Engagement

ICANN's Engagement Teams are responsible for leading outreach with stakeholders on ICANN and its mission around the world. The teams deliver on ICANN's commitments and core values.

GSE

The Global Stakeholder Engagement team raises awareness and understanding of ICANN’s role and remit, encourages participation in ICANN policy development and technical activities, and shares knowledge with ICANN stakeholders. GSE is comprised of 34 staff members in 21 countries. It encompasses Global Business Engagement and Global Civil Society Engagement and works closely with the GE team and other ICANN departments with community-facing roles. In FY20, there were 350 engagement events and 100 capacity development events around the world.

GE

ICANN’s Government and Intergovernmental Organizations (IGOs) engagement team (GE) develops and implements a global strategy to engage with governments and intergovernmental organizations. The GE team is comprised of political issue-based subject-matter experts who monitor and analyze government and IGO activities to ensure that ICANN has the necessary information and tools to address geopolitical issues impacting ICANN’s mission. The GE has been covering the discussions at the United Nations in New York since 2014. The GE also leads a multi-year educational effort, including regular workshops and seminars for diplomats as well as for relevant UN agencies, to provide factual information to the people negotiating Internet governance resolutions. The GE identifies potential avenues for collaboration on capacity-building activities for governments as part of a working plan with the ITU’s Development Sector (ITU-D); UNESCO on Universal Acceptance promotion; WIPO's Standing Committee on the Law of Trademarks, Industrial Designs, and Geographic Indications; the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and United Nations Commission on Science and Technology for Development; and OECD through the Internet Technical Advisory Committee (ITAC). Since its inception, the GE has been publishing papers on government and IGO deliberations on Internet governance.

Charter

ICANN Organization published its Charter on its Government Engagement Approach in February 2019. In sum, ICANN emphasizes to governments and IGOs that it is a technical organization concerned with the interoperability of the Internet.

GE Roles

• Government and IGO Engagement Managers: Alexey Trepykhalin, Vera Julia Major, Nora Mari
• VP, Government and IGO Engagement: Elena Plexida
• SVP, Government and Intergovernmental Organization Engagement: Mandy Carver
• Government and IGO Engagement Senior Director: Becky McGilley
• Vice President, Government Engagement (UN): Veni Markovski
• Government Engagement Executive Assistant: Desiree Cabrera

Geopolitical, Legislative, and Regulatory Developments

With ICANN 73, GE began hosting geopolitical updates.

Publications

Country/Region Focus Reports

• China (2022)
• The Netherlands (2021)
• Russian Federation (January, May 2021)
• European Union
  • Priorities in 2020
  • The General Data Protection Regulation 2020 Review
  • The Digital Services Act in 2020

UN Updates

• Cybersecurity and Cybercrime in:
  • 2019
  • 2020
  • 2021

GE vs. GAC

At ICANN 72, Mandy Carver explained the difference between the GAC and GE. She said that many representatives in GAC come from regulatory bodies and is focused on technical capacity building for governments and IGOs. The GE tracks, analyzes, and interacts with representatives of governments' legislative bodies.

International Telecommunication Union

Governmental Advisory Committee. Considers and provides advice on the activities of ICANN as they relate to concerns of governments, particularly matters where there may be an interaction between ICANN's policies and various laws and international agreements or where they may affect public policy issues (ICANN Bylaws).