This year, the Sixth Annual Internet Governance Forum (IGF) Meeting will be held in Nairobi, Kenya, on 27-30 September 2011 at the United Nations Office at Nairobi. The proposed main theme of the meeting is: ‘Internet as a catalyst for change: access, development, freedoms and innovation’.
The IGF provides a unique opportunity for governments, business, civil society, the Internet technical community and international organizations, to share experiences and best practices and contributes to create new ideas and practices that other entities may wish to consider adopting. The objective of the IGF is to allow greater understanding and consensus on challenging Internet governance policy issues through an open and inclusive dialogue among all stakeholders.
So far, almost 2000 people have already registered a number that shows the great interest this edition has risen among all stakeholders. Christoph Steck, Public Policy Director of Telefónica, S.A., will be representing the Group and will participate as speaker in two workshops (“Human Rights come First – Towards a Constitutional Moment for Internet Governance?”, leaded by the Council of Europe, and “The Internet in the Post Revolution Phase: Addressing Challenges of Political Engagement and Safety of citizens”, organized by the Egyptian Ministry of Communications and Information Technology).
Discussions in Nairobi will develop around six key themes:
- Internet governance for development (IG4D)
- Emerging Issues
- Managing critical Internet resources
- Security, openness and privacy
- Access and diversity
- Taking stock and the way forward
Each of them, respectively, will try to give answer to the following main questions:
- What are examples of specific global Internet governance issues that may have particular relevance to development?
- Is governance different for the mobile Internet from the wired Internet?
- What is the role of each Stakeholder in managing Internet resources?
- What are the cross-border Internet governance issues that are encountered at the intersection of security, privacy and openness?
- Internet access as a basic human right: What challenges and opportunities does this pose for policy makers and the broader Internet community?
- Has IGF 2011 contributed to the development agenda and how can IGF 2012 better serve the development agenda? How should the IGF 2012 be organized?
The future of IGF, its organization, its multistakeholder character and the way to accommodate the different expectations of all interest groups will be in and around all discussions. UN ECOSOC resolutions on IGF improvements and enhanced cooperation and the explicit desire of some actors to reopen the debate on IGF future will for sure fuel lively debates.
As in previous IGF editions, remote participation is possible. We encourage you to follow and even intervene in the most interesting sessions!
