Dear Sunil APC supports the CIS statement and express our solidarity with Padmini. Anriette On 21/03/2016 13:00, Sunil Abraham wrote: > The Centre for Internet and Society > > Statement on Sexual Harassment at ICANN55 > > > The Centre for Internet and Society (“CIS”) strongly condemns the acts > of sexual harassment that took place against one of our representatives, > Ms. Padmini Baruah, during ICANN 55 in Marrakech. It is completely > unacceptable that an event the scale of an ICANN meeting does not have > in place a formal redressal system, a neutral point of contact or even a > policy for complainants who have been put through the ordeal of sexual > harassment. ICANN cannot claim to be inclusive or diverse if it does not > formally recognise a specific procedure or recourse under such instances. > > > Ms. Baruah is by no means the first young woman to be subject to such > treatment at an ICANN event, but she isthe first to raise a > formalcomplaint. Following the incident, she was given no immediate > remedy or formal recourse, and that has left her with no option but to > make the incident publicly known in the interim. The ombudsman’s office > has been in touch with her, but this administrative process is simply > inadequate for rights-violations. > > > Ms. Baruah has received support from various community, staff, and board > members. While we are thankful for their support, we believe that this > situation can be better dealt with through some positive measures. We > ask that ICANN carry out the following steps in order to make its > meetings a truly safe and inclusive space: > > > 1. > > Institute a formal redressal system and policy with regard to sexual > harassment within ICANN. The policy must be displayed on the ICANN > website, at the venue of meetings and made available in delegate kits. > > 2. > > Institute an Anti Sexual Harassment Committee that is neutral and > approachable. Merely having an ombudsman who is a white male, > however well intentioned, is inadequate and completely unhelpful to > the complainant. The present situation is one where the ombudsman > has no effective power and only advises the board. > > 3. > > Conduct periodic gender and sexual harassment training of the ICANN > board to help them better understand these issues. > > 4. > > Conduct periodic gender and sexual harassment training for the > ombudsman even if he/she will not be the exclusive point of contact > for complainants as the ombudsman forms an important part of > community and participant engagement. > > 5. > > Conduct periodic gender sensitisation for the ICANN community. > > > > > ____________________________________________________________ > You received this message as a subscriber on the list: > [log in to unmask] > To unsubscribe or change your settings, visit: > http://lists.bestbits.net/wws/info/bestbits > -- ----------------------------------------- Anriette Esterhuysen Executive Director Association for Progressive Communications [log in to unmask] www.apc.org IM: ae_apc