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MOTION TO APPROVE THE FINAL RECOMMENDATIONS FROM THE RECONVENED WORKING GROUP ON RED CROSS NAMES

PROPOSED BY: Heather Forrest

SECONDED BY: 

Whereas:

1. In November 2013, the Working Group for the Protection of International Governmental Organizations (IGO) and International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGO) in All gTLDs completed a Policy Development Process (PDP) and submitted its Final Report to the GNSO Council (https://gnso.icann.org/en/issues/igo-ingo-final-10nov13-en.pdf, including Minority Statements: https://gnso.icann.org/en/issues/igo-ingo-final-minority-positions-10nov13- en.pdf);
2. On 20 November 2013, the GNSO Council approved all the consensus recommendations in the PDP Final Report (http://gnso.icann.org/en/council/resolutions#20131120-2);
3. On 30 April 2014, the ICANN Board approved those of the GNSO’s consensus recommendations that were consistent with advice received from the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) on the topic of IGO and INGO protections (which approval, in relation to the Red Cross, was limited to withholding from registration at both the top and second levels the specific terms designated as so-called “Scope 1” identifiers by the PDP Working Group (i.e., “Red Cross”, “Red Crescent”, “Red Crystal” and “Red Lion & Sun” in all six official languages of the United Nations)) and requested additional time to consider those remaining consensus PDP recommendations that were not consistent with GAC advice (http://www.icann.org/en/groups/board/documents/resolutions-30apr14-en.htm#2.a);
4. In March 2017, representatives of the GAC and GNSO held a discussion at the ICANN58 Public Meeting in Copenhagen, facilitated by former ICANN Board member Dr. Bruce Tonkin, to discuss a possible path forward for reconciling GAC advice and GNSO policy on the topic of protection at the second level of the domain name system for IGO acronyms and the remaining names and acronyms associated with the Red Cross (being those designated by the IGO-INGO PDP Working Group as “Scope 2” identifiers);
5. Following the March 2017 facilitated discussion, the ICANN Board passed a resolution requesting that the GNSO Council consider initiating the Policy Amendment Process documented in the GNSO PDP Manual in respect of certain of the so-called “Scope 2” identifiers for the Red Cross, i.e., the full names of the National Societies recognized within the International Red Cross and Red Crescent movement, and the full names of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (in the six official languages of the United Nations) (https://www.icann.org/resources/board-material/resolutions-2017-03-16- en#2.e.i);    
6. In May 2017, the GNSO Council passed a resolution noting that the March 2017 facilitated discussions had highlighted a set of exceptional circumstances (in the availability of a finite list of names and documented evidence of the legal basis for their protection) constituting a justifiable basis for the Council’s taking the extraordinary step of reconvening the original IGO-INGO PDP Working Group pursuant to Section 16 of the GNSO PDP Manual for the specific purpose of considering possible modifications to its previous consensus policy recommendations concerning and limited to the so-called “Scope 2” Red Cross full names noted by the Board, and including a defined, finite list of variants of those names, and with acronyms and any other names not falling within the scope of this reconvened effort (https://gnso.icann.org/en/council/resolutions#20170503-071);
7. The Reconvened PDP Working Group held its first meeting on 14 June 2017, and has since worked diligently to develop a set of recommendations that were published for public comment on 21 June 2018 (https://www.icann.org/public-comments/red-cross-protection-initial-2018-06-21-en); and
8. Following the close of the public comment period on 31 July 2018, the Reconvened PDP Working Group reviewed the comments that were received and completed its Final Report and finite List of names, which it submitted to the GNSO Council for its consideration on 6 August 2018 (https://gnso.icann.org/en/issues/igo-ingo/red-cross-protection-policy-amend-process-final-06aug18-en.pdf)( https://gnso.icann.org/en/issues/igo-ingo/red-cross-identifiers-proposed-reservation-06aug18-en.pdf).

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Resolved:

1. The GNSO Council has reviewed the Final Report and approves all of the consensus recommendations made by the Reconvened PDP Working Group;
2. The GNSO Council thanks the Reconvened PDP Working Group for its diligence and its successful work in attaining consensus on all recommendations;
3. The GNSO Council thanks the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement for its efforts in providing the documentation and information needed to justify and underpin the consensus recommendations; and
4. The GNSO Council directs ICANN staff to prepare a Recommendations Report for delivery to the ICANN Board in accordance with the process outlined in the ICANN Bylaws.

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