Erick,
declarations like this are worth not much in this process, what really counts is serious studies and facts showing how the approval of such applications will have a negative effect to the communities involved and the Internet in general.
The declaration of this, or that, here or there, being mindful, recognizing, or citing organizations and meetings completely alien to ICANN are totally useless, yes they help to bring up the point but they do not provide a strong argument against the applications, bureaucratic government verbiage is not part of the new gTLD process.Try again ...
The problem with these applications are not the strings but what process/criteria will be used to evaluate applications for exclusive use that include strings that represent regions that are not clearly defined or listed on any international standards, since this will set a precedent for future applications.
My .02
Jorge