Session
Multistakeholderism
Other - 60 Min
Format description: Our open forum will be delivered in a mixed format between a panel and break-out group discussions. We will start the session with a 20 minute panel introduction and then proceed to 20 minute break-out groups, before coming all back together for the final 20 minutes so that groups can share their suggestions and ideas. Room seating set up can be in rows (we will move the chairs into circles for break-out groups, and then move back into rows subsequently for the final 20 minutes of discussion).
This open forum will explore how multi-stakeholder engagement in discussions about Internet governance has protected users' ability to use the global Internet freely and openly. At the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in 2005, governments agreed that Internet governance should involve all stakeholders and that a multi-stakeholder approach should be adopted, as far as possible, at all levels. At the ten-year review of WSIS in 2015, governments recognised that human rights have been central to the vision of the World Summit on the Information Society. Human rights defenders, other civil society actors and media workers all play a vital role in holding governments to account on the protection of human rights in global digital governance and multi-stakeholder participation in Internet governance processes continues to be critical for the protection of human rights. As we approach the 20 year review of WSIS in 2025, we need to encourage and support inclusive participation by all stakeholders in order to promote the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms. In the first 20 minutes, panellists will: -explain how multi-stakeholder engagement plays a critical role in supporting human rights online; -outline opportunities for multi-stakeholder engagement in Internet governance fora and processes; and -explore how the 20 year review of WSIS can be shaped to encourage participation from the multistakeholder community and ensure the process is accessible to all stakeholders. The next 40 minutes will maximise interaction with the audience. The audience will share ideas on how the WSIS+20 review process can be shaped to encourage the private sector, civil society and the technical community to more actively contribute.
The hybrid nature of this open forum will be integral to its success and we plan to utilise the break-out group feature within Zoom to maximise participation. The inclusion of break-out groups in the session design is specifically to ensure online attendees are able to converse with each other, creating a networking/collaboration opportunity which allows them to experience the session not just by listening, but by actively contributing. The interaction between online and in-person break-out groups will then be facilitated by bringing all participants back together for a hybrid discussion to conclude the session.
🔒United Kingdom Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
Rosalind KennyBirch (UK DSIT - Government; WEOG); Mehwish Ansari (Article 19 - Civil Society; North America)
Anriette Esterhuysen - Former Chair of the IGF MAG (Civil Society, Africa) Timea Suto - Global Digital Policy Lead at the International Chamber of Commerce (Private Sector, Europe) Alan Ramirez Garcia - Peru Government, Academic and IGF MAG member (Government, Latin America)
5.5
10.2
16.6
16.7
16.8
Targets: This proposal aims to explore how digital governance processes, namely WSIS+20, can be made fully inclusive. As such, the aim of this session directly correlates to Sustainable Development Goal 16. This SDG commits to building effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels. This open forum will examine how one such institutional process, WSIS+20, can function in an effective and transparent manner, ensuring inclusivity and participation at all levels. The break-out group discussions will also focus on the question of how to broaden and strengthen stakeholders from developing countries’ inclusion in the WSIS+20 review process (16.6, 16.7, 16.8). This proposal also links directly to the SDGs’ target to promote the political inclusion of all by 2030 (10.2), including gender specific targets to ensure womens' full and effective participation at all levels of decision-making in political, economic and public life (5.5).
Report
Session context
The UK’s Open Forum articulated why the multistakeholder model is essential to Internet governance, highlighted the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) +20 Review process as an important UN process for the multistakeholder community to engage with and asked participants to brainstorm ways to make the WSIS+20 Review process fully inclusive to multistakeholder participation. The forum built on the UK’s IGF 2022 Lightning Talk ‘Renewing the WSIS mandate: the Internet and its governance beyond 2025’, the recording for which can be found on YouTube.
Summary
Participants explained that multistakeholder processes involving Internet governance have seen success and increasing use over the last two decades, but not all processes branded as multistakeholder have been meaningfully inclusive. Indeed, sometimes the word multistakeholder is used inauthentically, to describe processes that are not meaningfully inclusive, in order to capitalise on the positive and trusted reputation of ‘multistakeholder’ processes as a gold standard for consultation. To address this, participants stated that those engaging in the WSIS+20 review process, particularly member states, must go beyond referencing the importance of multistakeholderism, and shape a process that includes stakeholder mapping, welcomes diverse participation and understands distinctions between different types of expertise.
In addition, WSIS+20 established a clear recognition of different stakeholder groups. Since 2003, participants remarked that groups of Internet governance stakeholders have not been shown to be fixed over time, and that groups are not homogenous. Looking forward, to have fully inclusive processes, the nuances of relevant stakeholder groups need to be recognised, accommodated and welcomed.
Practical barriers to participation including costs of engaging, visas and not enough notice given of timelines were raised. Participants noted that mentorship and sponsorship schemes could help address these points and encourage newcomers to become involved with the WSIS+20 review process.
Participants agreed that preparation will be key for WSIS+20 Review process. As such:
- We must consider how to create multiple channels for stakeholder input and discussion, including holding regional meetings to prepare, which should reflect local contexts and regional priorities. Preparations should also leverage mentorship and sponsorship to empower and amplify participation from those new to the Internet governance space.
- We must all look creatively at our resources to ensure an inclusive WSIS+20 Review process. This ranges from large scale activities where appropriate, such as concerted efforts from UN bodies to outreach to a diverse range of people using new and creative methods to raise awareness, all the way to individual actions from stakeholders to facilitate inclusion, like organisations convening groups of stakeholders to prepare for and participate in WSIS+20.
Next steps
The 2024 Commission on Science and Technology for Development (CSTD) is expected to set out timelines and milestones for the WSIS+20 Review process that will include opportunities for multistakeholder participation. A Report for the WSIS+20 process will be written for the CSTD looking ahead to WSIS post 2025. Governments in particular will need to create opportunities for meaningful multistakeholder participation as part of this timeline, and will need to raise awareness of opportunities to participate across stakeholder groups.