The first meeting of the ITU Council working group on stabilising the Union’s Constitution was held last 27-29 June in Geneva. This WG was created at the last Plenipotentiary Conference in Guadalajara, Mexico (4-22 October 2010), to meet the need to stabilise the ITU Constitution in order to forestall the need for regular changes and consequent ratification processes.
The group, chaired by Salma Jalife of Mexico, is thus meant to consolidate in the Constitution text all the provisions deemed fundamental and which should therefore not be subject to periodical changes. The other provisions should be included in another document (possibly a convention) that can be modified more frequently if necessary because it is not fundamental.
The working group will present reports at annual sessions of the ITU Council for presentation of contributions to the next Plenipotentiary Conference in 2014. The ITU should develop in parallel a study on existing mechanisms regarding this subject in the United Nations, for subsequent consideration by the Union’s Council.
This first meeting was basically dedicated to organising the group’s work and specifically to determining a working plan based on five stages in which the group will carry out its activity.
The meeting’s main discussion point centred on the document presented by the chairman which listed in a table the constitutional provisions, indicating whether they should be considered for being kept or not in this instrument, depending on their degree of stability. Agreement was reached that the considerations about the stability of the provisions and keeping them in the Constitution should be made by the group. This document will be modified taking into account this decision; the member states are asked to submit contributions regarding the table via the purpose-created email reflector.
This issue led to discussion about the concept of stable/stabilisation. The guidelines presented in the document from the Philippines were accepted, which emphasise three essential features for a provision to be considered stable: to be fundamental, permanent and necessary. It was also noted that the Constitution’s concept of stability should always be combined with that of flexibility.
The group’s next meeting will take place this coming 5-7 October in Geneva.
