[governance] Call for consensus - Statement by IGC supporting rights and principles

[Lisa Horner]

Hi all

 

We're now past the deadline for comments, so I've pasted a final version
below for the consensus call.  Please could you send a message to the
list to say if you support the statement or not.  I'll now hand over to
Ginger and Ian to finalise and coordinate it getting read out at the IGF
planning meeting.  I'll also get in touch with the DCs.

 

Shaila - this version includes your edits, apart from in the final para
as I think Parminder's comments made sense.  Hope that's acceptable to
you.

 

Thanks everyone for your inputs.  I think it's a strong statement now.

 

All the best,

Lisa

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

FINAL STATEMENT (V6) - for consensus call

 
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
far. This is problematic because :

*    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.


*    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.


*    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.


*    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.  

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.

 

 

 

  

 

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