Session
Organizer 1: Ayden Férdeline, Independent
Speaker 1: Dominique Lazanski, Private Sector, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 2: Louise Marie Hurel, Civil Society, Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC)
Speaker 3: Raashi Saxena, Civil Society, Asia-Pacific Group
Ayden Férdeline, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Kaleigh Schwalbe, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Kaleigh Schwalbe, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Round Table - U-shape - 90 Min
1. How can we reform internet governance fora so that their outcomes promote more equitable and peaceful societies that are inclusive, resilient and sustainable? How can we make sure that digital technologies are not developed and used for harmful purposes? What values and norms should guide the development of policies that enable this?
2. What are, and what should be, the responsibilities of governments, businesses, the technical community, and civil society with regard to digital inclusion and respect for human rights, and what is needed for them to fulfill these in an efficient and effective manner?
3. How do policymakers and other stakeholders effectively connect global instruments to national contexts? What is the role of local, national, regional and international stakeholders in achieving digital inclusion that meets the requirements of people in all communities?
Connection with previous Messages: This workshop will expand upon the messages that the IGF Secretariat curated pertaining to economic and social inclusion and human rights. The IGF community in Katowice resolved that, “Adequate enabling environments (e.g. policies, legislation, institutions) need to be put in place at the national, regional and global levels to foster inclusive, just, safe, resilient and sustainable digital societies and economies.” This workshop explores what such an enabling environment would look like so that multistakeholder institutions can be revitalized to remain relevant and responsive to the needs of stakeholders not traditionally a part of the conversation.
7.b
8. Decent Work and Economic Growth
9. Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
10. Reduced Inequalities
Targets: The roundtable will focus on reducing inequities in internet governance institutions by improving access and meaningful participation in internet governance fora.
Description:
Developing and implementing global digital policy norms and standards in a locally-relevant and human rights-respecting manner is a challenge, but meeting this challenge is critical to ensuring that democracy can flourish online. However, voices in these conversations are often biased towards industry, governments and rich countries, often centering the debate in Europe and North America. How can we build more inclusive, truly global conversations?
Current models of internet governance are being challenged from different directions, not all of them positive for democracy, as different stakeholders acknowledge these flaws. One challenge is in determining how multistakeholder institutions can reinvent themselves to offer a better alternative and avert a slide toward state-dominated governance models, by making themselves into something that stakeholders who currently feel excluded have greater reason to support.
This workshop includes panelists from industry, government, and civil society who will discuss the challenges and opportunities in diversifying existing or emerging norms. The workshop will introduce research from a new National Democratic Institute study that surveyed leading campaigners and policymakers in low and middle income countries to surface new insights into how the effective engagement of non-state and non-market voices can best be achieved and sustained in these conversations. Recommendations from the report and this discussion will present models for enabling greater and more diverse representation in Internet governance and other technology fora globally.
Learning from peers operating in similar environments and across similar issues is critical to developing robust knowledge about best practices in democratic digital governance spaces. For this reason, the organizers’ envision this session being interactive and participatory. The discussion will inform and enrich the organizers’ workstreams on this issue. In particular, the National Democratic Institute will use insights from this workshop to inform its research and training into this topic.
The session will be structured around a series of key questions that all speakers are invited to comment on, from their respective perspectives, informed by recent qualitative research that the National Democratic Institute commissioned and published in May 2022. Participants in the session, both those in the room and those participating virtually, will be invited to provide their comments on the same key questions and their reactions to the speakers. The session will make use of live survey tools to gather input to key questions from the participants, allowing the speakers and moderator to reflect on the received input.
Hybrid Format: Online participants will be engaged in the question and answer session and discussion session by notifying the moderator that they would like to speak (ex. using the raise hand feature). The moderator will alternate questions or discussion points between online and in person participants.
Usage of IGF Official Tool.