[governance] Text of speech - losing remarks at UNESCO Connecting the Dots Conference

Wed Mar 4 17:01:25 EST 2015

Dear Nenna, Congratulations to Your excellent Statement! And Happy Birthday!

Wolfgang Benedek

Am 04.03.2015 um 17:57 schrieb "Nnenna Nwakanma" <nnenna75 at gmail.com<mailto:nnenna75 at gmail.com>>:

Connecting the Dots: Options for Future Action
UNESCO headquarters, Paris, France.
Closing Remarks by Nnenna Nwakanma
Africa Regional Coordinator
The World Wide Web Foundation.
March 4, 2015

Deputy Director General
Friends and colleagues
Onsite and online

My name is Nnenna.  I  come from the Internet. And I have been asked to say a few words to us, as a member of the civil society, before we leave. I coordinate the activities of the World Wide Web Foundation in my continent, Africa. The Web Foundation is  that organization that believes that the Internet is for everyone.  Therefore we work on affordable access to all, we work on opening up data for participation and  we support  the global Web We Want Coalition.

I have three things to say.  The first is on the UNESCO study itself.  The second is on one of the issues raised.  The third is  on where we go from here.

From the Civil Society end, we recognize that UNESCO’s consultation towards the study was open, online, multistakeholder and tried to be as inclusive as could be. This for me, lends trust. Trust in the organization, trust in its capacity to bring key actors to the table. The R-O-A-M principles of the study (Rights based, Open, Accessible, Multistakeholder participation) are not just important for the study, but they also are key in implementing its recommendations.  So  it is only natural that we engage as civil society, during, now and going forward.

Do we endorse the outcome  document? I do.  But the Civil Society is too large a constituency for just one person to say yes on behalf of all others.

On the issues, I will settle for one. Just one. Access.  Just today, the Alliance for Affordable Internet launched the Affordability report. Affordability Report shows that Over 2 billion people living in poverty cannot access the Internet affordably and that a fixed broadband connection costs on average 40% of monthly income across 51 developing countries.

And we are working  towards access for everyone.

To UNESCO,  I must say, that the Global Internet is of global importance and we must  seek at all times, to manage it for global interest, global benefit and global utility.  So,  many thanks for putting Internet Governance  and the IGF in the heart of the process.

-        - In working for  access to knowledge and information,

-        - in working  for freedom of expression

-        - in working for privacy

-        - in working for ethics
We are not   just connecting dots. We are connecting people. We are connecting cultures, we are extending science by connecting knowledge to knowledge,  men and women, we are connecting continents.  We are righting the wrongs of the past,  consolidating the present and  building a viable future.

We have a heritage.  A global heritage.  The Internet.
The Internet represents a masterpiece of human creative genius
It is  the most important  tool of interchange of human values
And an exceptional testimony to our common civilization
These are the basis on which UNESCO  selects sites as heritage. And here, we have more than a heritage. The Internet is our global heritage

Ladies and gentlemen, friends here and online.  Tomorrow is my birthday. And my sister told me to make a wish.   I asked if I should keep my eyes open or closed and she said “any way”.  So I will close an eye and keep one open, for security purposes.  And here is my wish..

That the open Internet, the open web, will be established as global public good and a basic right of all men and women, all humans and that everyone can access it can use it  freely.
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