[rpd] NRS Letter to Global RIR Communities

[Zach Benyamïn Bou-Hayat]

Dear Global RIR Communities,



It has come to our attention that NRO has released a letter to the
Mauritius Government on 12 July, 2022 (NRO Letter to Mauritius Government |
The Number Resource Organization
<https://www.nro.net/nro-letter-to-mauritius-government/>). The signatories
to this letter are Paul Wilson, John Curran, Oscar Robles, Hansa Petter
Hollen who wrote to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration
and International Trade and Attorney General of the Republic of Mauritius.

NRS is a collective body representing the interest of its members by
improving the transparency and accountability of the RIR system and
strengthening the principle of the bottom-up approach on which the Internet
was founded.

We are writing to the global RIR community to outline our very serious
concerns about the content and intention of the letter. It makes very
serious, unfounded claims and crosses the boundary by attempting to
interfere in the internal political, diplomatic and legal matters of a
sovereign state.

While NRS embraces the importance of RIRs for the Internet, we must also
acknowledge the RIRs' status as private companies. This fact means they are
bound to relevant regulations in their respective countries and the Rule of
Law.

It is of grave concern that the Number Resource Organisation has attempted
to place pressure on the government of Mauritius to influence the
independence of Mauritius' justice system. Their attempt to place political
pressure by threatening to relocate AFRINIC from Mauritius is a disgraceful
attempt to interfere in the domestic political environment and must be
rejected.

In this respect, we found the following claims made by the NRO extremely
alarming:

*"It is our understanding that AFRINIC has repeatedly asked for recognition
from Mauritius of it as an international organization. We understand this
is both appropriate for AFRINIC to obtain this status, and that if granted,
it might lead to more appropriate outcomes which would recognise the
critical position AFRINIC plays in the Internet ecosystem, while also
ensuring AFRINIC continues to remain accountable and subject to Mauritian
laws. Providing AFRINIC this status is consistent with the rule of law and
leaves the courts to provide any reasonable check on AFRINIC. We
collectively urge you to consider addressing this issue as rapidly as
possible, or to take such other actions that may help to preserve and
protect the independence of AFRINIC and the stability of the Internet in
Africa. We appreciate your consideration of any such steps."*


Specifically, we have highlighted to the Government of Mauritius:

1) An attempt of sub-judice and contempt of court by perverting the court
of justice.

As stated in the NRO's letter, several cases are filed against AFRINIC by
its members. The issuance of NRO's statement is an absolute sign of
arrogance and ignorance. It is as if the NRO is saying that all the
decisions made by the esteemed judges in Mauritius so far are wrong and
that the court orders are, in fact, damaging and harmful to the Internet
development ecosystem in the African continent. NRO's requests directly
interfere with the Mauritian Company Act and Judicial System. It is an
attempt of sub-judice and contempt of court by perverting the court of
justice.

Furthermore, all information related to court cases shall be confidential.
Hence, it is extremely alarming that legal files were read by NRO per their
statement:

*"the legal files are now replete with expert affidavits speaking of
unlawful behavior on the part of the litigant." This level of interfering
with the judicial system is intolerable. *

2) An attempt to undermine the sovereignty of Mauritius as a country.

Mauritius is a country founded on the principle of democracy and the rule
of law. The act of asking the Mauritian government to interfere with the
judiciary process undermines not only the rule of law, but also the
sovereignty and democracy of the country as an independent state.

We need to remember that the NRO is neither a state nor a government. It is
not even a registered legal entity; hence such a request is exceptionally
outrageous, improper, and shameful to the entire RIR Community by assuming
the NRO is a state-like body when in fact, it is not.

The request is ridiculous as any international lawyer will tell you. The
Vienna Convention does not provide for a private company, or officers of a
private company to have diplomatic immunity.

3) An attempt to place AFRINIC beyond the scope of the law by granting it
diplomatic status

AFRINIC, as a registered private company in Mauritius, shall follow the
regulations and the rule of law in Mauritius. Accordingly, the matter of
AFRINIC shall be left to be judged by the capable hands of the Mauritian
judicial system. As stated above, this judicial process should not be
interfered with by any external party.

NRO's attempt to place AFRINIC beyond the law by giving it diplomatic
status as an "international organization" is unjustified. It will be
impossible to explain why such a status is granted to AFRINIC while it is
just one of the numerous private companies in Mauritius.

None of the five RIRs have such status in their respective states, and for
a good reason. They are considered law-abiding private companies, nothing
more and nothing less. The fact that the NRO is trying to ask an entire
nation to give one of its most corrupt members (AFRINIC) diplomatic
immunity is appalling. We believe that the global community needs to take
this matter seriously.

4) An attempt to break the bottom-up process upon which the RIR system was
founded.

It is worthwhile to point out that the lawsuits against AFRINIC were made
by its own members. Hence, NRO's act:

a) Turned a blind eye to the requests made by resource members to protect a
corrupt leader within AFRINIC; and

b) Forfeited AFRINIC members' rights to reconstitute AFRINIC into a
functioning body;

Such an act of the NRO hugely undermines the bottom-up principle on which
the RIR system was built. Furthermore, the NRO issued a letter as a
state-like body while failing to consult the opinion of its members and
communities.

Accordingly, there is ZERO representation of the community members'
interest in the NRO's issued letter. The decision to post the letter
without consulting the community is a quintessential example of a top-down
approach. Instead of strengthening the RIR's central bottom-up principle,
it was disappointing to see that the NRO is violating the

RIR's very foundation.

NRO's letter is nothing but a desperate attempt to defend a discredited CEO
at the cost of eschewing its own principles that have been religiously
followed by previous leaders and pioneers in this industry.

NRO is profoundly wrong by attempting to place pressure on the Government
of Mauritius.

Rather than attacking Mauritius, the suspended CEO Eddy Kayihura of
AFRINIC, should be asking other Regional Internet Registries to be thanking
Mauritius for hosting AFRINIC rather than threatening and interfering in
your country's independence.

We call for attention from our global communities to assess the gravity of
the situation. We ask the global RIR community to join the members of The
Number Resources Society call on Paul Wilson, John Curran, Oscar Robles,
Hansa Petter Hollen, and Number Resource Organization to withdraw the
letter and apologize to the government and people of Mauritius for their
actions. They wouldn't dare do it in their home country so why do these
individuals think they have a right to attempt to interfere in the legal
and democratic principles that govern Mauritius?

We believe that the community, the Mauritian judicial system, and the
Mauritian government will make the correct and necessary steps for the
future of the Internet.

In the interest of the global Internet community, NRS has also sent a
letter to Mauritius government, you can view it at
https://www.nrs.help/post/nrs-letter-to-mauritius-goverment



Sincerely,

NRS Team
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