Introduction
Tijani Ben Jemaa, ALAC member from the African Regional At-Large Organization (AFRALO) and ALAC Leadership Team member, composed an initial draft of this Statement [PDF, 239 KB] after discussion of the topic within At-Large and on the Mailing Lists.
On 06 April 2014, this Statement was posted on the At-Large ICANN Future Meetings Strategy Workspace.
On 07 April 2014, Olivier Crépin-Leblond, Chair of the ALAC, requested ICANN Policy Staff in support of the ALAC to send a Call for Comments on the Recommendations to all At-Large members via the ALAC-Announce Mailing List.
On 14 March 2014, a version incorporating the comments received was posted on the aforementioned workspace and the Chair requested that Staff open an ALAC ratification vote on the proposed Statement.
On 19 March 2014, Staff confirmed that the online vote resulted in the ALAC endorsing the Statement with 14 votes in favor, 0 votes against, and 0 abstentions. You may review the result independently under: https://www.bigpulse.com/pollresults?code=3810WCMXwm4ciuUsFPFNubMK.
Summary
- The ALAC supports the recommendations of the Meeting Strategy Working Group report.
- The differentiation of the 3 annual meetings would improve the geographic rotation, minimize the number of conflicting sessions, facilitate cross community interactions, increase concentrated policy work, engage with local Internet communities, and increase thematic, regional or language-based interactions.
- The ALAC also appreciates very much that visa deliverance becomes one of the main criteria for the selection of the meetings venue.
- The ALAC suggests that 1) local availability of an open Internet be added to the selection criteria, 2) venues without facilities for the disabled communities shouldn't be considered, and 3) video coverage of meetings uses cameras and camera-work (pan and zoom) instead of a stationary Webcam.
- The ALAC welcomes the recommendation not restricting rotation of any meeting to ICANN hub cities.