[bestbits] Anatel blog post: Operationalizing the role of governments in internet governance

[Deborah Brown]

Thought this might be of interest to the list.

http://itu4u.wordpress.com/2013/06/05/operationalizing-the-role-of-governments-in-internet-governance/

OPERATIONALIZING THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENTS IN INTERNET GOVERNANCE
June 5, 2013 · by itu4u <http://itu4u.wordpress.com/author/itu4u/> · in Daniel
Cavalcanti<http://itu4u.wordpress.com/category/contributors/daniel-cavalcanti/>
, Internet <http://itu4u.wordpress.com/category/internet/>,
WTPF-13<http://itu4u.wordpress.com/category/wtpf-13/>

[image: wtpf-13-blog]<http://itu4u.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/wtpf-13-blog.jpg>
The World Telecommunication/ICT Policy Forum
(WTPF-2013)<http://itu4u.wordpress.com/en/wtpf-13> provided
a unique opportunity to put Internet-related public policy issues firmly on
the international agenda, particularly the very present issue of the
participation of governments as relevant stakeholders in Internet
Governance.

Brazil is a country that fully embraces the multistakeholder approach to
Internet Governance. Our National Internet Steering Committee is a vibrant
organization, as indeed highlighted in the Secretary-General’s Report to
the WTPF, which includes a reference to Brazil’s ten “Principles for the
Governance and Use of the Internet”.  Nonetheless, at the international
level, our view is that we still need to achieve full engagement of
governments in the decision making process on Internet Governance.

The fact is that governments so far have only had a limited advisory role
in international Internet Governance, and no actual involvement in the
decision making process. Recent events have indicated that even long
standing advice provided by governments on certain issues has had little
impact on the actual decisions relating to matters of their direct
interest. Regretfully, attempts to deal with this fact have suffered from
the low level of participation of the majority of governments in existing
international Internet Governance fora.

In this regard Brazil presented at the WTPF an opinion that points to the
fact that we must together address two key issues: operationalizing the
role of government in the multistakeholder framework for Internet
Governance, and the need for capacity building on these issues in
developing countries, particularly in the least developed countries, with
the support of the ITU.

Brazil´s draft opinion entitled “Operationalizing the role of government in
the multistakeholder framework for Internet
Governance<http://www.itu.int/md/S13-WTPF13IEG3-C-0002/en>”
stems from one previously discussed at the Informal Experts Group
(IEG)<http://www.itu.int/en/wtpf-13/Pages/ieg.aspx>,
which had resulted from the joint work of the drafting group led by Brazil,
with the participation of a diverse group of experts from several countries.

During the course of the WTPF, Brazil conducted further extensive
consultations with all interested parties, including Member States, sector
members and civil society entities present at the event. As a result of a
genuine effort to reflect the inputs received, a revised version of the
draft opinion was presented, which we expected could have been endorsed.

The draft opinion received widespread support, including statements from
Member States in all ITU regions, as seen during the plenary sessions.
Despite this fact, in the end the opinion did not achieve consensus at the
WTPF. Nonetheless, we did receive very positive feedback as to the
importance of the issues that were raised, and a willingness to engage in
further discussions, having Brazil as the focal point.

The final report by the Chairman<http://www.itu.int/md/S13-WTPF13-C-0016/en> of
the WTPF indicates, as a way forward, that these discussions could take
place at the ITU Council Working Group on Internet-related public policy
issues. Subsequently the output of deliberations would be forwarded to the
ITU Council for further consideration. Hopefully this would lead to the
inclusion of the issues in the preparatory process for the upcoming World
Telecommunication Development Conference
(WTDC-14)<http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Conferences/WTDC/WTDC14/Pages/default.aspx>
and
the Plenipotentiary Conference of 2014
(PP-14)<http://www.itu.int/en/plenipotentiary>
.

Brazil also welcomes the broadening of the discussion on these issues to
forums such as the GAC, the CSTD, ECOSOC and the IGF. Interestingly, as the
WTPF drew to a close with a clear message from the ITU membership and a way
forward proposed by the leadership of the Union, there were indications
that in the near future these very same issues will also be on the agendas
of those other forums. Ensuring a meaningful role for governments and
engaging them in the decision making process is in the interest of all
those who aspire to a truly multistakeholder international Internet
Governance.

*
[image: cavalcanti]<http://itu4u.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/cavalcanti.jpg>By
Daniel B. Cavalcanti*

*Daniel B. Cavalcanti is an Engineer and career professional with the
Brazilian Government, currently a senior Policy Advisor at the National
Telecommunications Agency – Anatel. Over the last decade his work has
focused on broadband policy and Internet related issues.*

-- 
Deborah Brown
Policy Analyst
Access | AccessNow.org
E. deborah at accessnow.org
@deblebrown
PGP 0x5EB4727D
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