Elsa Saade as temp alternate to Arsene on GNSO Council

[dorothy g]

Indeed Arsene, it looks like the company does not know what it is about.
Perhaps we should insist on some knowledge of specific challenges faced by
Africans?  Is the fee they are paid affected by their failures? I find that
monitoring is a powerful motivator.  In some cases I have found that direct
phone call and email from both the major partner (in this case ICANN) and
the host organisation in Panama (or whichever country) helps. This should
be part of the negotiated contract with the host country and then should be
tracked for compliance.

Someone had asked earlier about which countries make it very difficult for
Africans to travel.  I would say that apart from ECOWAS countries my
Ghanaian passport would usually face challenges. However, a country like
Russia would have clear protocols and if you follow them there is no
problem.  The US at the moment is supposed to have stopped issuing all
Ghanaian applicants visas (some diplomatic tiff) and like the UK was quite
unpredictable (no clear protocol).  Some say the problem is breathing while
black but al least there is gender balance in their refusals.  Air Namibia
took my visa money and then I still had to get the Commonwealth to organise
a visa on arrival for me (of course I never got back the first money paid).
Even going to South Africa is a problem if you are Ghanaian. Forget Canada
almost impossible to get a visa. The visa process is cumbersome and the
tendency is to assume all Africans want to migrate off the continent BUT
when there is a special event e.g. ICANN meeting steps should be taken to
make sure key people can attend.  Attending an ICANN meeting is not like
going on a family visit or tourism.  The necessary arrangements should be
part of the agreement and monitored in terms of eventual compliance and
failure. This can help to ensure that the imbalances in regional
representation are not further distorted by visa issues. We really should
not have to fight for this.

best



On Thu, Jun 28, 2018 at 4:57 AM, Arsène Tungali <arsenebaguma at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Actually, the visa service company i used is called Newland Chase, a UK
> based company. I think it is available for all ICANN funded travelers if
> they request their services. At some point in time they were reaching out
> to supported travelers directly to offer help but this time i had to ask
> for their help.
>
> Knowing that they are being paid (by ICANN) for this service, i sometimes
> declined their help when the visa process to an ICANN meeting was easy and
> straight forward for me.
>
> For this particular meeting, i requested their help. We worked together in
> collecting information about Panama visa requirements (i was hoping they
> pull out what i didn’t know already from my own desk research) but they
> could not help me secure the Panamian visa and had to abandon the process
> at last minute when things turned out to be complicated.
>
> Then Joseph (from CT) took over and started negociating visa on arrival
> which turned out to be impossible to get as per a Panamian Consul Officer.
> I was notified of this like two days before the planned travel date, while
> i was still hoping i would make it.
>
> Some of our members suggested that there should be a cut off date by when
> if a traveler cannot secure visa on time, his travel support can be
> transfered to another community member to maximise participation at a
> particular meeting. Something like what Farzaneh did, transfering her
> travel support to Elsa when she knew she would not make it to the meeting.
> I also agree that this should be made clear in travel guidelines and i wish
> i was able to transfer my travel slot to someone else whose visa was
> straight forward.
>
> My apologies if all this is not useful but thought to share :)
> -----------------
> Arsène Tungali,
> about.me/ArseneTungali
> +243 993810967
> GPG: 523644A0
> Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo
>
> Sent from my iPhone (excuse typos)
>
> On Jun 28, 2018, at 5:22 AM, David Cake <dave at DAVECAKE.NET> wrote:
>
> We should also be requesting that, as part of constituency travel, ICANN
> should be extending community access to the visa service it users
> (currently CIBT), and actively assisting in obtaining visas. I’m not sure
> if this service is already available to covered travellers, but I think it
> should be more widely available and promoted even if it is.
>
> David
>
> On 26 Jun 2018, at 7:31 pm, Mike <mkaranicolas at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>
> Hi all,
>
> Fully concur with the need to take this conversation forward to try and
> level the playing field for developing world participation at ICANN.
>
> It may be of interest that, for next month’s Open Government Partnership
> Summit in Tbilisi, the government of Georgia passed a special decree
> allowing for visa-free travel for all OGP Summit attendees. Granted, the
> OGP operates with a high level of official government buy-in, but perhaps
> ICANN’s situation may be somewhat analogous, given that these meetings are
> often planned in partnership with senior government figures? It may be
> worth exploring...
>
> Best,
>
> Michael Karanicolas
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Jun 26, 2018, at 1:27 AM, dorothy g <dgdorothydg at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>
> When I say escalate I mean beyond conversation.  Every bid should explain
> by region how they will facilitate visas and smooth entry.  If they cannot
> guarantee equal access then they should not be considered.
>
>
> On Mon, Jun 25, 2018 at 4:59 PM, Onica Makwakwa <nmakwakwa at aol.com> wrote:
>
>> Greetings,
>>
>> I second that suggestion from Dorothy as I suspect this will be a greater
>> challenge for Barcelona (based on past experience dealing with their
>> embassies in this region). Beyond just escalating this, we need to have a
>> conversation on how ease of visa issuance should be a big part when
>> considering meeting locations.
>>
>> Onica
>>
>> Onica N. Makwakwa
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: dorothy g <dgdorothydg at GMAIL.COM>
>> To: NCSG-DISCUSS <NCSG-DISCUSS at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU>
>> Sent: Mon, Jun 25, 2018 6:50 pm
>> Subject: Re: Elsa Saade as temp alternate to Arsene on GNSO Council
>>
>> Is it possible for us to document all those who could not attend due to
>> visa issues and escalate this concern? We need Africans to be at the table.
>>
>> best
>>
>> On Mon, Jun 25, 2018 at 4:29 PM, Adeel Sadiq <11beeasadiq at seecs.edu.pk>
>> wrote:
>>
>> One part of the bigger picture is, most of the ICANN staff are from
>> developed countries who don't face strict visa issues like people from
>> developing countries do. I have been denied visa to attend a similar
>> conferences (not ICANN though) more than once. I even tried to raise the
>> same issue in Public Forum at Copenhagen, but was politically turned down
>> with almost a null response by the so-called 'meeting team'. You never
>> realize the true measure of a problem unless it is at your personal
>> doorstep.
>>
>> Regards
>>
>> Adeel
>>
>> On Mon, Jun 25, 2018 at 9:12 PM, dorothy g <dgdorothydg at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> This is an extremely important point Arsene. There is no justification
>> for choosing such a location without making special arrangements.
>> Glad at least you can listen in.
>>
>> On Mon, Jun 25, 2018 at 3:29 PM, Arsène Tungali <arsenebaguma at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>> Thanks Elsa, everyone!
>>
>> It is unfortunate that the gov of Panama could not grant visa on arrival
>> while they are aware that their visa process is very complicated.
>>
>> Think: they only have two consulates in the whole African continent!!!
>>
>> I hope ICANN Org will be able to negociate things like these beforehand
>> when they select host countries.
>>
>> Thanks Elsa for willing to help and thanks Farzaneh and the EC for
>> working out this very quickly!
>>
>> -----------------
>> Arsène Tungali,
>> about.me/ArseneTungali
>> +243 993810967
>> GPG: 523644A0
>> Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo
>>
>> Sent from my iPhone (excuse typos)
>>
>> On Jun 25, 2018, at 5:11 PM, Elsa S <elsa.saade at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>>
>> It really saddens me that some of us haven't been able to make it because
>> of Visa issues. But happy to help and make myself available anytime!
>>
>> Best,
>>
>> Elsa
>> --
>>
>> On Mon, Jun 25, 2018 at 9:31 AM, dorothy g <dgdorothydg at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> So I guess this is a last minute thing given the visa issue. Thank you
>> Elsa for stepping in.  When will this discrimination against Africans stop!
>> Arsene glad you can listen in and hopefully next time you will not
>> encounter this problem.
>>
>> best
>>
>> On Mon, Jun 25, 2018 at 1:25 PM, farzaneh badii <farzaneh.badii at gmail.com
>> > wrote:
>>
>> She still takes on some of my tasks. She was not going to replace me. But
>> because we found out last minute that Arsene cannot make it, thought it's
>> better to have an alternate for Arsene because this is an important
>> meeting.
>>
>> Farzaneh
>>
>>
>> On Mon, Jun 25, 2018 at 8:23 AM Farell FOLLY <farell at benin2point0.org>
>> wrote:
>>
>> Hello Mrs Chair,
>>
>> Thanks for the info, but I thought Elsa was going to replace you instead?
>> What happened?
>>
>> @__f_f__
>>
>> Best Regards
>> ____________________________________
>>
>> Ekue (Farell) FOLLY
>> Technology Champion & Chapter Head
>> Africa 2.0 Foundation.
>> www.africa2point0.org
>> linkedin.com/in/farellf
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On 24 Jun 2018, at 07:49, farzaneh badii <farzaneh.badii at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>> Dear all,
>>
>> Unfortunately, Arsene cannot make it to Panama. Arsene will be
>> participating remotely in the Council meetings but we decided that for an
>> in-person presence, Elsa Saade can be his temp alternate.
>>
>> This was a last minute decision which we had to take because we were
>> still hopeful that Arsene could make it.
>>
>> Will see you and Arsene remotely in virtual meeting rooms.
>>
>> Best
>>
>>
>>
>> Farzaneh
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> --
>>
>> Elsa Saade
>> Consultant
>> Gulf Centre for Human Rights
>> Twitter: @Elsa_Saade
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
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