Over the last twenty years the share of world’s population connected to the internet has more than quadrupled. New internet-based tools – from the smartphone to social media – have emerged and we are moving into an Internet of Things. How can we continue to ensure the unfragmented safe, global, secure, and inclusive internet?
The 2005 Tunis Agenda endorsed a multi-stakeholder approach to the governance of the internet. How have we succeeded in realizing vision? How do the roles and functions of various multi-stakeholder forums such as ICANN, IETF and the IGF come together to support internet governance? And how can they be strengthened?
How can governments, technical standard bodies, civil society, industry and all stakeholders work together for an open, indivisible, free, interoperable, global, secure, inclusive Internet?
How can governments, international organizations, private companies, and civil society work together to close the digital divide and improve access, skills, and meaningful connectivity for all?
What actions should be taken to enable digital inclusion for all?
What policies, frameworks and programs have proven to be most successful and should be scaled up and adapted to other contexts to foster digital inclusion?
After several meetings in 2004 and 2005, the Working Group on Internet Governance issues its report which: (a) proposes a working definition for internet governance; (b) identifies public policy issues that are relevant to internet governance; and (c) explores the roles and responsibilities of various actors (governments, the private sector, civil society, as well as academia and the technical community) in internet governance. The group also suggests the creation of a multistakeholder forum for dialogue on internet-related public policy issues.
After several meetings in 2004 and 2005, the Working Group on Internet Governance issues its report which: (a) proposes a working definition for internet governance; (b) identifies public policy issues that are relevant to internet governance; and (c) explores the roles and responsibilities of various actors (governments, the private sector, civil society, as well as academia and the technical community) in internet governance. The group also suggests the creation of a multistakeholder forum for dialogue on internet-related public policy issues.
Building on the Roadmap for Digital Cooperation, the UN Secretary-General appoints an inaugural Internet Governance Forum (IGF) Leadership Panel as ‘a strategic, empowered, and multistakeholder body to support and strengthen the IGF’. The Panel’s key functions are to: provide strategic inputs and advice on the IGF; promote the IGF and its outputs; support both high-level and at-large stakeholder engagement in the IGF and IGF fundraising efforts; and exchange IGF outputs from the Forum with other stakeholders and relevant fora and facilitate the feeding of input of these decision-makers and fora to the IGF’s agenda-setting process.
As the world’s dependence on information and communications technologies (ICTs) continues to increase, the responsible behaviour of States in the use of ICTs has become of vital importance to the maintenance of international peace and security. Pursuant to its mandate contained in General Assembly resolution 73/266, the 2019–2021 Group of Governmental Experts on Advancing Responsible State Behaviour in Cyberspace in the Context of International Security has continued to study, with a view to promoting common understandings and effective implementation, possible cooperative measures to address existing and potential threats in the sphere of information security.
The present report contains the Group’s findings on existing and emerging threats; norms, rules and principles for the responsible behaviour of States; international law; confidence-building measures; and international cooperation and assistance in ICT security and capacity-building. On each of these topics, the report adds a layer of understanding to the findings and recommendations of previous Groups of Governmental Experts.
