Organization: UNESCO

Title :

With the very fast evolution of ICTs, the capacity of data storage and data mining, the international flows of data that keep increasing, the existing surveillance of internet users whether by public authority in the name of security or private companies for economic interests, the development of web 2.0, etc., there is a growing and urgent need to take into account the issue of privacy and data protection.

Privacy is a fundamental right recognized as such by the Universal Declaration of human rights;  it is guarantied at the digital age by data protection principles and rights which are all the more important that they are a precondition to the exercise of other human rights and fundamental freedoms such as freedom of expression.

The workshop will highlight the key privacy and personal data protection issues facing different categories of Internet users.
It will address the necessity and the ways to establish privacy and data protection principles and rights at global level.
It will also deal with the different practical tools that can be used or developed to implement them and ensure effective protection in different circumstances : basic legal principles and rights, laws and regulations, international instruments, education, awareness-raising, self-regulation and privacy enhancing technologies.

Provisional list of panellists :

Moderator : Alex Türk, President of the French data protection authority (CNIL) (France)

• UNESCO
• Yves Poullet, Professor at the University of Namur (Belgium) and expert of the Council of Europe
• Caspar Bowden, Chief Privacy Advisor Microsoft EMEA, Microsoft
• Katitza Rodriguez Pereda, EPIC (Peru)
• Abdoulaye Cisse, Professor at the University of Saint Louis (Senegal)
• Mr Graham Greenleaf, Professor and Director of the Cyberspace Law and Policy Center, University of New South Wales, Australia or an other member of the Asia-Pacific Forum on the protection of personal data and privacy

Rapporteur : Catherine Souyri-Desrosier, Advisor for Communication at the French National Commission for UNESCO (France)

The workshop will be co-organized by stakeholders from various groups:
The French Commission for UNESCO (French Body);
UNESCO (International Organisation);
The Council of Europe (Regional Organisation); and
The CNIL (French Independent Authority).

The multi-stakeholder principle will also be embodied in the variety of backgrounds and geographical origins of the panellists ensuring a great diversity of views and opinions.