[kictanet] The future of the IGF

[alice]

    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.pdf 
I 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/>