NATIONAL, REGIONAL AND YOUTH IGF INITIATIVES
- Virtual Meeting XIII 19 October 2017, 13:30 p.m. UTC -
SUMMARY REPORT
About
1. The 13th virtual meeting of the National, Regional and Youth IGF Initiatives (NRIs), took place on 19 October at 13:30 p.m. UTC.
2. The meeting was hosted by the IGF Secretariat’s NRIs Focal Point, Anja Gengo. Agenda is attached to this document as Annex A1 and a list of Meeting Participants as Annex A2. List of input documents is attached as Annex A3.
3. Participants were asked to use the IGF Secretariat’s new system for requesting a floor at the meetings. It was noted that the system aims at having the online and onsite participants treated equally when requesting to intervene. However, some participants noted that the system is not useful, as it is time consuming, especially for the online meetings.
Summary of key points
4. The Host asked the participants to briefly introduce themselves, and to review the agenda for its final approval. After the introduction, some participants suggested to add the NRIs informal gathering at the upcoming ICANN meeting, under the AoB. With this, the agenda was adopted (Annex A1).
5. The IGF Secretariat has shared the following updates:
- The online registration for attending the 2017 IGF meeting is mandatory and open until 20 November, 23:59 p.m. UTC.
- The IGF 2017 schedule is available online at: https://igf2017.intgovforum.org/
- The proposals for the NRIs collaborative sessions are reflected at the IGF website: https://www.intgovforum.org/content/nris-collaborative-sessions
- The IGF Village has 40 booths approved and 15 additional requests pending. Some participants asked about the position of the IGF Village at the meeting venue, with expressing concerns for having the Village segmented and position on two different locations. It was described that the approved booth requests will be placed at the 2nd floor of the E building. In case the additional 15 requests will be approved, these potentially could be positioned outside of this area, due to the lack of space and security requirements. The Host promised to send a full update regarding the IGF Village to the NRIs mailing list.
- It was informed that the confirmation of the meeting registration will be treated as an official invitation letter to the meeting, even for the purposes of the visa application.
6. All participants were asked to share the perspectives that their respective initiatives plan to bring to this session. The purpose of this would be to develop a set of guiding questions that would help structuring the discussion.
7. From the IGF-USA, it was said that the session could focus on the meaning of access to the Internet, especially if the access is related to the infrastructure, or is connected to the capacity building aspects. In addition, it was suggested that one of the guiding questions could be: Access to the Internet as a fundamental building block for achieving the SDGs.
8. From the Youth LACIGF, it was suggested to focus on the right to privacy and anonymity on the Internet.
9. The proposals from the IGF-Spain were:
a) Internet and jurisdiction: can we exercise our digital rights?
b) How is the rise of the collaborative and under-demand economy affecting our labor rights?
c) Are digital services compatible with data protection?
d) Will artificial intelligence encourage or reduce employment opportunities?
e) 5G: how will network neutrality affect new services?
10. From EuroDIG, the following questions was suggested: online rights: enforceable solutions for upholding them.
11. From the Caribbean IGF, it was noted that this initiative’s community has been discussing extensively the importance of the sustainable mechanism for ensuring the multistakeholder participation in the policy development. Many agreed that this aspect should be incorporated in the NRIs main session.
12. Participants advised that all these suggestions could be added to a shared document, where all NRIs will continue to add their inputs until 6 November (as a soft deadline).
13. Participants agree that the moderator for this session should be the former MAG Chair and current Ambassador at the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Latvia to the United Nations Office and other international organizations in Geneva, Mr. Jānis Kārkliņš. The NRIs Focal Point was endorsed as a fellow co-moderator. It was advised for the NRIs to explore the option to liaise with UNESCO, as the NRIs are interested in potential collaboration on relevant projects, as per the latest UNESCO’s briefing to the NRIs.
14. After the NRIs are informed on the above mentioned matter via the NRIs list, the NRIs Focal Point will send a formal invitation to Mr. Jānis Kārkliņš.
15. Participants discussed the organization of the NRIs join booth. The NRIs Focal Point expressed willingness to design the brochure and posters according to the inputs and instructions of the NRIs. However, the questions remained on who will support the printing of these materials. The IGFSA Chairman, and the IGFSA member of the Executive Committee, both present on the meeting, said that options could be explored with their respective organization.
16. The IGFSA Chairman asked the NRIs funded by the IGFSA, to send their photos and statements on how they’ve used received funding, for the purposes of promoting this valuable work further with the community.
17. In regards to the informal gathering of the NRIs at the upcoming ICANN meeting, organized by the IGFSA, it was said that this meeting will be hosted on Thursday, 2 November, at noon, local time zone. There will not be remote participation, but the summary report will follow up. It is expected that the IGF Secretariat will attend as well.
18. Two members shared their experience from attending the third committee of the United Nations General Assembly. They have met with representatives of many departments, and shared with them, among other things, their experience with the IGF processes run on the national, regional and global levels, that caught attention of many. The NRIs Focal Point thanked them for being the IGF ambassadors and asked if the photos and additional notes regarding their experience can be shared with the NRIs via the NRIs mailing list.
Next Steps
19. A full summary report will be sent to the NRIs mailing list.
20. The IGF Secretariat will add all these proposals to the shared document, and invite all NRIs to review it and add their suggestions.
21. The NRIs will be asked via the NRIs mailing list for their final agreement for initiating a formal invitation for the NRIs main session to the proposed co-moderators.
22. Next meeting: The Secretariat will distribute the Doodle poll for the members of the NRIs to cast the votes for the best time slots for the next virtual meeting, via the NRIs mailing list.
23. For any suggestions or questions regarding the Report, kindly contact the IGF Secretariat, NRIs Focal Point at: [email protected].
ANNEX A1:
AGENDA: Virtual Meeting XIII, 19 October 2017, at 13:30 p.m. UTC
1. Welcome and adoption of the Agenda (5 min)
2. General updates by the IGF Secretariat and the NRIs (10 min)
3. Developing policy (guiding) questions for the NRIs main session (30 min)
4. NRIs invitation to the potential moderator(s) for the NRIs main session (15 min)
5. NRIs Booth at the IGF Village (10 min)
6. AoB
ANNEX A2:
MEETING PARTICIPANTS (in alphabetical order, from both meeting):
- Abdeldjalil Bachar Bong, Chad IGF
- Almudena Fernández, Spain IGF
- Anja Gengo, IGF Secretariat
- Élisson Diones, Youth LACIGF
- Helen Belskaya, Belarus IGF
- Judith Hellerstein, IGF-USA
- Lianna Galstyan, Armenia IGF, SEEDIG
- Luis Bobo Garcia, IGF Secretarita
- Mahamat Haroun Adoum, Africa IGF
- Mahamat Silim Moustapha, Youth IGF Africa
- Maheeshwara Kirindigoda, Sri Lanka IGF
- Mahendranath Busgopaul, Mauritius IGF
- Maria Luisa Ferreira, Portugal IGF
- Marilyn Cade, IGF-USA
- Markus Kummer, IGFSA
- Mary Uduma, Nigeria IGF, West Africa IGF
- Michel Tchonang Linze, Central Africa IGF
- Natasa Glavor, Croatia IGF
- Nigel Cassimire, Caribbean IGF
- Sandra Hoferichter, EuroDIG
- Ying Chu Chen, observer
- Youssouf Abdelrahim, Chad IGF
ANNEX A3:
List of shared input documents:
- IGF Floor Requests System: https://www.intgovforum.org/floor-requests
- IGF 2017 Schedule: https://igf2017.intgovforum.org/
- NRIs Collaborative Sessions Proposals: https://www.intgovforum.org/content/nris-collaborative-sessions