[Chapter-delegates] China's remarks to the UN Human Rights Council panel on freedom of expression and the Internet

Wed Mar 7 02:34:36 PST 2012

Thanks, Markus and Christian,

to have my question repeated again down at the end.

Should I still expect a response? Not to have responses to important 
questions is no new experience for me, living in Cambodia since 21 
years, where the political atmosphere is characterized by some as "a 
culture of silence."

Still no response so far which I can quote when talking to others concerned.

But the silence is being broken: today's Cambodia Daily has an article 
"China Looks to Increase Media Presence" - reporting about the visit of 
the "Chinese Minister of State of the State Council of Information 
Office (SCIO), which controls the country's Internet and flow of 
external news" -  while a Cambodian spokesperson said that there will 
soon be a visit to China "to learn about how China's media and SCIO 
works for the interest of the Chinese people, and which media is playing 
a vital role in contributing to the development of China."

Same as the ISOC panel? Probably not - that is why I asked. And still 
wait. I still think the the Geneva events are a serious affair.

Norbert

=

On 03/07/2012 04:34 PM, Christian de Larrinaga wrote:
> It really does come across as bearing a ring of truth doesn't it! Well 
> done Markus!
> PS Another nice touch.  The article cites the contribution of their 
> intern Maricelo Estavillo to the article. That should be standard 
> procedure!
>
> best
>
> Christian
> On 6 Mar 2012, at 15:07, kummer at isoc.org <mailto:kummer at isoc.org> wrote:
>
>> To those of you who followed the UN Human Rights Council, this link 
>> to an article in IP watch may be of interest:
>>
>> http://www.ip-watch.org/2012/02/29/un-human-rights-council-rallies-on-right-to-internet-freedom-of-express
>>
>> The article paints a fairly accurate picture of the atmosphere of the 
>> debate, which was very formal with a strong emphasis on arcane 
>> procedural aspects. The reporter gives some space to the ISOC 
>> statement, which he apparently liked. Our statement was one of only 
>> four interventions by non-governmental actors. Otherwise, the debate 
>> was very much among government representatives. As not all of the 
>> governments who asked for the floor were given the opportunity to 
>> speak, they questioned the procedures applied to the debate 
>> (obviously resenting the fact that some non-government 
>> representatives were able to speak.) All in all, a far cry from the 
>> usual multistakeholder setting we are accustomed to and a reminder 
>> how important it is to preserve and enhance the multistakeholder 
>> approach!
>>
>> Best regards
>> Markus
>>
>> On Mar 1, 2012, at 7:35 PM, President ISOC-KH wrote:
>>
>>     A video from the UN Human Rights Council, dealing with the
>>     freedom of expression on the Internet, provides important
>>     material for the ISOC leadership preparing the Geneva meetings.
>>
>>     I share the opinion of Klaus in his recent mail: "Some consider
>>     it essential to have ISOC represented on the opening panel. You
>>     might want to answer to this."
>>
>>     A concept paper for this UN meeting had signaled the scope of the
>>     Panel, saying at the outset:
>>
>>     = = =
>>     “Panel discussion on the right to freedom of expression on the
>>     Internet
>>
>>     In its decision 18/27, adopted in September 2011, the Human
>>     Rights Council decided “to convene, within existing resources, at
>>     its nineteenth session, a panel discussion on the promotion and
>>     protection of freedom of expression on the Internet, with a
>>     particular focus on the ways and means to improve its protection
>>     in accordance with international human rights law.”
>>     = = =
>>
>>     The following is the video provided - not only focused on the
>>     "promotion and protection of freedom of expression on the Internet":
>>
>>     http://www.unmultimedia.org/tv/webcast/2012/02/china-panel-on-right-to-freedom-of-expression-19th-session-human-rights-council.html
>>
>>     And this statement was made also on behalf of Algeria,
>>     Bangladesh, Belarus, Burundi, Cambodia, Congo, Cuba, DPRK,
>>     Ethiopia, Iran, Laos, Malaysia, Mauritania, Myanmar, Namibia,
>>     Nicaragua, Pakistan, Palestine, Philippines, Russia, Saudi
>>     Arabia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Turkmenistan, Venezuela, Vietnam,
>>     Uzbekistan, Yemen, Zimbabwe.
>>
>>     This interesting list contains also Cambodia. When the discussion
>>     about the opening panel at the ISOC conference started, I had
>>     asked for help from the organizers to explain the list of
>>     panelists here - with China present but not ISOC leadership. - To
>>     ask this question did of course not imply to disagree with the
>>     participation of a high level Chinese speaker. I have not
>>     received a response to my question so far (and also not to
>>     several others), but the statements at the Human Rights Council -
>>     including in the name of Cambodia - motivate me to repeat my
>>     question.
>>
>>
>>     Norbert
>>

-- 
In April 2011, I started a new blog:

...thinking it over... after 21 years in Cambodia
http://www.thinking21.org/

continuing to share reports and comments from Cambodia.
Here are my latest postings:

Why such selective law enforcement? (20.2.2012)
http://www.thinking21.org/?p=794

Myanmar’s Roadmap to Democracy (27.2.2012)
http://www.thinking21.org/?p=800

The Freedom of Expression – China and Cambodia – and the Internet (4.3.2012)
http://www.thinking21.org/?p=839

Norbert Klein
nhklein at gmx.net
Phnom Penh / Cambodia

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