR) is making the latest
working draft of its Interim Report available to the community. The
draft document can be found on the Socialtext Wiki page of the working
group (http://tinyurl.com/WGGRwiki) at this link - Draft WGGR Interim
Report v5 [DOC, 188 KB].

Formed by the ICANN Board, the WGGR has been tasked to study and
review the issues related to the definition of the ICANN Geographic
Regions, to consult with community stakeholders and to develop and
submit proposals to the Board to resolve any problematic issues
relating to the current definition of the ICANN Geographic Regions.

First Phase of Work: The WGGR produced an "Initial Report" in July of
2009 (see - http://www.icann.org/en/topics/geographic-regions/initial-report-geo-regions-review-wg-31jul09-en.pdf.
The Initial Report identified the various applications and functions
to which "ICANN Geographic Regions" are currently applied by existing
ICANN structures (e.g., geographic diversity among volunteer leaders).
It briefly documented other regional structures used within ICANN but
not defined in the Bylaws and documented a number of potential
"matters" that working group members (from the ALAC, ASO, ccNSO, GAC
and GNSO) thought should be covered during the Working Group's
subsequent investigations.

Second Phase of Work: The second phase of the WGGR effort is to
produce an Interim Report that builds on the foundation of the Initial
Report and begins to focus on General Principles, Specific
Considerations and some of the critical issues ("Matters") that it
will address in its Final Report document. In its present form, the
draft document addresses two particular areas: (1) a review of the
underlying objectives and general principles of geographic regions;
and (2) identification of specific matters to be addressed in the
Final Report.

Members of the WGGR have determined that additional community input
would substantially enhance preparation of its Interim Report. Draft
Version 5 [DOC, 188 KB] of the Interim Report is still a
work-in-progress and is being formally provided to the community
solely for discussion purposes and so that WGGR members will have the
option to discuss its contents with their respective communities - as
well as the general ICANN community - during the Brussels meeting next
month. Previous drafts of the Interim Report have been made regularly
available on the Working Documents page of the WGGR wiki site. That
wiki page is set up to accept community comments and such comments
about the Interim Report and the WGGR's work in general are welcomed
and will be shared with and viewed by WGGR members. Of course, a full
Public Comment Forum will be opened for community comments on the
Interim Report document when it is published.

Public Forum in Brussels: As part of its efforts in Brussels, the WGGR
also plans to conduct a public session on Thursday morning (24 June)
to discuss the geographic regions framework and collect community
ideas about potential future options for the framework.

Community Survey Available: As part of its Interim Report
preparations, the WGGR has also sponsored a community survey to gather
information on the impact and application of the geographic regions
framework on various communities within the ICANN ecosystem. That
brief survey can be reached at this link - WGGR 2010 Survey and
members of the ICANN community are all invited to participate.

Background Information:

The ICANN Geographical Regions were originally created as a means of
obtaining geographical diversity in the composition of the ICANN
Board. By an ICANN Board resolution in 20001 , the ICANN Staff was
instructed to assign countries to geographic regions on the basis of
the United Nations Statistics Division's current classifications2 . It
also introduced the concept of "citizenship" in relation to the use of
ICANN Geographic Regions.

Subsequently, ICANN Geographic Regions were applied in various ways
when defining the organisational structures for the ALAC, GNSO, and
ccNSO.

Currently the ICANN Bylaws define five geographic regions3:

    * Africa;
    * Asia/Australia/Pacific;
    * Europe
    * Latin America/Caribbean; and
    * North America

Staff Person Contact responsible for this effort: Robert Hoggarth
(policy-staff at icann.org)

1 www.icann.org/en/minutes/minutes-16jul00.htm

2 http://unstats.un.org/unsd/methods/m49/m49regin.htm

3 www.icann.org/en/general/bylaws.htm#VI-5