What is ICMC?

The International Coordination Mechanism Council (ICMC) of Multilingual Internet Names Consortium (MINC) is a council set up by MINC for the purpose of coordinating the implementation of the Multilingualisation of the Internet and the global Information Society, beginning with the Internationalization of the Domain Name System of the Internet (internationalized domain names - IDN).

Announced at the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) Meeting at the United Nations in Geneva by the Chairman of MINC in mid-February 2006, the  MINC ICMC will coordinate with key relevant organisations and all interested stakeholders including local language-script authorities who have an interest in the IDN.IDN testbeds and future rollout deployments of a Multilingual Internet based on local empowerment and localization that respect the rights of local communities in the decision making process.

Since then, MINC ICMC has received the support of many top organisations world wide and their desire to participate, including Mr Alexander V. Korzhakov,  Deputy of the Russian State Duma, and Chairman of Committee for Business Security, Russian Chamber of Commerce;  Mr Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, Chairman of Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Organization (TAGorg), Mr Houlin Zhao, Director Telecommunications Standardization Bureau, International Telecommunications Union (ITU); Dr. AbdUlaZizH. Al-Zoman, Director of SaudiNIC and Professor at King Abdulaziz City of Science and Technology (KACST), Saudi Arabic, who have sent letters of support.

This council will comprise a diverse group of dynamic cross-disciplinary individuals and the organisations and governments they represent, who believe in the fundamental principles of a Multilingual Information Society, based on the MINC philosophy of local empowerment, and as espoused by the declarations of the United Nations and its bodies under the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) such as the December 2003 WSIS Declaration of Principles and Action Plan, adopted in Geneva by the representatives of some 172 countries and the November 2005 Tunis Declaration.

In particular, MINC has taken this initiative in response to the 2005 Tunis declaration (para. 71) which specifically states “Relevant organizations should commence a process towards enhanced cooperation involving all stakeholders, proceeding as quickly as possible and responsive to innovation”. In order to facilitate the coordination with local language-script authorities which would be anticipated to have interest in the multilingualisation of the Internet and the Information Society, MINC aims to reaffirm the role of Governments as vital to this process for they are ultimately responsible for their own citizens. MINC assures all Governments that each jurisdiction will be assigned its own designated and rightful place in this MINC ICMC. More specifically, this will be exemplified by the processes of MINC ICMC which will embrace the technical and policy coordination of the Internationalized Domain Name System of the Internet.