I believe that all GNSO constituency chairs + ALAC will deliver the following statement in the public forum tomorrow:

The entire GNSO [and ALAC] join together today calling for the Board to support community creation of an independent accountability mechanism that provides meaningful review and adequate redress for those harmed by ICANN action or inaction in contravention of an agreed upon compact with the community.  This deserves the Board's serious consideration - not only does it reflect an unprecedented level of consensus across the entire ICANN community, it is a necessary and integral element of the IANA stewardship transition.  

 

True accountability does not mean ICANN is only accountable to itself, or to some vague definition of "the world."  It does not mean that governments should have the ultimate say over community policy without regard to the rule of law.  Rather, the Board's decisions must be open to challenge and the Board cannot be in a position of reviewing and certifying its own decisions.  We need an independent accountability structure that holds the ICANN Board, Staff, and various stakeholder groups accountable under ICANN's governing documents, serves as an ultimate review of Board/Staff decisions, and through the creation of precedent, creates prospective guidance for the board, the staff, and the entire community.    

 

As part of the IANA stewardship transition, the multi-stakeholder community has the opportunity and responsibility to propose meaningful accountability structures that go beyond just the IANA-specific accountability issues.  We are committed to coming together and developing recommendations for creation of these mechanisms.  We ask the ICANN Board and Staff to fulfill their obligations and support this community driven, multi-stakeholder initiative.

In our comments on the accountability process, the ccNSO Council said something very similar:

“[A]ccountability requires "mechanisms for independent checks and balances as well as for review and redress.”[1]   This agreed upon definition should be the foundation and reference of ICANN’s further work on Accountability. Accordingly, we propose that the goal of this process should be to ensure that a system of checks and balances is in place to guarantee that ICANN operates in accordance with an agreed upon set of principles, and that meaningful redress is available to those who are harmed by actions or inactions of ICANN in contravention of those principles.”   

J. Beckwith Burr

Neustar, Inc. / Deputy General Counsel and Chief Privacy Officer

1775 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20006

Office: + 1.202.533.2932  Mobile:  +1.202.352.6367  / becky.burr@neustar.biz / www.neustar.biz