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The attached Statement constitutes the official response of the At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC) on the recent public consultation on the Interim Report of Geographic Regions Review Working Group. The Statement was initially drafted by Mohamed El Bashir, member of the At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC), on 26 January 2011.
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Small Island cross-regional At-Large organisation
The attached submission is by the Vice Chair of PICISOC Maureen Hilyard which outlines the reasoning for the development of a Small Island Developing States (SIDS) grouping within ICANN’s At‐large structure.
-- Will Tibben
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This is a very interesting topic related to my own case. Within the framework of ICANN Geo. regions Republic of Armenia is in Asia Pacific. Within the framework of many other structures Armenia is within Europe, just as an example given from the PPt PPt (Geographic Regions Review Workshop Cartagena), according to "International Norms, Armenia for within UN structure is considered as "Europe and Commonwealth of Independent States, ITU council uses Armenia within "Eastern Europe and Northern Asia", ITU (BDT) uses Armenia within "The Commonwealth of Independent States". This brings a lot of confusion for me as a representative of Armenia. Currently there are discussions on this topic within ALAC community, and I volunteered to participate in the discussions of both in EURALO and APRALO in order to understand what kind of changes, discussions are taking place and where Armenia is considered to be in accordance to these group discussions.
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We agree in the broader recognition of “diversity” to include additional considerations of culture and language in the LACRALO. The Caribbean is distinct in terms of its history, culture and language; further it has indigenous challenges being small island states and specific needs which are not a natural fit with the rest of Latin America. Due to these differences LACRALO is able to benefit from varying opinions and has the potential to be a truly representative region. One small but important example is the predominant use of English language in the Caribbean Region, however 90% of the mailing list discussion takes place in Spanish. With poor translation tools and the particular nuances between languages; we struggle to understand each other and it becomes almost prohibitively difficult to communicate, follow topic threads collaborate and participate fully. Interpretation between our two regions is currently poor and the result is misunderstanding, frustration, duplicated effort and ultimately lack of participation from our Region; thereby resulting in under-representation of our particular perspectives and points of view.
Numbers of Internet users
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We laud the Working Group, specifically with regard to identifying and detailing the specific needs of Small Island Developing States and will readily endorse such grouping in whatever form. We hope that this step forward is not negated by issues of funding, as the underlying aim of this assessment is to encourage ICANN’s Core Values. We must always seek out, cherish and ensure effective representation.
NARALO
NARALO finds that the current situation in this region is satisfactory but encourages the work of other At-Large regions in which the current system may be seen to require change.
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