Session
UNESCO
Xianhong Hu, UNESCO, Intergovernmental Institution
Karen Landa, UNESCO, Intergovernmental Institution
Co-organizers: Information for All Programme (IFAP), German Commission for UNESCO, Council of Europe, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Association of Progressive Communications, The Internet Society, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), CETIC.br, Missions Publiques, Global Network Initiative (GNI), Global Forum for Media Development (GFMD).
- Tawfik Jelassi, UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information
- Marielza Oliveira, Director for Partnerships and Operational Programme Monitoring
- Xianhong Hu, UNESCO Programme Specialist
- David Souter, International Advisor of ROAM-X
- Dr. Asrat Mulatu, Lead Researcher of the ROAM-X assessment project, Ethiopia
- Sadaf Khan, Co-founder, Media Matters for Democracy – Pakistan
- Matthias Ketteman, Head of Research Program, Leibniz Institute for Media Research │ Hans-Bredow-Institut (HBI) - Germany
- Simon Kafui Aheto, Researcher, Development House – Ghana
- Kamel Rezgui, Researcher, Tunisia
- Maria Fernanda Martinez, Executive Director, The Center for Technology and Society Studies (Cetys) – Argentina
- Eduardo Carrillo, TEDIC, Paraguay
- Alain Kiyindou, Université Bordeaux Montaigne - Benin
- Mona Shtaya, 7Amleh – Palestine
- Simon Ellis, International consultant – Thailand
- Santosh Sigdel, Chairperson, Digital Rights Nepal – Nepal
- Nashilongo Gervasius Nakale, ISOC in Namibia
- Alexandre Barbosa, CETIC – Brazil
- Grace Githaiga, Convenor, KictaNet - Kenya
- Lucien Castex, Universite Sorbonne Nouvelle – France
- Anelia Dimova, Information Society Policy Expert/Information Technology Directorate, Ministry of Transport, Information Technology and Communications - Bulgaria
- Shavkat Sabirov, President, Internet Association of Kazakhstan
- Sergey Karpov, National Programme Officer, UNESCO Almaty - Kazakhstan
- Aiman Badri, National Professional Officer, UNESCO Cairo
Karen Landa
Karen Landa
Knowledge-sharing session and presentations
English
UNESCO, jointly with IGF Dynamic Coalition of Internet Universality ROAM-X indicators project, is organizing a 3-hour special pre-event on Internet Universality ROAM-X Indicators (IUIs) at IGF 2021 from Day 0, on December 6th 2021 to conduct its annual showcasing the overall achievement of Internet Universality indicators project and presenting national implementation progresses.
ROAM-X indicators are now progressing in 33 countries across the five continents including Benin, Senegal, Kenya, Ghana, Niger, Ethiopia, Cote d’Ivoire, Cabo Verde, Burkina Faso in Africa, Thailand, Nepal, Palestine, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Cambodia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Tuvalu, Tonga, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu in Asia, Tunisia, Sudan, Jordan in Arab States, Brazil, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina in Latin America and Germany, France, Serbia in Europe.
The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated digitalization to a great extent. People are working, learning, socializing with family and friends, accessing public services and enjoying culture over the Internet, like never before: the Internet has become the new “public commons” and must be United as the IGF 2021 advocates.
UNESCO’s Internet Universality Indicators framework, which fills a standard-setting void at the global and national levels and proves a holistic research tool to unite all Internet stakeholders in all countries, paves way for evidence-based policy making process for all stakeholders to operationalize the ROAM principles, pinpoint gaps and make recommendations to improve their national Internet policies in adhering to the ROAM principles (Rights, Openness, Accessible by all and Multi-stakeholder participation) . The session will aim to achieve four layers of purpose:
- Present the overall update of Internet Universality ROAM-X indicators project and present key outcomes and progress of national assessment results across the five continents.
- Trigger critical policy discussions on how to shape Internet governance and digital transformation by advancing ROAM (human Rights, Openness, Accessible by all and Multi-stakeholder Participation) principles at all levels.
- Share good practice and lessons learned from the methodology and process of conducting assessments of IUIs at a national level.
- Encourage IGF stakeholders to join Dynamic Coalition of ROAM-X and encourage more countries and stakeholders to conduct voluntary assessment of ROAM-X. ss
For more information on the IUIs project and the Dynamic Coalition of ROAM-X, kindly visit the dedicated webpages: https://en.unesco.org/internet-universality-indicators along with https://en.unesco.org/feedback/join-our-internet-universality-community
It will be a hybrid session to maximize the interaction in on-site and also remotely with online participants. UNESCO will provide on-site and online moderators to ensure the interaction.
Report
With 33 countries conducting the national assessment of IUIs, international stakeholders and 25 national leading researchers shared the national initiatives, key findings and recommendations using Internet Universality ROAM-X Indicators to measure national digital ecosystem for mainstreaming human rights, open and accessible Internet as well as multi-stakeholder Internet governance.
Internet as a common good must cater to vulnerable groups (women, children, people with disabilities and remote communities) which not only means providing meaningful access to these groups but also actively protecting them from cybercrimes and violence online.
Governmental and judiciary stakeholders are strongly encouraged to establish and foster legal and normative frameworks that equates rights offline and online. With the support of the ROAM-X framework and the Dynamic Coalition on IUIs, the judiciary could handle the application of offline laws into the online sphere through capacity-building and resource mobilization to have a better understanding of new trends and threats such as cybercrimes etc
In order to protect vulnerable groups online, it is necessary to deepen existing initiatives to combat violence against women and children and promote a culture of peace. Through the formulation and implementation of strong recommandations in completed or ongoing assessment of IUIs, stakeholders were encouraged to set up digital support policies for vulnerable groups and raise general citizens’s awareness of cybercrime and child protection
On 6 December 2021, UNESCO organized a 3-hour special pre-event on Internet Universality ROAM-X Indicators (IUIs) on Day-0 of the Internet Governance Forum 2021 to conduct its annual showcasing the overall achievement of Internet Universality ROAM-X indicators project. With 34 countries conducting the national assessment of ROAM-X Indicators, 25 leading experts shared the national initiatives, key findings and recommendations to measure national digital ecosystem for mainstreaming human rights, open and accessible Internet as well as multi-stakeholder Internet governance.
All participants called for more accountability from their national institutions and relevant stakeholders’ community, to help formulate stronger reforms and initiatives that protect human rights and gender equality online, and particularly those of vulnerable groups. They advocated for more representation and inclusive participation of under-represented groups (women, people with disabilities), notably through the multistakeholder approach of the ROAM-X framework.
UNESCO Assistant Director General for Communication and Information, Mr. Tawfik Jelassi, addressed the session and delivered a strong message to all IGF stakeholders: “The support to all Member States and stakeholders provided by UNESCO through its ROAM-X indicators and the Internet Universality Dynamic Coalition is a unique contribution. Member States can apply this powerful policy toolkit and process to pinpoint digital gaps, and use the evidence generated to underpin recommendations for guiding humanistic digital transformation around the world.”
Matthias Kettemann, Head of Research Program, Leibniz Institute for Media Research │ Hans-Bredow-Institut (HBI), presented the results and significant impact achieved of the newly completed national of assessment of IUIs in Germany. He informed that recommendations which emerged from the assessment have had a major presence in the topics raised by the German Coalition Treaty 2021-2026, and stated: “The Internet has arrived at the center of political debate, as digitization now shapes politics in Germany”.
Following on the footsteps of Brazil, Benin, Senegal, Kenya and Germany, Anelia Dimova, Information Society Policy Expert/ Information Technology Directorate, Ministry of Transport, Information Technology and Communications, announced that Bulgaria is taking up the national assessment of ROAM-X indicators. Its report will particularly focus on thematic areas such as transparency and public access to information.
Representing Tunisia, Argentina, Paraguay and Kenya, Kamel Rezgui, Maria Fernanda Martinez, Eduardo Carillo, Grace Githaiga highlighted that human rights and gender equality online and offline are not effectively protected by the national legal framework and law enforcements at national level. Sadaf Khan, Co-founder of Media Matters for Democracy, highlighted current challenges in such as the lack of transparency in the legal framework for the development of Internet in Pakistan.
Simon Ellis and Alexandre Barbosa, respectively leading the assessments in Thailand and Brazil and contributing theirexpertise as international advisors to the ROAM-X project, highlighted: “The Internet Universality ROAM-X Indicators serve as a powerful tool for diagnosis of digital policy, relevant to all countries. They should become a standard, further contributing to applying human rights and universal values of the physical world into the digital world.”
Nashilongo Gervasius Nakale, representing Internet Society, expressed her eagerness to follow an inclusive approach for the creation of the Multistakeholder Advisory Board and the overall implementation of the ROAM-X principles in Namibia by next year.
Shavkat Sabirov, President of the Internet Association of Kazakhstan, shared processes and methodology of the ongoing study in Kazakhstan. He stressed the relevance of the ROAM principles and indicators to assess the state of the national digital landscape post-COVID. Sergey Karpov, National Programme Officer at UNESCO Almaty, presented trends and challenges in the Central Asia region. He underlined that the proposed regional priorities include inclusive knowledge societies, freedom of information and freedom of expression.
Marielza Oliveira, UNESCO CI’s Director for Partnerships and Operational Programme Monitoring re-iterated UNESCO’s continued support to the national implementation of ROAM-X indicators and pointed out that “ Internet Universality Indicators and the ROAM framework have been endorsed by UNESCO Member States. The number of new reports being developed shows that there is strong interest on the part of countries to voluntarily apply this global framework. As more reports are concluded, Members States and other stakeholders will also benefit from aggregated views that can provide insights at regional in addition to national levels”.
The event was moderated by UNESCO focal point of ROAM-X, Xianhong Hu. She informed about future actions, including scaling up the national assessment of ROAM-X indicator to encompass additional countries, conducting a new round of global consultations to assess the impact of ROAM-X indicators, and updating the indicator framework to capture the latest developments of digital technologies and policies. These actions aim to better serve the needs of all Member States and stakeholders, for improving their digital ecosystems.
Related links
- DAY-0 pre-event / DC session
- UNESCO's Internet Universality Indicators
- Join the Dynamic Coalition on Internet Universality Indicators (IUIs)
- National assessments of Internet Universality