[rpd] New Terms of Reference for the Policy Development Appeal Committee Published

[Christian Orozco]

Hello,

I approve of these points.

In the way I see it, the probable rationale for allowing a former Board
chairperson to partake in the AC is to provide someone who is knowledgeable
of the affairs and procedures in AFRINIC as a whole. However, the nature of
work the AC establishes can be easily influenced politically when someone
of seniority uses his "knowledge" to twist and direct decisions of the AC
to his own interests. Moreover, the AC will be enriched if it caters to the
community members as well, since on the other side of many appeals are
users. To assure all sides are heard by representation and to practice
integrity, these must be the gold standard for the AC.



Regards,
Christian

On Thu, Jul 15, 2021 at 3:15 PM Erick Joshua Lagon <erickj.lagon at gmail.com>
wrote:


> I would like to build up on Fernando's arguments here regarding the

> composition of the Appeal Committee. Since there is a former Board

> chairperson that constitutes the AC, wouldn't it be a conflict of interest

> since the Board also approves the appointments? Worst case scenario, they

> can indirectly influence the decisions of the AC, and make it work in their

> favor. I may be assuming things here but the fact that there is no

> representation for the community in the AC, makes it questionable because

> only the higher-ups get the final say in the appeals that are given to

> them. What about the community that works for the sake of the users? I hope

> that AFRINIC clears this.

>

> Regards,

> Erick

>

> On Thu, Jul 15, 2021 at 12:52 PM Fernando Frediani <fhfrediani at gmail.com>

> wrote:

>

>> Please find below my view of this just published ToR.

>>

>> - I may be wrong but this version of the ToR doesn't seem to have

>> circulated in PDWG prior to its approval by Board Resolution. Although this

>> is not mandatory is it certainly a bad thing such is the importance and

>> affect it has on us all from community and how the PDWG works.

>>

>> - In 1, b) why one of the seats has been reserved only to Chair or

>> Vice-Chair of the Board ? In which way other members of the Board are

>> different from the Board Chair or Vice-Chair? Are they less fitted to serve

>> in the AC ?

>> I think it may be a good thing to have 1 Board representative in the AC,

>> but it doesn't need to be that restricted to only Chair or Vice-Chair. This

>> is strange at minimal to say.

>>

>> - Why there has been no seat at all for Community members, specially to

>> consider ex Co-chairs which certainly may have a fair amount of experience

>> to serve in the AC ?

>> In this ToR all 3 members of AC have a direct or indirect relation to

>> membership elected members and not even space for choosing a experienced

>> person from the Community if that person is not currently an elected member

>> of Board, ASO-AC or Governance Committee.

>>

>> - I didn't understand very well the rational to have someone from ASO-AC

>> as a member of the Appeal Committee. It doesn't specify if from the entire

>> ASO-AC or only from the AfriNic ASO-AC selected members. If the last case

>> there is one of the three that is already appointed by the Board. Would it

>> be the case that person also be considered as well along of the person

>> already appointed from the Board, if not then there would be only 2

>> possible names for the seat which is quiet restrict.

>>

>> - In the line of the previous point reducing the number of AC seats from

>> 5 to 3 in the current times with several appeals to be analyzed increases

>> the changes the AC can have difficulties to deliver its job with

>> impartiality and be less susceptible to tentative of external pressure.

>>

>> - It is quiet obvious but in the try to simply the ToR may be good to

>> keep making clear enough that if a member of the appeal committee is author

>> or co-author of the a proposal which becomes subject to appeal, this member

>> of the AC must recuse himself from the deliberations.

>>

>> - I think the last point (3) was a good one and make it clearer in order

>> to avoid doubt about the duty and prerogatives of the Appeal Committee and

>> that in no way substitutes the PDWG or its Co-Chairs in the consensus

>> process.

>>

>> There I urge the Board of Directors of AfriNic to review this ToR before

>> selecting the new AC members, take in consideration the mentioned points

>> above and publish a revised version of the ToR with improvements that can

>> give more flexibility in composing the AC and open to more possibilities of

>> choosing experienced people to serve.

>>

>> Regards

>> Fernando Frediani

>> On 14/07/2021 12:46, AFRINIC Policy Liaison wrote:

>>

>>

>> *Dear Colleagues,*

>>

>>

>>

>>

>>

>>

>>

>>

>>

>> * Please be advised that the new Terms of Reference for the Policy

>> Development  Appeal Committee has been published

>> (https://afrinic.net/policy/appeal-committee

>> <https://afrinic.net/policy/appeal-committee> ) as per the Board Resolution

>> 202107.622 (https://www.afrinic.net/board/meeting/2021#r622

>> <https://www.afrinic.net/board/meeting/2021#r622>). The AFRINIC Policy

>> Development Appeal Committee, or the Appeal Committee, is a committee

>> appointed by the AFRINIC Board, intended to adjudicate appeals in terms of

>> the Conflict Resolution section of the AFRINIC Policy Development Process

>> (PDP). Any such appeal will involve a disagreement regarding the actions

>> taken by the Chair(s) of the Policy Development Working Group (PDWG). The

>> AFRINIC Board at its meeting held on 08 July 2021 resolved to revoke the

>> current Terms of Reference for the Appeal Committee and replace them with

>> new Terms of Reference. As a consequence of the above, the Appeal Committee

>> that was reconstituted by the Board on 14 April 2021 was dissolved.  The

>> new version makes the required provision for Section 3.5(1) of AFRINIC’s

>> Consolidated Policy Manual. We invite you all to take note of its scope

>> with regards to the composition, term and duty of the committee. The

>> reconstitution of the Appeal Committee is currently ongoing so that the

>> current appeals can be assessed.  Yours Sincerely, AFRINIC Policy Liaison

>> Team. policy-liaison at afrinic.net <policy-liaison at afrinic.net> *

>>

>> --

>> AFRINIC Policy Liaison.

>> t: +230 403 51 00 | f: +230 466 6758 | tt: @afrinic | w:www.afrinic.netfacebook.com/afrinic | flickr.com/afrinic | youtube.com/afrinicmedia

>>

>>

>> _______________________________________________

>> RPD mailing listRPD at afrinic.nethttps://lists.afrinic.net/mailman/listinfo/rpd

>>

>> _______________________________________________

>> RPD mailing list

>> RPD at afrinic.net

>> https://lists.afrinic.net/mailman/listinfo/rpd

>>

> _______________________________________________

> RPD mailing list

> RPD at afrinic.net

> https://lists.afrinic.net/mailman/listinfo/rpd

>

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.afrinic.net/pipermail/rpd/attachments/20210716/8da27ca6/attachment.html>