Wednesday, May 16, 2012

How Should the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) Be Improved?

Steck, Christopher. "How Should the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) Be Improved?" Telefonica, May 11, 2012.

From the article: "After more than a year’s work and five three-day meetings at the UN premises in Geneva the CSTD Working Group on Improvements to the IGF has published its final report….against all odds and criticisms this report shows that multi-stakeholder processes do work well and can create good results – but they need open-mindness from all parties, mutual confidence and most importantly: some time….All these members have been participating on “equal footing”, which means that we had the same rights and duties. Sounds normal and sensible? Well, think again: in international policy-making this is the exception, because generally only governments and states have the right to vote and decide. Most international policy-making bodies have only mechanisms and processes that allow for non-governmental stakeholders to give their views and advice, but final decisions still remain with member states." Read more

See also
Working Group on Improvements to the Internet Governance Forum, a report prepared by the Chair of the Working Group on Improvements to the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in response to the Economic and Social Council, U.N. April 14, 2011.