[IRP] Human Rights event at IGF

[Lisa Horner]

Hi all

As discussed in our last conference call, the coalition is co-hosting an IGF pre-event on human rights on the day before the IGF (13th Sept).  Please send the invitation below far and wide, and also let me know if you'd like to be involved in the organization and formulation of the agenda.  I realize it clashes with other events and meetings, but unfortunately it couldn't be helped.

Hope you can all make it - it's a really exciting development which should help us to raise the profile of human rights issues in internet governance.

Apologies for cross-posting.

All the best,
Lisa

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Leading up to the 2010 IGF, The Association for Progressive
Communications (APC), Global Partners, the Centre for Internet and
Society (CIS) and the Dynamic Coalition on Internet Rights and
Principles are hosting, on 13 September 2010 in Vilnius, an event on:

"Internet governance and human rights: strategies and collaboration for
empowerment"

Internet governance has significant impact on human rights.  This is
reflected by the inclusion of human rights considerations in the Geneva
Declaration of Principles and the Tunis Agenda, which gave the IGF its
mandate. However, human rights discussions have not featured prominently
at the IGF. What discussions there have been tended to focus on civil
and political rights without also sufficiently considering how the
internet relates to cultural, social and economic rights. The
indivisibility of rights has not received the attention it requires.

The Internet governance and human rights communities work in
different spaces and rarely have the opportunity to interact.  The
presence of the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression, Frank la
Rue at the 2009 IGF and again at the 2010 IGF shows that this is
beginning to change.  The 2010 IGF presents a valuable opportunity to
place human rights more firmly on the Internet governance map and to
identify opportunities for collaboration with mainstream human rights
communities.

With an increasing emphasis on the development agenda in the IGF it
is also a good opportunity to look at the links between human
rights, development and the Internet.

Join the conversation with human rights, internet governance
and development activists as we review pressing IG issues such as
access, diversity, equality, freedom, openness and development with a
view to strengthening the human rights agenda at the IGF.

Sept 13, 2010
2-5pm
Main IGF venue, Vilnius
Room to be confirmed

More concretely, we hope to:

      * continue building effective collaborations promoting human
        rights in Internet governance, and,
      * identify appropriate spaces for intervention in the 2010 IGF.

For more information, or to confirm your participation, please contact:
Chad Lubelsky (chad at apc.org)