Internet Governance Forum goes to Geneva

To consolidate on the outcome of discussions at the Second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) held in Tunisia last December, a follow-up session has been slated to hold next month in Geneva.

The forum based on a multi-stakeholder policy dialogue on Internet Governance, that was requested by WSIS in Tunis.

Scheduled to hold in Geneva from 16 to 17 February, 2006, the consultations, to which all stakeholders are invited, is expected to develop a common understanding among all interests on the nature and character of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF).

A press statement from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), said, the meeting will address the IGF’s scope of work and substantive priorities as well as aspects related to its structure and functioning. It will also discuss the convening of the inaugural meeting including agenda and programme.

ITREALMS Online, recalls that the Tunis agenda for the Information Society invited the Secretary-General of UN, to convene an open and inclusive process; a new forum for multi-stakeholder policy dialogue with a first meeting in Athens, Greece, in 2006.

UNESCO, for which Internet Governance is a core issue, said it would participate in the work of the Internet Governance Forum.

The Paris based organization also said it would continue to advocate an open, transparent and inclusive approach to Internet Governance, echoing its consistent advocacy of the principle of openness, which encompasses the free flow of information, freedom of expression and technical interoperability.

Also core areas of relevance to UNESCO are the concern for ethical dimensions, the realization of multilingualism in the Internet development environment and capacity-building.