[Chapter-delegates] FW: [Internet Policy] Internet Society is denying Iranians for participation in Internet Governance Forum

[Richard Hill]

Dear colleagues,

 

Please find below a response from Raul to a message posted by Kave regarding ISOC’s inability to fund travel for an Iranian citizen. (These messages are forwarded from the Internet Policy list, because I think they are of interest to this list).

 

Both Kave’s message and Raul’s reply have led to exchanges of E-Mail on the Internet policy list. I will not attempt to summize those exchanges, you can find them at:

 

  https://elists.isoc.org/mailman/private/internetpolicy/2016-September/thread.html 

 

Raul’s response below seems perfectly appropriate to me.  And it seems to that that ISOC does need to find a solution to this sort of problem.  I note the statement in the original message “we are working with our legal department to find a solution for these challenges going forward” and I look forward to receiving updates regarding what is being done to address the situation (which is not necessarily related to the creation of an ISOC Chapter in Iran).


Best,

Richard

 

From: InternetPolicy [mailto:internetpolicy-bounces at elists.isoc.org] On Behalf Of Raul Echeberria
Sent: Thursday, September 15, 2016 22:07
To: ISOC INTERNETPOLICY
Subject: Re: [Internet Policy] Internet Society is denying Iranians for participation in Internet Governance Forum

 

 

Hi Kave, 

 

Sorry for the delay in answering. 

 

The Internet Society is incorporated in several countries, one of which is United States. Therefore, we have to accomplish United States laws as well we do in the other countries where we have legal presence.

As you know so, we have to get licenses for having activities in some countries like the case of Iran. We already have some OFAC  licenses that we need to get in order to be able to recognized chapters. 

 

In the last few months we have had conversations with people from Iran who are interested in forming a chapter there and therefore, we are now analyzing the possibility of asking for an OFAC license for Iran. It is not trivial. It takes times and it is necessary to hire an specialized firm for doing all the paper work. The cost of the whole process is expensive. 

 

I am very sorry for this inconvenient and I really hope that many people from Iran could find other ways to participate in the IGF this year. 

 

 

Raúl Echeberría

Internet Society

VP for Global Engagement and Relations. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

El 14 set. 2016, a las 06:22, Kave Salamatian <kave.salamatian at me.com> escribió:

 

·     Hi all, 

I have copied the answer of ISOC to Mahdi Taghizadeh, an iranian candidate for the Internet Governance Forum. I found it deeply contradictory with the stated goals and objectives of ISOC. In particular the fact that the this apply to « any individual who resides in Iran and possess an Iranian passport ». Let’s me remind that the first condition of the ambassadorship program is: "Focus attention on emerging leaders who embody the values of the Internet Society, promoting its  <http://www.internetsociety.org/who-we-are/mission> mission to ensure that “the Internet is for everyone”. » Seems that the iranian are not inside the everyone. It is noteworthy that ISOC is not saying that we will make the effort of asking from OFAC a licence, they just say you are iranian so we cannot do anything.

 

Would like to hear the very vocal contributors to the list that do not see any issue in US control of ICANN and more generally ISOC. 

 

regards

 

Kv

 

 





Hello Mahdi,

I hope that this message finds you well. Our legal department has just informed me that OFAC restrictions are preventing the Internet Society from proceeding any further with your Ambassadorship to the IGF. It appears that we do not possess a license to work with individuals who reside in Iran and possess an Iranian passport. I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience, and please be assured that we are working with our legal department to find a solution for these challenges going forward. We thank you for your interest in the IGF Ambassadors programme, and look forward to the opportunity to work with you in the future.

Regards, 

 

 

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