[A quick TL;DR, for those who have heard the news: Is this about censorship? Or Taiwan? Maybe in the larger context, but the point at WIPO isn't who agrees with whom on these issues, but why anyone should think they matter for the purposes of admission. Confused by this? I'll try to explain.]

Hi everyone--

I wanted to update this list on something that happened in Geneva this week.  On Wednesday, the delegation from China objected to the Wikimedia Foundation's application for observer status at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). (An eyewitness-level view from our friends at KEI is here, press coverage from Quartz here, and ZDNet France here) Because of this, WMF will not be able to attend as an observer NGO until our application can be considered again next year.

This is highly unusual for WIPO, frustrating for us at WMF, and an unnecessary barrier for our communities and movement. WIPO is where the world's countries gather to write the treaties that shape the laws that govern the world's knowledge. If you've ever complained about DRM laws being ubiquitous, you can blame lobbying that took place at WIPO; if you're glad for recent laws that make it easier for blind and visually impaired people to access books, you can thank lobbying that took place at WIPO, too.

Those treaties are negotiated among country delegations that typically sit in a big impressive room in Geneva. Meanwhile, hundreds of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) representing publishers, broadcaster, record labels, libraries, and civil society organizations sit at the back of the room, observing the negotiations as they happen and, in between official sessions, those groups hold side briefings, pass out position papers and white papers, and try to make sure that the negotiators don't forget about their particular interests.

We wanted to make sure that the Foundation could be a part of those conversations, as a way to bring more members of the community to WIPO, and make sure that our movement's interests don't get left behind. On Wednesday, though, the delegation from China asked that the Wikimedia Foundation's application be set aside from all of the others, vaguely mentioning they had some questions about the application itself, but more pointedly noting the existence of Wikimedia Taiwan. China is particularly sensitive about Taiwan, and insists in many forums that people adhere to a "one China" policy. 

It's tempting here to discuss the merits of that kind of policy, or to raise the issues of Chinese censorship or other human rights issues. But I think that that's missing the point that's most relevant within WIPO--which is whether we deserve a seat at the table. (The observer's table, even.)

The criteria for being an observer don't hinge on the geopolitical positions the organizations take; a large number of the 193 member states of WIPO have been roundly criticized by many of the civil society, academic, and even industry groups that observe there. Observer groups have their own opinions, and their members or associated allies do, too. Groups representing actors or recording artists aren't barred from observer status even when some of their members are explicitly vocal on geopolitical issues. Nor is the existence of a Taiwan chapter some sort of outlier. Many of the other observer organizations have members or businesses in Taiwan. 

All of that is to say that it's disappointing that we'd be blocked for reasons completely unrelated to our application, and for reasons that seem plainly inconsistent with the standards by which other organizations have been routinely admitted for years.

So what are we doing now? The Foundation has issued a press release on the matter, and we've been seeing messages of support from other globally-focused groups working on IP (Creative Commons, Communia, Alek Tarkowski at Centrum Cyfrowe, Sean Flynn at PIJIP, and others, to start). Wikimedia Deutschland has its own statement (Justus at WMDE has been tracking WIPO and was following this meeting closely), and Wikimedia Taiwan covered the events in an update on its Facebook page. In the meantime, we're continuing to work on unblocking this process for the next go-round next year.

Thanks everyone, and hope you're doing well.

Sherwin