[governance] 2010 Asia Declaration on Internet Governance (5 of 6) Linking

Thu Jun 24 07:56:55 EDT 2010

Does anyone have some insight as to the level of Country Government support this grouping and or Declaration have/has in general or specific.
This Dovetails interestingly with Jeremy's last installment on the Linking and inclusion of Globally diverse groups.
I am of the mind to engage in the determination of criteria used in 'linking'.  However I am more of the mind to work with groups such as this one to make sure they nominally meet that criteria. The netizens reported are brave and good folk. They are not waiting for appointment or permission or recognition.  They seem to demand nothing for themselves and everything for our brethren. They are personally and collectively standing up for universal principals that are not necessarily in vogue with the regimes where they reside.I am proud to see Laos represented - in their new - Take back .LA - it stands for Laos not LA. And I am saddened to see a lack of Vietnamese presence, whos' Declaration of Independence is akin to the US of A and the US of Mex. and needs to be invoked on both the Web and the Nets.

--- On Thu, 6/24/10, SAMUELS,Carlton A <carlton.samuels at uwimona.edu.jm> wrote:

From: SAMUELS,Carlton A <carlton.samuels at uwimona.edu.jm>
Subject: RE: [governance] 2010 Asia Declaration on Internet Governance
To: "governance at lists.cpsr.org" <governance at lists.cpsr.org>, "Robert Guerra" <lists at privaterra.info>, "bill-of-rights at ipjustice.org" <bill-of-rights at ipjustice.org>
Cc: "coalition at mailman.thepublicvoice.org" <coalition at mailman.thepublicvoice.org>
Date: Thursday, June 24, 2010, 10:25 AM

Thanks for this, Robert.  Latin America/Caribbean will have a
regional  IGF plenary soon and I know much if not all of the agenda identified
in Asia is shared.   It would be good if we could organize to have a congruent
declaration from LAC to the same channel. 

Carlton Samuels  

From: Robert Guerra
[mailto:lists at privaterra.info] 

Sent: Wednesday, June 23, 2010 4:31 PM

To: bill-of-rights at ipjustice.org

Cc: coalition at mailman.thepublicvoice.org; governance at lists.cpsr.org

Subject: [governance] 2010 Asia Declaration on Internet Governance 

I just came across the
following that thought could be of interest to those on the mailing list.
Apologies for cross-posting. 

Regards

Robert

--

http://bit.ly/aQaaAm

2010
Asia Declaration on Internet Governance  

"[The IGF is]
multilateral, multi-stakeholder, democratic, and transparent."  

- 2005 Tunis Agenda  

"[We call for] a people-centered, inclusive and development-oriented
Information Society...full
respect and upholding of universal human rights including freedom of opinion
and expression; and "The universality, indivisibility, interdependence and
interrelation of all human rights and fundamental freedoms"  

- 2003 Declaration of Principles
of World Summit on Information Society.  

On the occasion of the first Asia-Pacific Regional Internet Governance
Forum (APrIGF) Roundtable
in Hong Kong on June 15-16, 2010, we, civil society representatives from eight
Southeast Asian countries, call on the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) and its Multi-Stakeholder Advisory Group
(MAG) to fully uphold these aforementioned commitments and principles, as
mandated by the United Nations Secretary-General.  

We applaud the work of the
first APrIGF towards building multi-stakeholder discussion on internet
governance. In this vein of inclusive dialogue, we offer the following
perspectives and recommendations to the MAG meeting in Geneva at the Palais des Nations on June 28-29, as well as for the fifth annual IGF meeting in Vilnius,
Lithuania on September 14-17, 2010.  

Key Observations of the APrIGF  

In response to the first Asia-Pacific Regional Internet Governance Forum
(APrIGF) Roundtable in Hong Kong on June 15-16, 2010, we, netizens,
journalists, bloggers, IT practitioners and nongovernmental representatives
from across Southeast Asia, offer the following observations from the
Roundtable:  

1. Critical issues of internet
governance in Asia should guide future discussions on internet governance
policy:  

Openness 

Open access to information is the
right of every individual, a right that servers as a fundamental venue
for one's knowledge- and capacity-building. Access to information ultimately
helps foster creativity and innovation, thus promoting sustainable human and
economic development. Openness is key to a democratic and open society.
Restrictions on freedom of opinion and expression online, such as state
censorship which blocks Internet intermediaries, is one of the threats to open
societies. Intimidation and state censorship facilitate self-censorship, a
hazardous social phenomenon that further undermines democracy and openness.  

Access  

The internet is for everyone; it
is a public good. Yet a Digital Divide between those countries and communities
with internet access and those without persists, and has not been sufficiently
addressed in discussions on internet governance. Proceedings at the APrIGF
indicated a higher priority must be placed on addressing not only the global
digital divide, but also regional and national ones. While Singapore enjoys
high Internet access rates (70% penetration), countries like Burma and Cambodia
are at the other end of the spectrum (0.22% and 0.51% penetration,
respectively), ranked the lowest of 200 countries studied in the World Bank.  

Internet access is fundamental
for progress. Various factors, such as political, economic and social
development, poverty levels, and technological infrastructure affect whether
and how often people can access the internet. Internationally coordinated
efforts must be made to address domestic policies that contribute to the
digital divide in Southeast Asia and find solutions to bridge the gap.  

Cyber Security  

Definition of cyber security must
include elements that address right to privacy and civil and political freedom.

An individual’s right over
his/her own privacy, including personal data and information, must not be
sacrificed. Information technology, such as IPv6, ZigBee, RFID, when used
without transparent and accountable oversight, could pose threats to individual
rights.  

Today's information society
connects personal IT devices directly to the outside world, no longer storing
personal data on a single server. Given the involvement of the government and
businesses (especially state-owned enterprises) in running such technologies,
surveillance and identity theft remain a constant threat against Internet
users.  

In this regard, any national
security policy must not deviate from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
and all international human rights covenants to which states are parties.  

2. Opportunities exist to
continue to improve the IGF Process:  

Awareness of the IGF in Southeast
Asia and at the ASEAN level is presently lacking. Furthermore,
Asia-Pacific-wide representation of civil society at the APrIGF Roundtable was
incomplete. There exists a need not only to develop awareness about the IGF,
but also to provide learning materials to make the IGF accessible to all.
Greater access to the IGF would help make it more inclusive with various
stakeholders, including those from the least developed nations and marginalized
and vulnerable groups in Asia-Pacific.  

During the APrIGF Roundtable, an
open dialogue and two-way exchange of information and ideas was not fully
facilitated. Open space to discuss and articulate criticism and suggest
solutions must be guaranteed in all IGF events. Such an effort provides
practical benefit to Internet users, both present and future, when the outcome
of the APrIGF Roundtable is developed into a roadmap. Clarifying and planning
the roles of local, national, regional and international multi-stakeholders,
will help promote and protect transparent and democratic Internet governance
and hence information society in the region.  

Requests to the IGF  

The first APrIGF presented a
valuable opportunity to analyze both the issues upon which the IGF focuses and
the process by which it is governed. With respect to these priority issues and
opportunities for improved processes, we therefore recommend the following:  

1.     Immediately address as an urgent global
internet governance issue the increasing implementation of law that suppress
and restrict freedom of expression and access to information, especially within
developing countries;  

2.     Fully integrate the universal human rights
agenda into IGF program and engage systematically and regularly with the UN
Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights, in particular the UN Special
Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression and the UN Human Rights
Council;  

3.     Ensure that the IGF policy proposals and
recommendations are in line with international human rights principles and
standards;  

4.     Strengthen the IGF's multilateralism and
openness in the upcoming fifth annual IGF meeting in Vilnius, Lithuania in
September and future national and sub-regional level IGF meetings in Southeast
Asia and Asia-Pacific;  

5.     Extend the mandate of IGF for another five
years;  

6.     Conduct wider outreach to civil society
actors in Southeast Asia and Asia-Pacific and allocate financial resources to
encourage and support their participation in the fifth annual meeting and
subsequent global IGFs, and organize national and sub-regional level IGFs;  

7.     Ensure active remote participation in the
annual meeting and subsequent IGFs, utilizing digital technologies such as
live-streaming webcast, video conference, twitter and other social media tools;

8.     Guarantee that technical discussions
during IGFs fully accommodates new constituents and stakeholders and
incorporate an assessment of policy implications on the rights of Internet
users and society;  

9.     Develop a plan of action in order to
facilitate follow-up and monitoring of IGF outcomes; and  

10. Conduct an impact study by an independent
organization to assess the effectiveness of IGF, in accordance with the
principles set out in the 2005 Tunis Agenda and the 2003 Declaration of
Principles of the WSIS.  

Hereby signed by:  

Yap Swee Seng  

Executive Director Asian Forum
for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA)  

E-mail: yap at forum-asia.org Mobile (Bangkok): +66.81.868.9178 Web: www.forum-asia.org  

Chiranuch Premchaiporn Executive Director Prachatai Online
Newspaper  

E-mail: chiranuch at prachatai.com Mobile (Bangkok): +66.81.6207707 Web: www.prachatai.com; www.prachatai.org/english

Ernesto G. Sonido Jr  

Blogger TechTanod, the Blog and
Soul Movement, the Philippine Blog Awards  

E-mail: 1fishtank at gmail.com Phone: +63.917829.8090 Web: http://baratillo.net/; http://techtanod.com/

Ndaru  

Blogger (Indonesia)  

http://politikana.com/  

Ou Virak  

President Cambodian Center for
Human Rights (CCHR)  

E-mail: ouvirak at cchrcambodia.org Mobile (Phnom Penh): +855.12.404.051 Web: www.cchrcambodia.org  

Phoutthasinh Phimmachanh  

Senior Knowledge Management
Officer Swiss Association for International Development (Helvetas-Laos)  

Email: phoutthasinh.phimmachanh at helvetas.org
Phone (Laos): +856.21.740.253  

Sean Ang  

Executive Director Southeast
Asian Center for e-Media (SEACeM)  

E-mail: sean at seacem.com Mobile (Kuala Lumpur): +60.166.533.533 Web: www.seacem.com  

Chuah Siew Eng  

Publicity Officer Centre for
Independent Journalism  

Email: sieweng.cij at gmail.com Phone (Kuala Lumpur): +60.340.230.772 Web: cijmalaysia.org  

Leang Delux  

Active member Club of Cambodian
Journalist  

E-mail: deluxnews at gmail.com Mobile (Cambodia): +855.15.523.623 Web: www.ccj.com.kh  

Oliver Robillo  

Founder Mindanao Bloggers
Community  

E-mail: blogie at dabawenyo.com Mobile (Davao): +63.918.540.0878 Web: www.mindanaobloggers.com  

Phisit Siprasatthong  

Coordinator Thai Netizen Network  

E-mail: freethainetizen at gmail.com Phone (Bangkok): +66.2691.0574 Web: thainetizen.org  

Civil Society Representatives
from Burma and Vietnam  

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