Dear Thomas, dear James,
Dear Members of the reconvened Working Group,

(1) Further to the discussions held during the second meeting of the reconvened Working group IGO/INGO Protections PDP Working Group held on 20 July, please find attached a copy of the Non-paper we had submitted to ICANN’s Board and to the process in 2013.
The attached includes a descriptive of the legal protections of the Red Cross, Red Crescent and Red Crystal designations and of the names/identifiers of the respective Red Cross and Red Crescent organizations under international law and under the domestic laws in force in multiple national jurisdictions.

It includes as an annex an outline of relevant extracts from the first Geneva Convention of 1949 and of the third Additional Protocol adopted in 2005, and a list of national laws in force in different national jurisdictions on the use and protection of the emblems and their designations  (the list would require now to be updated to include more recent national laws/Governmental decrees, as adopted inter alia in South Sudan, Sweden and Venezuela).  

(2) We take note, as underlined during the recent reconvened Working group discussions, of the WG’s defined objectives to determine whether the current protections accorded to the Red Cross and Red Crescent designations and identifiers (as included under Specification 5 of the Model Registry Agreement) should be confirmed as permanent.

In line with the recommendations of the NGPC/the Board's Resolutions that the GNSO’s 2013 Recommendations be reconciled with the GAC’s consistent advice, this would imply that the GNSO’s 2013 recommendations be revised on two counts:
 
- firstly, to extend the protections accorded to the Red Cross, Red Crescent and Red Crystal designations (Scope 1 identifiers) to the full exact match names of the respective Red Cross and Red Crescent organizations (Scope 2 identifiers); and
- second, to confirm the protections of the Red Cross and Red Crescent designations and identifiers (Scope 1 and Scope 2) as permanent.
 
(3) As recalled during the last reconvened Working Group session and in line with the GNSO’s decision to initiate its process for Amendments or Modifications of Approved Policies with regard to Recommendation 5 Section 3.1 of the 2013 Final Report, the extension of the protections should importantly be made to cover not only the names of the respective National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (190 in total to date), but also the full exact match names of the two international components of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement in the six UN languages. This is congruent with the definition of Scope 2 identifiers as included in the Final Report of the 2013 PDP – page 10.
This is also confirmed under the Board’s Resolution (2017.03.16.13) and the latter's Operative paragraph (1).

Reference is also made in this regard to the GAC’s consistent advice [as expressly stipulated in the GAC Communiqués adopted in Singapore (27 March 2014), Los Angeles (15 October 2014), Singapore (11 February 2015), and confirmed in subsequent advice] that the Red Cross and Red Crescent identifiers be afforded permanent protections. We wish to underline in this regard that the names of the International Committee of the Red Cross, of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, and of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement are included under Specification 5 to the Model Registry Agreement and already enjoy temporary protections.
 
(4) With respect to the ICRC and IFRC acronyms (also included under the definition of Scope 2 names adopted by the GNSO in 2013), the extension of the permanent protections is not requested here, and thus in line with the GAC’s past advice, as adopted in Durban (18 July 2013), that “[t]he same complementary cost neutral mechanisms to be worked out […] for the protections of IGO’s be used to also protect the acronyms of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC/IFRC) and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC/FICR)”. Given however the importance of also protecting the acronyms of the ICRC and of the IFRC (particularly the ICRC acronym under which the ICRC is very commonly known and identified and which forms a part of the ICRC’s institutional logo), we would propose that the reconvened WG consider to issue also a recommendation in regard to the ICRC and IFRC acronyms in line with the GAC’s above-mentioned Durban Communiqué.
 
(5) Lastly and further to recent exchanges with ICANN Staff, we wish to inform the members of the reconvened Working Group that, in line with the agreement during the Facilitated discussion held in Copenhagen, we are amenable to work further on a revised list of Red Cross and Red Crescent identifiers to replace the current list included under Specification 5 – this would notably aim to amend the current titles of the two categories of Red Cross and Red Crescent designations and identifiers (as these do not offer clarity) and to further harmonize the list of National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies identifiers (and their limited and well defined variations).
 
We also wish members of the WG to note, as indicated during the Copenhagen discussion, that a new National Society is in the process of formation and recognition, namely the “Marshall Islands Red Cross Society” and that its name will also soon require to be added to the list.
 
Please do not hesitate to contact us should you require any further clarification.
 
With kind regards,
 
Charlotte
 
 
Charlotte Lindsey Curtet
Director
Communication and Information Management Department
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
Tel: + 41 22 730 2773
email: clindsey@icrc.org
 
Annexes:
 
- ICRC and IFRC Position paper to ICANN's Board, July/August 2013:



- Extracts from the Government Advisory Committee's Communiqués relevant to the protection of the Red Cross and Red Crescent designations and identifiers:

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