The PC at https://community.icann.org/x/GoRHBQ is addressing a set of recommendations to protect at the second level the names of the various national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies. I was an active member of the original Red Cross name PDP. The national names were not protected at that time for a number of reasons, largely technicalities. This PDP modification process was convened to attempt to correct the process. I also joined the reconvened WG, but stopped attending after three meetings, largely due to the slowness of the deliberations, but I did keep an eye on the mailing list. The bottom line is that the reconvened PDP is recommending that the country names be protected. In reality, I do not believe that this issue is really substantive in that fraudulent activity can still occur using minor modification of the names. But I believe that we should support it because it is significant example of ICANN addressing an issue with global public interest implications. In particular, one of the arguments against reserving these names in the past has been that by doing so, we are impacting freedom of speech - specifically not allowing other parties to use these names. Since these names are in fact protected by law in each jurisdiction, I personally believe that this argument has little merit. I am reproducing the statement below for your convenience. Alan ======== The ALAC appreciates the opportunity to comment on the Initial Report on the Protections for Certain Red Cross Names in all gTLDs Policy Amendment Process. The ALAC has always taken the position that as a humanitarian organization, and one that has been regularly the target of those seeking to fraudulently attract donations, the Red Cross should be afforded the courtesy of having its various identifiers protected at the second level in gTLD domain names. The current process recommends additional protection in this area and the recommendations are supported by the ALAC.