[members-discuss] NRO letter to Mauritian Government

well, if the Board can not get my message directly, I do hope it gets past
moderation so they can see it…

🤞

/elvis

On Tue, Jul 19, 2022 at 02:27 Elvis Daniel Velea <elvis at v4escrow.net> wrote:

> Dear Hans,
>
> if you and the Board were so keen on transparency and discussion, you
> would have brought the letter to the community for feedback prior to
> signing it.
>
> my only .2c
>
> Elvis
>
> On Tue, Jul 19, 2022 at 02:16 Hans Petter Holen <hph at ripe.net> wrote:
>
>> Dear Sander, all,
>>
>> The RIPE NCC is part of the NRO, together with the other four RIRs. This
>> body has a very clear mission to actively contribute to an open, stable and
>> secure Internet. Where joint action or a common voice among the RIRs is
>> needed, the NRO provides the platform that allows that to happen. Through
>> the NRO, we, along with the other RIRs, have been supporting the efforts to
>> maintain a stable Internet presence in Africa. And this letter from the NRO
>> is part of those supporting efforts:
>> https://www.nro.net/nro-letter-to-mauritius-government/
>>
>> The NRO’s letter was a joint effort by the legal teams of the five RIRs,
>> after AFRINIC requested our support in the matter. We firmly believe it was
>> important to add our name alongside the other RIRs and collectively put our
>> weight behind AFRINIC’s request to the Mauritian government.
>>
>> I understand that not everyone will agree with this approach. I and my
>> fellow NRO EC members are committed, however, to being as transparent as
>> possible about any such communications to governments and welcome any
>> discussions in our communities. This is how it should be. I believe you are
>> aware that the RIPE NCC and all the RIRs regularly deal with governments
>> when they believe it is necessary to protect the Internet number registry
>> system. Indeed, we regularly communicate with the Dutch government in
>> relation to sanctions, and we have published much of our correspondence
>> with other governments, in line with our commitment to be transparent in
>> these matters. If, as the RIPE NCC, we felt that such interactions with
>> governments could be helped by adding the weight of the NRO, I hope the
>> other RIRs would consider lending their voice to such matters.
>>
>> Finally, the RIR system is bigger than any of its individual RIRs, so I
>> will reiterate what the NRO stated in its recent message asking the AFRINIC
>> community to come together to solve issues with its RIR: “The regional
>> activities and policy process of an RIR are solely in the hands of that
>> community, but the health of those processes is of paramount importance to
>> the global Internet community.”
>> https://www.nro.net/rirs-message-to-the-afrinic-community/
>>
>> This is why the NRO was willing to support AFRINIC in its requests to the
>> Mauritian government - while it is up to each RIR community to address
>> issues with their own RIR, it is up to all RIRs to address issues that can
>> impact the overall system. To not do so would constitute inadequate
>> governance on the part of the RIRs. I understand that you do not agree with
>> the approach taken here, but I hope you will understand why the RIPE NCC
>> and its Board feels it is important that we stand together on this matter.
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Hans Petter Holen                       Christian Kaufmann
>> Managing Director                       Chairman
>> RIPE NCC                                RIPE NCC Executive Board
>>
>>
>> > On 13 Jul 2022, at 11:57, Sander Steffann <sander at steffann.nl> wrote:
>> >
>> > Hi,
>> >
>> > I just read the message from the NRO (co-signed by Hans Petter Holen on
>> behalf of the RIPE NCC) to the Mauritian Government:
>> https://www.nro.net/nro-letter-to-mauritius-government/ and I must say I
>> was shocked.
>> >
>> > The letter is about the lawsuits of Cloud Innovation Ltd (Lu Heng)
>> against AFRINIC. The NRO is urging the government to recognise AFRINIC as
>> an international organisation "that if granted, it might lead to more
>> appropriate outcomes”. So basically the NRO is urging the Mauritian
>> government’s executive branch to intervene in its judicial branch. Asking a
>> government is to violate their separation of powers is NOT OK™.
>> >
>> > Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t like Lu Heng and the way he does
>> business, but not all his lawsuits are without merit, so this is something
>> for the Mauritian court to decide. The NRO pushing the government to
>> intervene goes against the basis of the democratic system.
>> >
>> > The letter even does more than urging. It basically threatens/insults
>> Mauritius:
>> >
>> > """
>> > To successfully operate a continental wide entity such as AFRINIC, the
>> African Internet community deliberately chose to locate its headquarters in
>> Mauritius in order to obtain the benefit of a stable and consistent legal
>> system.
>> > [...]
>> > It would be very unfortunate for the African regional community if the
>> above situation proves that the designation of Mauritius as the place to
>> locate AFRINIC has been wrong.
>> > """
>> >
>> > This letter has raised some eyebrows around the world (and as I
>> understand it in Brussels) to say the least. I would like a response from
>> the RIPE NCC and its board on how they have dared to write such a letter.
>> >
>> > Sincerely,
>> > Sander Steffann
>> >
>> >
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > members-discuss mailing list
>> > members-discuss at ripe.net
>> > https://mailman.ripe.net/
>> > Unsubscribe:
>> https://lists.ripe.net/mailman/options/members-discuss/hph%40ripe.net
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> members-discuss mailing list
>> members-discuss at ripe.net
>> https://mailman.ripe.net/
>> Unsubscribe:
>> https://lists.ripe.net/mailman/options/members-discuss/elvis%40v4escrow.net
>>
> --
> This message was sent from a mobile device. Some typos may be possible.
>
-- 
This message was sent from a mobile device. Some typos may be possible.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://www.ripe.net/ripe/mail/archives/members-discuss/attachments/20220719/66f08157/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: IMG_7256.jpg
Type: image/jpg
Size: 344519 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <https://www.ripe.net/ripe/mail/archives/members-discuss/attachments/20220719/66f08157/attachment-0001.jpg>