[discuss] Draft statement on making IGF permanent

[Jeanette Hofmann]

Hi all,

Stephanie Perrin and I have drafted a statement that asks the UN 
Secretary to consider renewing the mandate of the IGF on a permanent basis.

About 90% of the text are quotes from UN documents referring to the IGF 
and from the NetMundial Statement.

Our draft is intended to reflect the views of all stakeholders and 
perhaps get a broad endorsement at the end of the IGF.

Right now, it is just a draft. Changes are welcome.

We have set up a pad for editing:

https://etherpad.mozilla.org/LQO468JD1K

For convenience we also paste the text into this email below.

The goal is to complete the editing before the end of the IGF.

Stephanie and Jeanette



Request for consideration to the UN Secretary General on permanence of 
the IGF


In 2005, the UN Member states asked the UN Secretary-General in the 
Tunis Agenda, to convene a meeting of the new forum for 
multi-stakeholder policy dialogue—called the Internet Governance Forum 
(IGF). (Footnote: paragraph 72, Tunis Agenda)
The mandate of the Forum was to discuss public policy issues relating to 
key elements of Internet governance, such as those enumerated in
the Tunis Agenda, in order to foster the sustainability, robustness, 
security, stability and development of the Internet in developed and 
developing countries. The Forum was not to replace existing 
arrangements, mechanisms, institutions or organizations. It was intended 
to constitute a neutral, non-duplicative and non-binding process, and 
have no involvement in day-to-day or technical operations of the Internet.
The Tunis Agenda also asked the UN Secretary-General to examine the 
desirability of the continuation of the Forum, in formal consultation 
with Forum participants, within five years of its creation, and to make 
recommendations to the UN Membership in this regard. At its sixty-fifth 
session, the General Assembly decided to extend the mandate of the IGF, 
underlining the need to improve the IGF “with a view to linking it to 
the broader dialogue on global Internet governance”.
In his note on the continuation of the Internet Governance Forum, the UN 
Secretary General confirmed that the IGF was unique and valuable. It is 
a place where Governments, civil society, the private sector and 
international organizations discuss important questions of economic and 
social development. They share their insights and achievements and build 
a common understanding of the Internet’s great potential.


The Secretary-General recommended that
(a) That the mandate of the Internet Governance Forum be extended for a 
further five years;
(b) That the desirability of continuation be considered again by Member
States within the context of a 10-year review of implementation of the 
outcome of the World Summit on the Information Society in 2015;

Footnote: (General Assembly, Sixty-fifth session, Item 17 of the 
preliminary list*,  Information and communications technologies for 
development, Economic and Social Council, Substantive session of 2010 
New York, 28 June-23 July 2010, Agenda item 13 (b)**)
The NetMundial Meeting, convened by the Government of Brazil, stated in 
the NetMundial Multistakeholder Statement on April 24th, 2014, that 
there is a need for a strengthened Internet Governance Forum (IGF). 
Important recommendations to that end had already been made by the UN 
CSTD working group on IGF improvements. The NetMundial Statement also 
stated that “a strengthened IGF could better serve as a platform for 
discussing both long standing and emerging issues with a view to 
contributing to the identification of possible ways to address them.”

Given the significance of the Internet Governance Forum for the 
continuing development of Internet governance, we request the UN 
Secretary General to  establish the IGF as a permanent multistakeholder 
forum.  We also request that the UN Secretary General work with the IGF 
and its stakeholders to strengthen its structure and processes.