IGF Kenya

 

Background

Paragraph 72 of the Tunis World Summit on the Information (WSIS) Agenda reads: 72. We ask the UN Secretary-General, in an open and inclusive process, to convene, by the second quarter of 2006, a meeting of the new forum for multi-stakeholder policy dialogue— called the Internet Governance Forum (IGF).

 

The Sixth Annual IGF Meeting will be held in Nairobi, Kenya on 27-30 September 2011 at the United Nations Office at Nairobi (UNON). The proposed main theme of the meeting is: 'Internet as a catalyst for change: access, development, freedoms and innovation'.

The mandate of the IGF Forum

  • Discuss public policy issues related to key elements of Internet governance in order to foster the sustainability, robustness, security, stability and development of the Internet;
  • Facilitate discourse between bodies dealing with different cross-cutting international public policies regarding the Internet and discuss issues that do not fall within the scope of any existing body;
  • Interface with appropriate inter-governmental organizations and other institutions on matters under their purview;
  • Facilitate the exchange of information and best practices, and in this regard make full use of the expertise of the academic, scientific and technical communities;
  • Advise all stakeholders in proposing ways and means to accelerate the availability and affordability of the Internet in the developing world;
  • Strengthen and enhance the engagement of stakeholders in existing and/or future Internet governance mechanisms, particularly those from developing countries;
  • Identify emerging issues, bring them to the attention of the relevant bodies and the general public, and, where appropriate, make recommendations;
  • Contribute to capacity building for Internet governance in developing countries, drawing fully on local sources of knowledge and expertise;
  • Promote and assess, on an ongoing basis, the embodiment of WSIS principles in Internet governance processes;
  • Discuss, inter alia, issues relating to critical Internet resources;
  • Help to find solutions to the issues arising from the use and misuse of the Internet, of particular concern to everyday users;
  • Publish its proceedings

The IGF mandate has been extended for another five (5) year period. The extension of the mandate for the UN-IGF, is an indication to Kenya that the proposal to host the meeting has been accepted by the UN-IGF secretariat. The organizing committee has begun putting plans in place to host the 2011 UN-IGF.

Themes for IGF 2011

The overall theme for IGF 2011 is:

Internet as a catalyst for change: access, development, freedoms and innovation and the sub-themes are:

  • IG4D / Internet governance for development (IG4D) [also a cross cutting theme]
  • Emerging Issues
  • Managing critical Internet resources
  • Security, openness and privacy
  • Access and diversity
  • Taking stock and the way forward