Hi,
I do not wish to enter the substance of this appeal for i am
qualified neither by position nor training to adjudicate on the
justice of an appeal.
But I do want to question one paragraph that has been published on
behalf of the leadership of this organization. This questioning is
not in relation to the appeal itself, but rather to the acceptability
of the statement in itself.
On 10 jul 2006, at 14.05, IESG Secretary wrote:
Secondly, the IESG believes that the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights does not apply to the IETF's internal rules.
IETF participants are assumed to be aware of IETF process rules
before choosing to participate, and their participation is voluntary.
Without making any personal judgement about the correctness of such a
hypothetical claim, I could understand an IESG decision that the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) did not apply in this
particular case. I do not, however, understand a categorical
statement to the effect that the IETF, with its rules, is not subject
to the UDHR because it is a voluntary association.
While the IETF itself is not a signatory to the UDHR, most, if not
all, of the nations in which the IESG members live are signatories
and the host country of the ISOC corporation, the IETF umbrella, is
also a signatory. I believe that in all things we do, we are always
subject to the UDHR. And I worry about an organization, especially
one I believe in, making a categorical claim that human rights, as
defined by the UDHR, do not apply within this organization. We may
be here to do technical work, but we should, in my opinion, never
leave the responsibilities of humanity at the door. To claim that
something so fundamental as human rights do not apply within the
confines of the IETF is too all encompassing a statement, and one I
don't feel can be allowed to stand without at least a little protest.
To quote Eleanor Roosevelt "The destiny of human rights is in the
hands of all our citizens in all our communities" . I think this
applies to the IETF community as much as it does to any other
community. I hope that the IAB, whatever it may decide on the merits
of the appeal in question, will see fit to repudiate the claim that
the UDHR does apply to the IETF or its rules.
a.
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