> Excellent piece! Great to know that the EA initiatives are having a
> global
> impact.
> regards
> Mwende
>
> On Tue, Oct 20, 2009 at 1:58 AM, alice <
alice@apc.org> wrote:
>
>>
>>
http://blog.nominet.org.uk/ukigf/2009/09/the-future-of-the-igf/
>>
>>
>>
>> The future of the IGF
>>
>> Posted by: Nick Thorne <
>>
http://blog.nominet.org.uk/ukigf/category/uncategorized/>
>>
>> *The UN Internet Governance Forum will meet in November at Sharm El
>> Sheikh.
>> The IGF has matured into a useful tool. But it is under threat.
>> Stakeholders
>> should speak up!*
>>
>> **
>>
>> **It’s IGF season again. Representatives of key stakeholders are meeting
>> again in Geneva to prepare the ground for the forthcoming fourth meeting
>> of
>> a body that has turned out to be considerably more useful than those of
>> us
>> involved in its invention expected. But despite its success, the future
>> of
>> this, the only multi-stakeholder forum available to consider Internet
>> Governance, is under threat. If we want it to continue then we all, we
>> /multi-stakeholders/, must speak up and demonstrate how and why we find
>> it
>> useful.
>>
>> These issues were highlighted last week at the excellent East African
>> Internet Governance Forum. Very well run, with solid participation from
>> regional governments, CCTLD’s, Civil Society and Industry. A novelty was
>> a
>> special session for Parliamentarians. I argued that Members of
>> Parliament
>> had a vital role to play and should consider themselves internationally
>> as
>> another /stakeholder/ group. They knew what their constituents needed,
>> and
>> were best placed to put pressure on governments and resist unnecessarily
>> restrictive legislation, which might stifle the benefits of the Internet
>> as
>> we have come to know it.
>>
>> All this was taking place in Nairobi, against the background of the
>> remarkable progress being made in Broad Band connectivity in Kenya. No
>> less
>> than four undersea fibre-optic cables will be coming on shore in the
>> coming
>> two years. One has already landed and will be coupled to links reaching
>> beyond the immediate East African region and north to Ethiopia and South
>> Sudan. We talked about various different methods for distributing links
>> beyond the cable proper. Wi-Max systems will link up the smallest
>> municipalities with all the attendant benefits. Exciting stuff. It will
>> be
>> fascinating to see how these cables will spread their invaluable
>> tentacles
>> throughout the region. Can there be a more effective multiplier for
>> economic
>> and social development?
>>
>> In Nairobi we also discussed the proposal for a Commonwealth IGF,
>> designed
>> to take advantage of that unique coalition of like-minded countries of
>> all
>> sizes, shapes and stages of development. The Commonwealth Secretariat is
>> active in support of this initiative and side-events are planned for
>> Sharm
>> El Sheikh. Something else which will be raised in Geneva this week where
>> representatives from Commonwealth countries will consider how best to
>> share
>> experiences and best practice across the broadest possible range of
>> ideas.
>>
>> But governments are only one element of the unique /multi stakeholder/
>> approach to which many of us attribute the phenomenal success of the
>> Internet. And not all the influences are positive.
>>
>> At WSIS, when we created the IGF, we also agreed that there should be a
>> programme of “enhanced cooperation” among all the actors involved in
>> Internet Governance. The UN Secretary General was asked to produce a
>> report
>> on how matters might be improved, possibly with recommendations.
>>
>> I think this report was supposed to be produced after about a year, but
>> it
>> eventually appeared a couple of months ago in the form of a compilation
>> of
>> the views of interested parties which had been called upon to
>> contribute. It
>> included submissions from e.g. the Internet Society, ICANN, and also
>> from
>> the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). In each case the views
>> and
>> ambitions of the authors were made very clear. I would recommend that
>> all
>> those interested in the continuation of liberal internet governance look
>> at
>> this report, and in particular the views of the ITU Secretariat. [
>>
http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/un-dpadm/unpan035383.pdfI
>> say Secretariat because I understand the contribution was not
>> necessarily
>> cleared in advance with its membership. Nevertheless it would appear to
>> be a
>> clear statement, as it were, of intent, and should serve to encourage us
>> to
>> work harder to ensure that the IGF mechanism will continue to give all
>> parties, all /stakeholders/, an opportunity to express their views.
>>
>> This should of course include developing countries whose interests are I
>> believe much better served by this liberal approach rather than by the
>> repetition of the sort of government driven bureaucratic rules
>> previously
>> deemed appropriate for the old telecoms system. I think our experience
>> in
>> Kenya last week amply demonstrated this.
>>
>> And so I was delighted when the Kenyan Government formally announced its
>> intention to host the IGF in the year 2011. (Next years event is already
>> fixed for Vilnius, Lithuania). This guarantee of continuity is very
>> important as we face the five-year review process built in to the WSIS
>> decisions. I am a great believer in such reviews. Too often we create
>> mechanisms which trundle along, impelled only by their own bureaucratic
>> existence. Not so with the IGF which has demonstrated a real vitality as
>> all
>> the previous meetings, and in particular Rio (2007) and last year
>> Hyderabad
>> have shown. And all with only the most limited bureaucratic support.
>> “Secretariat-lite!” Well done Markus Kummer!
>>
>> Nevertheless there are still those who for a variety of reasons seek
>> either
>> to supplant or suppress this useful mechanism. If we are to maintain
>> this
>> admirable energy we must all, all we /multi-stakeholders/, redouble our
>> efforts to renew the mandate of the IGF. Some governments are doing
>> their
>> best, but I would like to hear more from Industry, and from Civil
>> Society,
>> particularly among developing countries where most of the next billion
>> Internet users reside. We should all speak up to announce that we all
>> still
>> have much to learn from each other, through Sharm El Sheikh, then
>> Vilnius
>> and on to Nairobi in 2011.
>>
>> Nick Thorne
>>
>> Les Augers.
>>
>> September 2009
>>
>> (Nick Thorne CMG was UK Ambassador to the UN in Geneva from 2003to 2008
>> and
>> led the UK and the EU at the Tunis WSIS Summit. He now consults on
>> Internet
>> Governance issues and is International Relations Adviser to the
>> President
>> and CEO of ICANN. )
>>
>> Tags: Commonwealth IGF <
>>
http://blog.nominet.org.uk/ukigf/tag/commonwealth-igf/>, East African
>> IGF
>> <
http://blog.nominet.org.uk/ukigf/tag/east-african-igf/>, IGF <
>>
http://blog.nominet.org.uk/ukigf/tag/igf/>, Internet Governance Forum <
>>
http://blog.nominet.org.uk/ukigf/tag/internet-governance-forum/>, Sharm
>> El
>> Sheikh <
http://blog.nominet.org.uk/ukigf/tag/sharm-el-sheikh/>
>>
>>
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