All,

This is a short interjection. I am slowly working on a blog on this topic, one that draws on the lessons learned from the International Labour Organization (ILO), and lessons that may be of possible use to ICANN.

The ILO is a tripartite (Government, Industry, labour) multilateral organization created in 1919 as part of the Treaty of Versailles, the treaty that ended World War I. In 1946 the ILO became the first specialized agency of the UN. The ILO is on the ICANN IGO list  https://forum.icann.org/lists/gnso-igo-ingo/pdfZkxNP6hsHB.pdf along with the ITU and the Red Cross, but it is quite different from both the ITU and the Red Cross.

As a tripartite structure it carries on multistakeholder discussion, conducts research, and makes global recommendations around labour standards, and then recommendations them to be ratified by countries. Ratified International labour standards are backed by an ILO supervisory system that is unique at the international level and that helps to ensure that countries implement the conventions they ratify. The ILO regularly examines the application of standards in member states and points out areas where they could be better applied. If there are any problems in the application of standards, the ILO seeks to assist countries through social dialogue and technical assistance.

It is increasingly the case that ICANN policy as formulated within its remit will be impacted on by national and multilateral policy decisions and practices that reside within Internet ecosystem but reside outside ICANN's policy remit. This challenge is both larger and more pervasive than whatever might be perceived as the constraints on ICANN policy and implementation because of ICANN's corporate nationality (i.e., where it legally resides). In a sentence, going forward the ultimate challenge for ICANN goes beyond how good is its DNS policy, how strong is its multistakeholder process, and how well it is insulated against "capture". All of that is of course crucially important, but it is not enough.

Beyond the effective pursue of policy within its remit, policy in pursuit of a safe and secure, open, free, and global Internet ecosystem, the remaining "elephant in the room" is how does ICANN participate, as a stakeholder entity much as the ILO is a stakeholder entity, in shaping national and multilateral policy decisions and practices that reside within the Internet ecosystem but reside outside ICANN's policy remit. This does not mean that ICANN should expand its policy remit, nor is this issue resolved by changing ICANN's legal residence. It does mean that ICANN is a stakeholder entity, along side those stakeholders and stakeholder entities that work with ICANN within its remit, and all are stakeholders in wider Internet ecosystem policy and practice.

How this "ICANN as a stakeholder" challenge is translated into action should be the focus of serious reflection. Bits and pieces exist as seen in various IGF efforts, and in the original NetMundial. The risks of inadequate reflection are seen in the stumbling initiatives around the World Economic Forum (WEF) and a new NetMundial Initiative, and -I might add- around how to deal with ICANN's Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) and the multilateral International Telecommunications Union (ITU). One possible lesson learned from the almost 100 years of the ILO is that ICANN, as a self-interested stakeholder, should participate in that wider multistakeholder discussion, assist with research, and play a role in global recommendations around Internet ecosystem policy norms (standards) that will be considered and ratified within countries and within multilateral agreements. I do not, of course, expect broad agreement to these ideas but I do hope that they help focus some of the discussion around ICANN and the challenges of the wider Internet ecosystem.

Sam Lanfranco, NPOC & Canadian Society for International Health (CSIH)