REPORT
ON THE VIRTUAL 2021 MOCK IGF (TEAM B) - ROLE PLAY
THEME:
INTERNET GOVERNANCE RESILIENCE IN PANDEMICS.
The Internet
Governance Forum (IGF) serve to bring people together from various stakeholder
groups as equals, in discussions on public policy issues relating to the
Internet. The IGF informs and inspires those with policy-making power in both
the public and private sectors.
At their annual
meeting, delegates discuss, exchange information and share good practices. The
IGF facilitates a common understanding of how to maximize Internet
opportunities and address risks and challenges that arise.
Host country,
Ghana: Ghana is centrally
located and easily accessible via roads, air travel both locally and
internationally. The country is also known to have limited restrictions hence
conducive to allow for participation. Ghana has adequate resources which will
ease the entire process.
Theme:
“Internet Governance Resilience in Pandemics”
Internet
governance is the development
and application of shared principles, norms, rules, decision-making procedures,
and programs that shape the evolution and use of the Internet. Resilience
is the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties or withstand toughness. Pandemic
refers to anything, usually a disease that is prevalent or occurring over a
whole country or the world.
With this
background and cognizance of the impact COVID -19 had on the world and the
Internet Governance Forum, the MAG group of Team B has chosen the theme,
“Internet Governance Resilience in Pandemics”, to enable a discussion and draw
a resolution on:
·
how
Internet governance responds or thrives in Pandemics;
·
the
efforts, guidelines, procedures and policies we can develop in preparation for
future pandemics;
·
the interventions
that can be adapted to aid in achieving greater participation of the different
stakeholder groups in the multi-stakeholder discussions
·
efforts
of the youth in ensuring digital inclusion and their involvement in the
mainstream Internet Governance.
AGENDA
BREAKOUT
ROOM 1
a. Human rights and gender inclusion (digital
rights) in the internet space.
b. Digital inclusion
c. Online Child Protection
d. Policy- freedom of speech, democratic society,
internet shutdowns.
Key point : Human
rights are to be protected online and offline and states have responsibility
towards that. Those right are : Freedom of Assembly , Freedom of expression and
online safety
The UN Special
Rapporteur on the Right to Freedom of Assembly noted, in his 2019 report to
UNGA, that human rights ought to be accorded the same level of protection
online, as they do offline. States have a responsibility to fulfil, protect,
promote, respect and observe all persons’ rights and fundamental freedoms,
including digital rights.
In the wake of the
coronavirus, there were many cases of civil unrest, resulting from the public
demanding justice against systemic violations and impunities, for example the
BLM Movement that struck a wave all over the world. Due to the limitations arising
from COVID, we saw many joining the protests through online platforms such as
Twitter and Facebook. Freedom of assembly can be recognized through online
platforms in two ways, using digital platforms to organize for the assemblies
and the right to host such assemblies.
States, therefore, have a responsibility to respect organization of assemblies through
online assemblies. Their responsibility thus mandates them to refrain from
interfering and ensure that all persons have access to the internet. In the
digital age, the positive obligation to facilitate the exercise of the rights
to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association includes efforts “to bridge
the digital divides, including the gender digital divide.
However, the limitation of the right to freedom of assembly online has been exacerbated
through indiscriminate surveillance. Surveillance can be done during the
organization/planning phase of the assembly, during the online assembly and
further continue after the online assembly proceeds. The other tactics used may
include filtering of content related to protests; blocking of websites or
platforms used to plan, organize and mobilize protests; closing accounts that
belong to organizers, activists or journalists; and shutting down of the
Internet and communications networks- as was seen in Nigeria, Uganda and India.
Freedom of
expression has also been arbitrarily curtailed, against the standards under
international human rights law, under the guise of national security and public
health- especially following COVID. Research has demonstrated the following
adverse measures:
·
The use
of restrictive legislation to silence critical voices, including the use of
misinformation legislation.
·
Censorship
and restrictions on access to information, including the suspension of media
outlets due to their COVID-19 coverage.
·
Attacks
on journalists over their reporting of the pandemic, including physical attacks
and arrests.
There has also
been a battle of competing rights, given online sexual violence has been on the
rise through use of digital platforms- against women and girls. We, therefore, seek states, as well as private actors and the technical community, to join the
fight in denial of freedom of expression in the context of defamation cases
against survivors of sexual violence and prioritization of freedom of
expression over safety and protection from online sexual exploitation and
abuse.
Many women are
subjected to defamation suits after sharing their survivor stories online, curtailing
others from freely expressing themselves.
Key point :
Government needs to know that Internet Rights are Human Rights and States need
a multi-stakeholder approach to address digital rights issues
Other
recommendations:
- Research
Collaboration with Academia
- Collaboration
with the Organized Private Sector
- Youth-Led
Civil Society Task Force
- Continental
Broadband Masterplan
Key point :
Private sector has a role to play regarding child protection
Child online
protection primarily protects a safer digital environment for every child
Gaps-
Lack of national
policies
There is an
ineffective implementation of the existing legal framework and inadequate
capacities of professionals working in key departments like the police,
prosecution, judges, and staff of Cybercrime Unit and Domestic Violence unit to
prevent and respond to cases of online abuse, violence and exploitation.
- Countries
failing to comply with ITU guidelines in protecting children.
- Lack of Content
moderation from the Private sector.
Recommendations
-Addressing
regulatory framework must need actionable work with collaboration with the
private sector for the effective legal framework
-Content
moderation; moderation of content made accessible to children and this can be
achieved with inputs from stakeholders in academia & civil society to
bridge the knowledge gap in developing user-friendly content in line with ITU
recommendations
To ensure Child
protection there is a need for content Moderation while private sector will
take a role with the collaboration of private sector
Child protection
from online exploitation is possible if there is a collaboration and engagement
from and between stakeholders, and the development of adequate policy following
for example ITU guideline on child’s protection .to
Connecting the
non-connected can also be possible if the Private sector and Government engage
together.
BREAKOUT
ROOM 2
Accessibility and
affordability of the internet (ROOM 2).
1. Technical Interventions for Internet Inclusivity
and accessibility.
2. Accessibility and Openness of the internet to
the vulnerable group.
3. Research into the provision of affordable
internet and information accessibility
Need for
Government x Private Sector collaborations centred on digital tax reductions to
enable faster and cheaper internet to users.
Internet spaces
open up so many possibilities for connecting, learning, working and
entertaining.
But not everyone
has the chance to easily get access to the internet, and by doing so, some
people feel excluded from online settings.
Key barriers.
· Means to learn
· Lack of internet/devices to access it
·
Confidence
to use and be engaged
Suggestions
For digital
inclusivity, accessibility and affordability, we come up with the following
suggestions :
1. Make people understand the concept of the
internet: what it is and how it simply works!
2. Invest in the building of infrastructures at
different and various levels.
3. Share and spread infrastructures across several
areas
4. Insert Natural Language Processing (NLP) in the
applications developed on the internet to reduce language barriers.
5. Collaborate with governments, technical
communities, Internet Service Providers and private sectors to improve standard
protocols and reduce tax on infrastructures equipment and data bundles
vulnerable groups are made to benefit from the internet through social
interventions.
6. Advocate for more community networks, technical
workshops and webinars to teach Internet Governance.
BREAKOUT
ROOM 3
Bridging the
knowledge and digital gap.
a. Role of various stakeholder groups in bridging
the knowledge gap.
Governments need
to deploy emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain
& IoT to reach many people, promote accessibility and bridge the divide.
Increased internet penetration could be achieved through lowering internet
costs to enhance its affordability.
There is a need
for governments and academic institutions to reform current curriculums to
match current needs and as a solution to the knowledge deficiency. Governments
need to enact favourable laws concerning internet governance to ensure
ubiquitous accessibility and affordability. He also highlighted the need for
multi-stakeholder collaboration in the evolution of the internet.
b. Monitoring and implementation of strategies to
bridge the knowledge and digital gap
Governments need
to set up tools for effective monitoring through support and collaboration with
the technical community and the private sector.
Governments in
collaboration with the private sector and the technical community, can
formulate key priority areas and establish indicators that will ensure
effective implementation on the key priority areas.
c. Community training on digital solutions
(e-learning platforms, etc)
There is a need
for each stakeholder to play their individual role in training communities on
digital solutions. Civil society can establish community education programs
to enlighten the masses on the internet and the services that can be offered.
Businesses/Private sector could also educate consumers on the benefits of the
internet. Academia could include studies on digital solutions in the curriculum
and also organise Continuous Development Programs for professionals to
highlight current internet trends. The government could also start campaigns to
train people across various media and fora.
d. Collaboration with Govts, NGOs, CBOs, to build
community networks.
Establishment of
pacts between all stakeholders to guide collaboration amongst all of them as a
way to build community networks.
Questions and
Answers
How best can the
knowledge gaps today among government employees be eliminated? Call for
research into the precise knowledge gaps and then reforming curriculums to
address these specific knowledge gaps.
Why internet costs
in Africa are high compared to elsewhere and how the internet could be made
affordable. This can be achieved by the introduction of modern networks such as 5G
networks, internet balloons and low orbit satellites to bring internet costs
down. She also called for reform in the government's policies to bring the
internet costs down.
Reduction of taxes
on the internet to achieve lower internet costs. Africa’s high internet costs
were due to various reasons and therefore a multi-stakeholder approach was
needed to tackle these underlying reasons to reduce internet costs.
Collaborations between governments and the private sector to bring internet
prices down.
The government
policies and taxes are unfair for achieving low internet prices. Looking into
the need to end monopolies in provision of internet services as a way to reduce
internet prices in Africa. One of the other reasons is based on the fact that
monopolised internet markets act as a barrier and called for reforms of laws
and policies concerning the internet to ensure lower prices. This brings us to
the need for cooperation in ensuring achievement of lower internet prices.
What are the
possible solutions to stereotypical stigmatisation of youths in Nigeria who own
laptops as scammers and criminals by the security forces. This can be achieved
through retraining of the police and all concerned units to change their skewed
ideologies. Disbandment of SARS and collaboration among all stakeholders to end
this stigma and harassment.
BREAKOUT
ROOM 4
Cybersecurity
and Data Protection.
Cybersecurity is
the practice of defending computers, servers, mobile devices, electronic
systems, networks, and data from malicious attacks. Data privacy, sometimes
also referred to as information privacy, is an area of data protection that
concerns the proper handling of sensitive data including, notably, personal
data but also other confidential data, such as certain financial data and
intellectual property data.
a. Utilizations of health data in the Covid 19
period.
In the health
system, data privacy is not respected in some countries which leads to
institutions and companies misusing client’s data therefore there is a need to
improve methods of keeping data secure.
b. Threats to data privacy or encryption.
The is a need for
improved awareness in the area of data privacy and the threats surrounding it.
It is advised that stakeholders create data privacy awareness campaigns.
c. Evolution of the Internet of Things in the
Health Sector.
It is now possible
to use IoT to monitor patients' vitals such as heart rate, temperature as well
as blood pressure and there is a need to protect patients’ data to avoid data
loss and data theft. Stakeholders can provide or create applications to monitor
heart rate, and temperature and store this data for statistical purposes and
provide doctors' history of their clients' vital.
It is important to
note that there is a need for upgrades in the data protection infrastructure to
provide a safe environment for a person’s data to be safely stored. Lastly, we
are now living in an era where IoT is now changing the way we operate in the
health sector providing an efficient way of completing tasks.
To conclude, the MOCK IGF has offered a taste of how the
real IGF occurs and the members appreciated the discussions. The role play was
something that highlighted the need for a multistakeholder approach as we all
combined from various stakeholder groups and made the MOCK IGF a success. Such
platforms will be used to continue the discussions and come up with some
solutions to critical internet governance issues.
Thanks to the
course moderator (Esther Mwema) for the coordination and cooperation throughout
the four weeks and more so the MOCK IGF preparation.
