[kictanet] The future of the IGF

Tue Oct 20 09:20:44 EAT 2009

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 at 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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