<div dir="ltr"><div>Hello everyone,<span style="font-size:12.8px"><p style="font-size:12.8px;margin-bottom:13pt;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="font-family:arial">Over the past year, you may have seen news regarding <a target="_blank" href="https://share.america.gov/globalconnect/">Global Connect</a>, a U.S. sponsored initiative that aims to bring 1.5 billion people online by 2020. In <a target="_blank" href="http://bestbits.net/global-connect-initiative/">September of last year</a>, a diverse group of civil society organizations published a letter in support of the initiative, and in <a target="_blank" href="http://bestbits.net/finance-ministers-global-connect/">April of this year</a>, a second letter was presented to Finance Ministers around the world to </span><font face="arial">to urge increased access to rights-respecting ICTs and broadband connectivity.</font></p></span><span style="font-size:12.8px"><p style="font-size:12.8px;margin-bottom:13pt;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="font-family:arial">The
 initiative is progressing and included a meeting that took place 
following the April letter between the U.S. Secretary of State and the 
President of the World Bank. Many Finance Ministers also participated in
 that event at the World Bank designed at financing Global Connect. </span><span style="font-family:arial">However, despite the letters, the </span><span style="font-family:arial">IEEE Report-out document that</span><span style="font-family:arial"> came out from the meeting, barely registered human rights, freedom of expression, and the right to privacy.</span></p></span><p style="font-size:12.8px;margin-bottom:13pt;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="font-family:arial">A
 few of us have started to work on a set of human rights-based 
principles to inform connectivity initiatives including Global 
Connect. Given the renewed attention on connectivity, we see this as a 
good opportunity to develop a set of principles that addresses the human
 rights dimension of access, and that guide human rights as a foundation
 for rolling out connectivity - from participation of marginalized 
voices, to the nature of contractual arrangements, to protection of 
opinion online.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px;margin-bottom:13pt;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="font-family:arial">Some of the strategy and goals moving forward may include:</span></p><div style="font-size:12.8px"><b>- short-term - </b>develop the CS draft set of general principles to be officially endorsed by the Global Connect initiative.<b><u><font color="#ff0000"> For that, we need you to provide feedback by September 23rd. </font></u></b></div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><b style="font-size:12.8px">- mid-term -</b><span style="font-size:12.8px"> Make those principles more concrete and implementable within IFIs standards for investment and to which Bank staff is bound to </span></div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><b>- long-term -</b> going
 even further, develop and implement Human Rights Due Diligence for IFIs
 ICT investments, building upon documents HR organizations are already 
working on for other HR areas impacted by the Banks work  </div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><br></div><span style="font-size:12.8px;font-family:arial">Right now much of the discussion is centering around outstanding connectivity issues being essentially an engineering problem.</span><span style="font-size:12.8px;font-family:arial"> </span><span style="font-size:12.8px;font-family:arial">The
 risk of course, if human rights do not inform connectivity initiatives,
 is the roll out of a censored, throttled, monitored, militarized 
internet and could deepen inequalities within societies.</span><br><p style="font-size:12.8px;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="font-family:arial">We are using existing documents (i.e. </span><a target="_blank" style="font-family:arial" href="http://workspace.unpan.org/sites/Internet/Documents/UNPAN95735.pdf">WSIS+10 Outcome Document</a><span style="font-family:arial">, Human Rights Council </span><a target="_blank" style="font-family:arial" href="https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G14/082/83/PDF/G1408283.pdf?OpenElement">A/HRC/RES/26/13</a><span style="font-family:arial">, Net Mundial, </span><a target="_blank" style="font-family:arial" href="http://internetrightsandprinciples.org/site/charter/">internet rights and principles charte</a><span style="font-family:arial">r, and </span><a target="_blank" style="font-family:arial" href="https://www.apc.org/en/system/files/APC_charter_EN_0.pdf">APC Internet Rights Charter</a>) <span style="font-family:arial">to
 inform these principles (draft attached). We would like to welcome you 
to join our efforts to create rights-respecting principles to help 
inform the Global Connect Initiative. Our</span><span style="font-size:12.8px"> goal is to present these principles for adoption during the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.imf.org/external/am/2016/index.htm">October meeting</a> of
 the Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs), where the <b>Working Group on 
Human Rights</b> <b>will also be launched</b>. This work is part of our advocacy 
effort to ensure that human rights is a part of the MDBs grants and 
loans and efforts under Global Connect.</span></p><div style="margin:2px 0px 0px"><div><span style="font-size:12.8px"><img src="https://ssl.gstatic.com/ui/v1/icons/mail/images/cleardot.gif">If you are interested, please find the draft principles attached. You can also comment on them and make suggestions here: </span><br><span style="font-size:12.8px"><a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zZkPImVvrcEYcd9G5jQrOfxWm91761tm-tQtHRMqrSs/edit#">https://docs.google.com/docume<wbr>nt/d/1zZkPImVvrcEYcd9G5jQrOfxW<wbr>m91761tm-tQtHRMqrSs/edit#</a></span></div></div><span><p style="font-size:12.8px;margin-bottom:13pt;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="font-family:arial">Thank
 you and please let us know if you are interested in working with us or 
if you have any questions.</span></p><p style="font-size:12.8px;margin-bottom:13pt;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-repeat:initial">Best,</p></span>Peter Micek, Access Now<br></div>Carolina Rossini, Public Knowledge<br clear="all"><div><div><br><br>-- <br><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr">Peter Micek<br><div>Global Policy & Legal Counsel<br>Access Now | <a target="_blank" href="http://www.accessnow.org">accessnow.org</a> <br><a target="_blank" href="http://rightscon.org">rightscon.org<br></a><br><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><span style="font-size:13px;font-family:arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">tel: </span>+</span><span style="font-size:13px;font-family:arial,sans,sans-serif"><a target="_blank" value="+18884140100" href="tel:1-888-414-0100%20x709">1-888-414-0100 x709</a></span><br><span>PGP: 0xA5BD70B0</span><br>Fingerprint: 6CFE 8E9F ED8E 66B8 BE38 EA59 002C EEF5 A5BD 70B0<br><br><span style="font-size:12.8px"><b>Subscribe </b>to</span><span style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px"> the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.accessnow.org/campaign/#sign-up">Access Now Express</a></span>, our weekly newsletter</span><i style="font-size:12.8px"> </i><span style="font-size:12.8px">on digital rights </span><span></span></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
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