<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">I endorse the statement<div><br><div><blockquote type="cite"><div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><div bgcolor="white" link="blue" vlink="purple" lang="EN-GB"><div><div><div class="h5"><blockquote style="margin-top: 5pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-bottom: 5pt;"><p><font color="black" face="Calibri" size="2"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri; color: windowtext;">------------------------------------------------------------------------</span></font></p><p><font color="black" face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">FINAL STATEMENT (V6) – for consensus call</span></font></p><p><font color="black" face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br> The Caucus [and undersigned DCs] repeat their request that the programme for IGF-4 in Egypt gives greater priority to human rights. The WSIS Declaration and Tunis Agenda strongly reaffirmed the centrality of human rights in the information society. Despite this, human rights and associated principles have received too little attention at the IGF so<br> far. This is problematic because :<br> <br> * Fundamental human rights such as the rights to freedom of expression, privacy, civic participation, education and development are strongly threatened by the actions and restrictive policies of a growing number of actors vis a vis the internet, including state and private actors at both national as well as global levels.</span></font></p><p><font color="black" face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br> * The internet presents new opportunities for upholding and advancing human rights, for example through enhancing access to knowledge and common resources. It is vital that we build on and enhance these opportunities. Ignoring these avenues to uphold human rights implies a serious opportunity cost for the well being of peoples, globally.</span></font></p><p><font color="black" face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br> * International human rights, as contained in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and confirmed by the core human rights treaties and other universal human rights instruments, are legally binding. The growing role of information and communication technologies has not changed the legal obligation of states that have ratified these instruments to respect, protect and implement the human rights of their citizens.</span></font></p><p><font color="black" face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br> * The human rights framework is an internationally agreed set of standards that has practical as well as ethical value. It balances different rights against each other to preserve individual and public interest. In addition to its legally binding implications, human rights are therefore a useful tool for addressing internet governance issues, such as how to deal with security concerns on the internet in compliance with the rights to freedom of expression and privacy. Besides stating the obligations of states and governments, the human rights framework also allows us to derive the rights and responsibilities of other stakeholders. <br> <br> The Internet Governance Caucus [and undersigned DCs] call for the human rights dimension of all internet governance issues to be included in the planning and implementation of all future IGF sessions, so that human rights are given the attention they deserve as cross-cutting issues. This should include explicit consideration of how global, regional and national policies affect human rights, and the development of positive policy principles to build an open and accessible internet for all. The Caucus [and undersigned DCs] would like to offer assistance to the organisers of the main plenary sessions to do this, and would like to support all stakeholders through providing access to relevant guidelines and experts. We see this upcoming IGF in Egypt and future IGFs as renewed opportunity to make Rights and Principles a core theme.</span></font></p> <div> <div> <div> <div><div><font color="black" face="Bookman Old Style" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Bookman Old Style";"> </span></font><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </blockquote> </div></div></div> </div> <br>____________________________________________________________<br> You received this message as a subscriber on the list:<br> <a href="mailto:governance@lists.cpsr.org">governance@lists.cpsr.org</a><br> To be removed from the list, send any message to:<br> <a href="mailto:governance-unsubscribe@lists.cpsr.org">governance-unsubscribe@lists.cpsr.org</a><br> <br> For all list information and functions, see:<br> <a href="http://lists.cpsr.org/lists/info/governance" target="_blank">http://lists.cpsr.org/lists/info/governance</a><br> <br></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Valeria Betancourt<br>Coordinadora / Coordinator<br>Programa de Políticas de TIC en América Latina / Latin American ICT Policy Programme<br><a href="http://www.apc.org/es/about/programmes/programa-de-politicas-de-informacion-y-comunicacio">http://www.apc.org/es/about/programmes/programa-de-politicas-de-informacion-y-comunicacio</a><br> <a href="http://lac.derechos.apc.org">http://lac.derechos.apc.org</a><br>Asociación para el Progreso de las Comunicaciones / Association for<br>Progressive Communications, APC<br><a href="http://www.apc.org">http://www.apc.org</a><br> ____________________________________________________________<br>You received this message as a subscriber on the list:<br> <a href="mailto:governance@lists.cpsr.org">governance@lists.cpsr.org</a><br>To be removed from the list, send any message to:<br> <a href="mailto:governance-unsubscribe@lists.cpsr.org">governance-unsubscribe@lists.cpsr.org</a><br><br>For all list information and functions, see:<br> <a href="http://lists.cpsr.org/lists/info/governance">http://lists.cpsr.org/lists/info/governance</a><br></blockquote></div><br></div></body></html>