I like the text. My only comment is about "representing Asia and the Pacific Islands": we should either use the "official" name, that is " Asia, Australasia and Pacific Islands" or the short form "Asia-Pacific". Cheers, R. -----Messaggio originale----- Da: euro-discuss-bounces@atlarge-lists.icann.org [mailto:euro-discuss-bounces@atlarge-lists.icann.org] Per conto di Wolf Ludwig Inviato: venerdì 7 dicembre 2012 04:29 A: Discussion for At-Large Europe Cc: At-Large Staff Oggetto: Re: [EURO-Discuss] EURALO - ALAC demarche to ICANN Dear all, as discussed at out last monthly call and noted under action items, Yrjö drafted a letter to ICANN regarding visa problems some of our community members faced for the last Toronto meeting in October -- see below. Your comments are welcome. Thanks and kind regards, Wolf Yrjö Länsipuro wrote Tue, 4 Dec 2012 00:49:
Dear Wolf, You're right, I promised to draft the letter, and here it is:
Dear --- As you might know, a number of people who intended to participate at the ICANN meeting in Toronto experienced visa problems, and some of them missed the meeting altogether. Of course, the granting of visas is the sovereign right of the host country, and there is very little ICANN can do when such problems come to light, typically very close to the meeting. However, ICANN should be a concerned when its essential structures and the bylaws-mandated balance of their composition are affected by visa problems. This is what happened in Toronto, when three of five ALAC-appointed members of the 2013 Nominating Committee were not able to participate at the committee's kick-off meeting. They were from Sudan, representing Africa, Moldova, representing Europe, and from Armenia, representing Asia and the Pacific Islands. A fourth NomCom member, a Kenyan representative of the gNSO business community, barely made it, having received his visa at the last moment. ICANN's globalization and its endeavour to be inclusive and representative of all regions of the world should not be held hostage by the whims of visa policies of the host countries and bureaucratic delays in their implementation.
The ALAC respectfully suggests that in the future, as part of the selection process of future meeting venues, ICANN sets as a condition that the potential host organization presents a firm commitment of relevant immigration authorities to facilitate the granting of visas to all members of the NomCom and other participants designated as essential by the ICANN.
------------ Best, Yrjö
EuroDIG Secretariat http://www.eurodig.org/ mobile +41 79 204 83 87 Skype: Wolf-Ludwig EURALO - ICANN's Regional At-Large Organisation http://euralo.org Profile on LinkedIn http://ch.linkedin.com/in/wolfludwig _______________________________________________ EURO-Discuss mailing list EURO-Discuss@atlarge-lists.icann.org https://atlarge-lists.icann.org/mailman/listinfo/euro-discuss Homepage for the region: http://www.euralo.org