[Community-Discuss] Call for AFRINIC’s registry service migration to other RIRs

[Owen DeLong]

Unfortunately, the problem here is the definition of “powers that be”…

There are very few powers that be for dealing with a situation where an RIR’s board and/or management
run amok and contrary to the rules which govern them. The NRO cannot make any significant action
without the unanimous consent of all 5 RIR CEOs, so the NRO has no capacity to act to correct an
aberrant RIR. The only actions available to correct aberrant behavior by an RIRs board are the
ballot box (replace the board over the course of 3 years, or bring an appropriate resolution at a
general members meeting (annual or special)) or the legal system (courts). Unfortunately, AFRINIC’s
bylaws are structured such that an aberrant board is allowed to block virtually any motion it doesn’t
like from being placed on the agenda of a general members meeting.

Relevant text from the bylaws:
7.2)  <>Subject to Articles 7.4 and 7.5 below, Members shall be entitled: 
by majority vote on the day of each Annual General Members’ Meeting, to elect the Directors of the Company in accordance with Article 13.5 below; and 
at each Annual General Members’ Meeting, to discuss and comment on the general policies of the Company on such issues and for such a time as shall be reasonably allowed by the chairperson of the Annual General Members’ Meeting. [Amended at the 2020 AGMM]
7.3) For the avoidance of doubt, Article 7.2 shall be without prejudice to any contractual rights of Resource Members in any agreement with the Company.

(7.2.2 allows the chairperson to essentially control what makes it on to the agenda)

The board has abused this power in the past to prevent resolutions seeking to remove board
members from office from being acted upon at AGMMs, so there is no reason to believe that
such a motion would receive due process now.

That leaves the courts as the only currently viable alternative in terms of “powers that be”
that can hold an RIR accountable or responsible for its misdeeds.

While people often mistake ICANN for some form of authority, the reality is that for number
resources, ICANN is a puppet at the end of the strings pulled by the NRO (which acts in the
role of ICANN ASO). The IANA functions contract for number resources (IPv4/IPv6 addresses
and ASNs) is awarded by an "empowered community" that, for all practical purposes boils
down to the NRO. (it’s different for each sub-area, such as IETF secretariat role and
domain name role now, but this is how it works for number resources).

ICANN/PTI is the current contractor supplying the IANA functions for number resources
(I still can’t entirely decipher where PTI begins or where ICANN ends or how that whole
entanglement is managed, but for all practical purposes, they seem to act as one and the
same). Their policies for administering that contract come through the defined global
policy process of the ASO AC, which amounts to passing an identical (or nearly so)
policy in all 5 RIRs through each of their PDPs and then forwarding those to the
ASO AC for consideration as a global policy, which then needs to be ratified by the
ICANN board. ICANN has no ability to change policies outside of that process and
has no authority over RIRs whatsoever other than its ability to accredit new RIRs
under ICP-2 which is at least difficult, if not impossible without the unanimous
consent of the NRO EC.

I will also note, for the sake of completeness, that the NRO so far has not announced any
approval, disbursement, or activation of the NRO stability fund. The only reference to
said fund in the context of these events by the RIRs has been Eddy’s mention of it
as a resource to handle this crisis and clarification by various RIRs that the stability
fund is not a blank check obligation and cannot be used outside of unanimous consent
of the NRO-EC (5 RIR CEOs).

Owen



> On Jul 31, 2021, at 19:49 , Brian Sowers <b.sowers154 at gmail.com> wrote:

> 

> The effect from the NRO activating their stability fund for AFRINIC’s behalf will be twofold. First, it will certainly alleviate—in a disclosed and stable manner—AFRINIC’s financial shortcomings to allow for it to continue operations. Second, the call for help from NRO certainly draws more attention to AFRINIC’s current shady financial situation. A look at AFRINIC’s books will quite possibly unveil what the ‘alternate means of funding’ were. At that point, it is up to the discretion of the powers that be what happens then. Like many in this thread, my wish is that AFRINIC’s shady dealings by its leadership get exposed for the community’s betterment. 

> 

> -Brian

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