The following are the outputs of the captioning taken during an IGF virtual intervention. Although it is largely accurate, in some cases it may be incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors. It is posted as an aid, but should not be treated as an authoritative record.
***
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: Good afternoon, Ladies and Gentlemen, those of that are with us and good evening and good morning to those of us joining online. Thank you very much indeed for staying and joining this open mic, taking stock session, and we only have one hour, so I'll try or we on the stage will try to be very brief, and give the floor to the participants, both online and on site to give us a view of their impressions this of meeting, what we should also, what went well, what we should look into, and any suggestions for next year.
Just very quickly, once we have made our introductions, there are three mics here in the centre, so if you do want to make an intervention, you can queue up behind any of the mics and then we will call it per mic. The first mic closest is mic number one, then mic number two, and Mike Number three is the one at the end and we will give a chance for the online participants to also take. So we will do in a round robin‑like fashion.
With that let me do a quick introduction to the people here who will be listening, and I will, and I they will say a few words before we start, very brief remarks and then we will go onto the floor.
So first, starting from my right, I would like to introduce the Chair of the 2021 MAG, Ms. Anriette Esterhuysen.
>> ANRIETTE ESTERHUYSEN: Thank you very much, Chengetai. It's wonderful to see everyone here, I look forward to interesting and challenging and creative input.
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: Thank you very much. And then there is Assistant Secretary‑General Ms. Maria Francesca Spatolisano.
>> MARIA FRANCESCA SPATOLISANO: Hello, everyone! Online and present here in this IGF, 16th IGF 2021 IGF. It is really wonderful to hear all of you throughout the week. We tried to follow all of the sessions, but, of course, there is such a rich diverse input, but today we have yet another opportunity and I am really looking forward to your feedback. Thank you.
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: Thank you very much, Assistant Secretary‑General.
And then we have online, we have our 2022 MAG Chair, Mr. Paul Mitchell.
>> PAUL MITCHELL: Good morning, good evening afternoon everybody. It's a great pleasure for me to join the discussion today, and I do want as part of my opening remarks just to thank Anriette for her stewardship of the MAG over the past year. Anriette and others who have gone before her have nourishes and shaped the IGF and given life to this multi‑stakeholder ethos. And we owe them the debt of thanks. I'm looking forward to what comes in the rest of the session. Thank you.
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: Thank you very much, Paul.
And then last, definitely not least, our MAG host country Co‑Chair responsible for overseeing the arrangements and the reason why we have this beautiful meeting, Minister Krzysztof Szubert.
>> KRZYSZTOF SZUBERT: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen! It's a great pleasure for me to be with you today. Thank you very much for being with us the whole week and I'm really looking forward for your comments or suggestions. Thank you.
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: Thank you very much. Minister Krzysztof Szubert. Then we will open the floor and we have quite a tight schedule because we do have the closing session which is also quite packed.
So for the first one piece, yes, stand next to the mic. And please can you please introduce yourself and once you have introduced yourself, stakeholder group, if you are talking in your personal capacity, and there is a 90‑second timer which I'm told will appear when you start speaking so you have 90 seconds.
>> MAYADA ADIL: First of all, it's okay if I'm allowed to make my mask. 90 seconds. I question that.
Okay. I'm Mayada Adil, doctor, Human rights activist, from Sudan. I speak in personal capacity. Sudan is the country that had a revolution that inspired the world in 2019 but with authoritarian rule of military leaders that have a long history of shutting down the Internet, I have attended the sessions of this IGF Poland and by the way, thank you so much for the great hospitality and well organized forum. As I was saying I have attended the sessions and noticed only a few speakers about Government Internet shutdowns.
Obviously it's not the favorable topic to be covered or favorably avoided. But it's a major dilemma, and I'm stressing on the fact that people's life is at stake due to those shutdowns and allow me to explain why. In Sudan ever since the telecom sector became controlled by the military leaders, the Internet was suspended during the third massacre in 2019 right before Berlin IGF 2019 and it was never addressed in those meetings.
I attended personally. The shutdown that killed over 100 peaceful protesters in Katun and lots of missing people until now. Sudan experienced another shutdown this year, October 25th because of the military coup, during which another wave of human rights violations took place killing over hundreds of people and leaving many wounded all in order to prevent Sudan he's to document military human rights violations. Hashtag keep eyes on Sudan to report on Internet shutdowns and call upon Governments those social media campaigns were to bring pressure upon those military.
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: Thank you.
>> MAYADA ADIL: This is not exclusively happening in Sudan.
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: Thank you very much. I would also like to just point out that, yes, we do understand that these are very serious issues and they need to be discussed, and we are a bottom up multi‑stakeholder forum. So, yes, we can discuss them, but we also try and refrain from naming and shaming as such. We would like to invite all stakeholders to come and from both sides, and to hear all points of view.
And you are quite right, they there should be a discussion with all of the stakeholders involved, but you can pick it up for next year, and submit something.
>> ANRIETTE ESTERHUYSEN: I would like to commend you for making that point. I think it's absolutely vital. It has been addressed at the IGF, and in 2017 at the Geneva IGF there was a main session on shutdowns. Shutdowns are mentioned in this year's IGF issue paper. And I think you are right, it hasn't emerged as strongly as it should have. But it has been there, and I think the thing about shutdowns is in fact that they are not stopping, so I think as Chengetai says use the bottom up process to put it back as a main session next year. So it's not that it hasn't been discussed, it is there.
It just needs more emphasis, and I think let's use the bottom up process for next year to make, and you have the MAG, you have the incoming MAG Chair listening. Let's make this, again, a big issue next year as it was in 2017. And to some extent in Paris as well in 2018 it was also really profiled at the IGF.
You are right, Berlin, not so much, but it's not that the IGF is has avoided the issue. Thanks for raising it. I'm from Africa, I feel very strongly with you.
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: Thank you very much. Can we have the next, please?
>> NNENNA NWAKANMA: Thank you very much, my name is Nnenna Nwakanma I come from the Internet, I'm coming on my personal behalf as a resource person to the IGF. This year I'm thankful to Poland because they gave us meeting rooms and what I did was to book a one‑hour slot for mentoring. And what I found out is what I would like to report at this time, that there are people who are still very new, very, very new to the IGF.
I met a lot. Some were MPs, some were participating remotely and some were here on the ground. I would like to suggest that going forward, we might want to reach out to resource people who can hold mentorship sessions, especially for young people.
And because I speak French, I was able to connect to a couple in Burkina Faso who could not make it, explain to them, why they had problems attending. So once again, if possible, the incoming Chair, let's think of having recess people serve as mentors in an hour slot here and there. That's it for me.
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: Thank you very much, Nnenna.
The next we have online, the Ghana hub.
Is it possible to give them the floor. We will give it a few more seconds.
>> GHANA HUB: Ghana communication technology university. I want to share my experience from the beginning of the Summit until now, and I think that IGF that's ambition to highlight the Polish view in the global debate on the future of digital space which enables sharing knowledge and experience and best practices.
As we all live in a digital world, we hope that our safety is assured. I want to commend IGF for their contribution shaping global views on Internet Governance and other related issues and for giving access to all stakeholders regardless of their age, occupation and interests to get involved in the work of IGF.
And I believe where the challenge is echoed by the various countries, it will be sorted as soon as possible. And to IGF, Africa is ready. Thank you for the good work you have done, and what you are about to do in the next future. Thank you for putting the people first. I echo. Thank.
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: Thank you very much.
>> KARSEN GABRIEL: Thank you very much, my name is Karsen Gabriel from Tanzania, and I'm also from the Internet. No more silences. Digital rights are human rights too. Even when our voices shake the Internet has made us stronger to speak, and let's speak freely. It is a multi‑stakeholder approach, and why do we still lack inclusion? I'm a testimony of the powers of the Internet. It might as well as it's fragility. I have been casted as a dividend for having a voice and using the Internet as a power, and also I have been surveyed from grooming and doing my part in selecting it, but what is the balance?
Open decentralized and end‑to‑end, these are the pillars of the Internet, yet Internet unconnected is still an Internet that's isolated. We are big on policy. It's time we put faces, narratives for this collective innovation through localization, ownership and importantly empathy driven with humanistic approaches.
George Orwell said who controls the past controls the future, who controls the present controls the past. So who controls the Internet, is it truly Democratic and should it be really used for control? Thank you.
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: Thank you very much. Please.
>> CORY DOCTORO: Hello. My name is Cory Doctoro. I'm speaking in my global capacity from the Internet. I wanted to continue Dr. Adil's statement and she has sent me a copy of so I can read the next 90 seconds into the record. Dr. Adil says it is important to acknowledge that the UN considers cutting off Internet access regardless of the justification provided, including on the grounds of violating IP law to be disproportionate and thus a violation of Article 19, paragraph 3 of the international covenant on sill and political rights. The UN calls on all stated to ensure that Internet access is always maintained including during times of political unrest which is, by the way, most of these countries had signed a law binding treaties like the ICCPR and humanity man charter of human and people's rights.
We should all activate the function of those law abiding treaties by work and function of it and then hold them accountable, otherwise the credibility of the UN will be questionable. Therefore we don't we see the major players here in one room when we talk about access to Internet rights. Invitations should be extended to the Government representatives and major telecom companies to attend the next IGF in Addis Ababa in 2022 to be confronted by or have a dialogue with the African Youth IGF teams.
I believe I have seven seconds left, but if anyone wants to continue the doctor's statement, she is here. Thank you.
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: Thank you very much, Cory.
Next online we have back to the Ghana hub.
>> GHANA HUB: Good afternoon, good morning, good evening. My name is Edward Nigonia from the Ghana communication technology industry. I have a few questions here. How fast will our catch up if the rural areas and community is being connected in how possible will be, how possible will it be our able to reduce online harassment such as hacking into accounts and how will we know that the information we are getting on Internet is accurate? Thank you.
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: Thank you very much for those questions, and these are certainly good questions for us to reflect on and to discuss during the IGF intersessionally and also at the main meeting.
I will just go to Jorge Cancio is online because his hand was up. Jorge, please.
>> JORGE CANCIO: Hello. Hello, everyone, this is Jorge Cancio, Swiss Government this time talking from Switzerland where I went back after a couple of days there with you in Katowice. So first of all, I have to comment and thank the Polish Government and the Polish community for making this hybrid IGF possible. So huge thanks to the hosts.
Of course, also to the IGF Secretariat who has been working hard this whole year, and to the multi‑stakeholder Advisory Committee for leading on the program. All of this in such a difficult situation. I think we were all waiting for enjoying the possibility of face‑to‑face discussions and contacts. At least it has been possible for some of us during some of the time, but also the online exchanges have worked very well, and I think the IGF has taken this year another great steps to adapt, innovate, and reform and to get more relevant as the UN Secretary‑General was calling for.
So I'm looking forward to further progress, to continue bridging the gap between our discussions and the decision making levels, especially next year when we will be discussing also the Global Digital Compact of the UN Secretary‑General, and I hope that we may continue this path as well as we did with Anriette Esterhuysen with Paul Mitchell as the new Chair of the Multi‑stakeholder Advisory Group.
So thanks very much from our side, from the Swiss Government side, and be sure that we will continue supporting this important forum. Thank you.
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: Thank you very much, Jorge.
>> VITTORIO BERTOLA: Thank you, Vittorio from private sector, I only have a practical mundane comment on the structure of the format. First of all, we should congratulate the MAG and the host country and all of the staff here, they have worked hard for succeeding in holding the first ever hybrid IGF, not eventually virtual, not only in person under difficult conditions. So we have to learn how to make this better. This was clearly first attempt. My feedback was that in many sessions here it was harder to be the in‑person participant.
The in‑person participants felt treated as second class citizens without offense. Actually in several sessions I had to bring up my lap and join the Zoom session to be able to say hey, I'm here, I would like to speak. There was no possibility in person for people to ask for the floor. And there were lots of interesting discussions going on in the chat which we couldn't attend in which we join. So maybe it will be the way to go that local participants have to join the online platform, but we need to give some thought on that. And especially, please, I think you should consider using open technologies, open source technologies rather than a closed platform like Zoom which is also as proven to be insecure as we saw yesterday.
And especially the chat could be done through open standards so that we can make it accessible to people with all types of devices, technologies, and they are not forced to use Zoom as a client and if there is no Zoom client for the platform, they are lost. So please welcome this and I think many people in the community would like to volunteer to the MAG to work on instruments and make this possible. Thank you.
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: Thank you for your comments. Thank you.
>> BONCELET ILELEJL: Boncelet Ilelejl, Jaco labs, my contribution for the new Chair of the MAG is to look towards a solution whereby we have a lot of MPs that have come here, and a lot of people don't because they see big disparity between people don't really know their MPs so whereby you can have a page for the next coming IGF know your MPs, which MPs from which countries are there, and what sessions they will be attending so local NRIs can be able to engage there their MPs better and keep them informed in the process. Thank you very much.
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: Thank you for your comments. Thank you. Very good suggestions.
>> AUDIENCE: I don't ‑‑
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: I don't see anybody in Zoom, online platform who wants the floor, does anybody want the floor here? If not ‑‑ yes. There is the microphone there.
>> AUDIENCE: Good evening to all of you. I'm from Niger so I will speak in French.
Thank you very much to the authorities of the City of Katowice for organising this meeting. Before panelists touched upon some of the missing aspects at the forum, I like what my colleague from Sudan said, namely that the Internet is a platform for the younger generation in particular, and so we need to think about the young people who suffered because of the lack of access to food and water, to safety, to free mobility, travel.
Please let us not forgot about all of the problems pertaining to migration because over the recent years, there has been a number of tragedies involving migrants. We will keep assessing the access to the Internet while placing emphasis on respecting human rights and we will encourage the Government representatives to ensure that relevant policies are implemented so that the Internet is safe and may be an instrument of development.
We do need to improve different digital services, especially in the context of SDGs.
(Applause).
>> JUDITH HELSTEIN: Hi, Judith for the record. Thanks so much for having this IGF. I thought it was excellent. My question and comment is that I wish we would revise the criteria for the fellowships to the IGF. Currently people with disabilities or people from civil society or others who happen to live in the U.S. or Europe and other Developed Countries are excluded from applying from the fellowships. And other groups have changed their fellowships such as ICANN to allow people with needs or other areas to apply for the fellowships. And so I ask this question of you and thinking of hoping you can revise the fellowships for the upcoming year. Thank you.
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: Thank you very much, Judith. Yes. The point is taken. Yes. Let's go online, and I'm so sorry if I'm not pronouncing your name properly, and it's Phyo.
>> PHYO LWIN: I want IGF to encourage the NRI especially the NRI for supporting in their region initiate their local NRI and then to connect with, and then guiding UNRI to be able to connect with the regional NRI as well.
Also I would like to request that IGF to support not only to support not only for the forum, but also for the NRI sustainability as well. That is what I would like to raise, reach out to the IGF, the Internet Governance activists. Thank you so much.
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: Thank you very much for your comment. We have a line. This is very good. Please.
>> LUCIEN CASTEX: Thank you, Chengetai for giving me the floor. I will be speaking in French. Ladies and gentlemen, dear colleague colleagues I would like to take the opportunity to extend my thank yous to the host country. Thank you to the organizers of this year's IGF. It has been a place of vibrant discussion on the Internet, and it has highlighted will relevance of the multi‑stakeholder model of decision taking in the realm of digital transformation.
On the one hand, the debates have been excellent in terms of their quality and content. On the other hands, it's really important that we have this multilanguage community that can gather at the IGF forum.
We have listened to speakers speaking Spanish, French, Arabic, and this goes to show how important this forum is, and how important it is to become ever more inclusive, also in the digital space.
It also testifies to the power of such hybrid meetings.
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: Thank you very much.
(Applause).
>> KATERYNA BOUSUNOUSKA: Thank you for the floor. My name is Kateryna Bousunouska, and I came here together with the delegation from the youth department of the Council of Europe. First of all, I would like to say a huge thank you for organising this forum, and it was a great pleasure to spend this week full of questions on governance, on global governance of this new technologies that already shape our everyday life.
And as representatives of our new generation of youth, we always strive for engagement with policy makers and we always want to not just speak but also to be listened and to be heard. That's why on one of the days of the forum, we had a meeting with parliamentarians in particular with some members of the European Parliament where we shared our common concerns about policy making on the European Union level, and we actually enjoyed this one‑hour meeting much more than a lot of other panel discussions because we heard much more engaged, and we thought that next year if they bring IGF with more formats like that would be much better for our generation to be heard and to be able to participate in policy making at least on this discussion level. Thank you.
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: All right. Thank you very much. Yes, we have tried to make a marked effort since 2019 when we heard from the youth that they felt that they weren't really taken seriously at the IGF. So hopefully that has changed and you have seen improvement. Next we will go online to Jenna.
>> JENNA: This is Jenna from the Asia‑Pacific youth IGF and I'm glad that I will be automobile to connect remotely for another year to join IGF for my fourth year.
I appreciate all of the effort in allowing people from different parts of the world to join in this meaningful presume remotely and it's incredible and I can see the effort of different parties and stakeholders involved in making this event happen, but I think we have been doing all of this discussion remotely for almost two years now, and I believe it's almost time that we have to rethink our role in this Internet Governance community.
I can see the effort of IGF Secretariat, NRIs effort in encouraging collaborations among stakeholders in this critical time of the pandemic, but I believe what's more important at this point is to think about the meaningful participation beyond Zoom calls and more calls in the coming years because we have to seek out new ways and make it more sustainable if this pandemic is not going to end any time soon.
I believe with more resources or support from IGF and all other NR Is, with all of our powers we will be able to make our participation even better than before.
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: Thank you very much, Jenna.
>> LILY ADENBUCI: Good morning, good afternoon, good evening depending where you are listening. My name is Lily Adenbuci, and I have heard I have heard comments about people speaking about youth, and this will be piggybacking on what was said by the other speaker here and what you shared with us. It's my third time at IGF, and we have seen the increased participation of youth and it's awesome. The recommendation going forward from a youth perspective is have representation in the room and in sessions. Yesterday we had an awesome session speaking about digital skill sets and issues from around the globe, and things that were really affecting young people, and in the room we are only young people, so it just tells us probably we are speaking to ourselves. Maybe if our key takeaways and clear actions enter the bigger report, who knows maybe they will fly over many heads and won't get the attention needed.
How about you have some rationing or portion of people to be in sections, youth sessions to pick information and probably to follow up on after the event so that we can have the information second generation young people be able to be the people who have the power to actually cause some change. So that's the point. Thank you.
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: Thank you very much, lily.
>> AVINASH DADHICH: Hello. My name is Professor Avinash Dadhich and I'm from India. This is my first IGF and I'm attending this as a student. So my main research area is law and regulation of AI and law. So I have really learned a lot because after almost like one decade, I live like a student, not as a teacher. I was attending sessions, learning new things, and my idea was that if you want to regulate Internet or technology, then we need to learn something beyond the law.
So this is an interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary discussions really help me and when I will go back to my law school, I am planning to start a Center for Internet Governance, and I have like one or two suggestions for this forum. While we talk about the rules, regulation formation, then we need to invite judges also, because in common law countries, high court and Supreme Courts play a very important role to not only define and interpret the policies and rules and regulations, even they also create rules and regulations.
So maybe in next IGF if we can have some discussions and invite some jurists like the Professors and high court and Supreme Court judges, that will be helpful for this discussion. Thank you.
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: Thank you very much. I think that is one of the sections that we may be missing. So we will try and make some effort to that for next year as well.
>> JENNIFER CHUNG: Thank you for giving me the floor. My name is Jennifer Chung speaking on my personal capacity. I want to express appreciation and admiration for all of the stakeholders, all of the community members, all of the people who connected into this hybrid IGF from the Asia‑Pacific region. I know it is traditionally very difficult for the Asia‑Pacific region be able to participate fully in meetings that are scheduled around the globe.
In fact, I did hear, I guess in the very first few days of the IGF how difficult it was for them to be able to connect to sessions here as well. I want to express extreme appreciation for our host country, Poland, for the IGF Secretariat, and, of course, for the MAG and all of the technical people here who have done incredible work and tirelessly trying to troubleshoot and fix all of the bugs and fix all of the things that we have been talking about to allow people to continue to connect, like we heard from Phyo earlier, she is connecting from Myanmar, in a place that is very difficult right now.
There are many people just like her in Asia‑Pacific who are trying their best to participate fully in these very important discussions and I thank you all for allowing this to happen.
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: Thank you very much, Jennifer, and, yes, it is appreciated. Thank you. Ambassador Thomas.
>> AMBASSADOR THOMAS: Thank you Mr. UN Chengetai. First of all, thanks to our Polish hosts for organising excellent meetings under very difficult circumstances and, of course, everybody at the UN, MAG Chair, the Technical Envoy office, IGF Secretariat for organising this. I think we have seen that there is an enormous incredible richness and experience around the world on these issues, but we have also seen the diversity of needs in different regions with people under different circumstances, and that the IGF is a unique forum where these voices can at least be heard, can express themselves.
The problem is that I think there is still a disconnect between these voices being expressed at the IGF and the decision makers in the big powerful public or private bodies that take decisions and this is why we are happy to see that the Technical Envoy office and the UN tries to go forward, tries to build a bridge with the leadership panel, we could have chosen another name, but that's not the point, so to create a bridge to make these voices heard.
And my urge is to all of those that think that this is going to be the end of the IGF. If we are serious and we want to make the voices heard, it's not enough just to have discussions at the IGF. We need people that transport these voices to those that make decisions and we hope that the people in the leadership panel will earn the trust from the community that they will put their voices to the leaders and will, and the ear of the leaders. So thank you very much.
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: Thank you for your comments. Next we will go online and, Fred.
>> FRED AAZORE: Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak. I am Fred speaking from Ghana I am one of the youth Ambassadors for 2021 and the Ghana technical and projects Committee Chair for Internet Society. I particularly took interest in this year's IGF and took part in most of the preparatory sessions before the main IGF, and I must commend the MAG team and the host country and the UN team that actually pulled this off.
There were some challenges that came in, but overall, I think this awesome, but I must side with lily and some of the youth who actually raised concerns of the youth voices being added to the mainstreams.
It was sad to know that one of the main sessions where we had a lot of the MAG we couldn't find a youth as part of the panel. It wasn't that alone but some of the main sessions and Plenary Sessions we couldn't find a youth being part of the panel discussions.
Yes, the youth were given a voice to speak, but I believe we can also consider putting the youth on some of these panels, at least one person to be able to contribute in that regard. Then going forward with the youth Summit and the other sessions that are given to the youth, I believe we can also equally put, match the youth within the other sessions so if we have a youth Summit, we should also give some elderly ones or experienced ones an opportunity to be on the panel so that their voices that will be picked from there or the reports that will be coming out of the youth Summit would also include voices from the experienced, even though we name it a youth Summit.
I believe this is the way forward and it will help us. Thank you very much.
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: Thank you very much. Thank you for your comments. Please.
>> NAZARIUS KIRAMA: Thank you, Chengetai, and the high table. My name is Naza Nicholas from Tanzania. And before I proceed, I would like you to know one thing. You may be very few people in the MAG and Secretariat, but you are making a huge difference all over the world. That is one thing that I really want you guys to know.
And if the room agrees with me, I think they can applaud you for one second.
(Applause).
You are doing a very good job because by supporting the NRIs and the hubs you are actually making the change on the grassroots level. You are ensuring that the voices of people from the grassroots level are heard in the halls of the decision makers.
So I thank you for what you are doing. Lastly, I would like to suggest one thing that these schools of Internet Governance are very critical to ensure that we bridge the young people to the understanding of the processes of the multi‑stakeholder as well as how to get into the IGF processes.
Thank you so much, and I wish you a very good health. Thank you.
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: Thank you, Naza. Thank you. Next we go online on Anurag.
>> ANURAG ANAND: Internet Society Ambassadors for 2021. I would like to speak from special experience and would like to say that I, and express gratitude that in my first IGF session, one of the most important aspects that I am advocating for which is tribal and indigenous educational rights and adding to rights was very much discussed in, and it was, so it was a pleasurable experience to engage in participation and engage in debate on what this means and what role the youth can play in achieving tribal literacy as well as tribal Internet Governance issues that should be brought up to the forefront as well.
Going forward, I would also like to stress that as the pandemic has taught, we are stronger when we are together, so going forward, we should not forget that tribal issues and indigenous issues, especially related to Internet Governance and Internet accessibility should not be forgotten and they should be kept in mind because Internet is for all and so is governance as well. Thank you so much.
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: Thank you very much for your comments. I think I will now just close the queues, we won't add anybody else because very to keep on time, but we will go to the second Mic now.
>> AUDIENCE: Good morning. I would like to thank the hosts and the MAG for their excellent work and for making this IGF 2021 possible in spite of the pandemic.
I have a question. We had a lot of online participants, but there were some linguistic issues involved. So what can we do to make sure that every citizen can take part in figure Summits in their own language. So maybe all of the UN working languages should be represented during all of the sessions, during this IGF, we saw that interpreting service was only available in one room.
So we should change that as we go forward. So we need to opt for the interpreting service to be available during more sessions. I think such meetings should be an opportunity for everyone to be heard. We don't want the Internet to be considered a luxury. Every single person on the planet should have access to the Internet in order to be able to work, live and take care of their family members. Thank you.
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: Yes. It is one thing we really do struggle with because it's a resource allocation issue. What we spend the resources on if we take from one end, we, to give to another end, so it's a balance, and we do have a MAG Working Group that is working on it and trying to find what is the right balance for this, but thank you.
>> AUDIENCE: Hi, everyone, my name is José Fizato. Talking about Internet Governance in a global way, why in the countries of the south we still talk about accessibility while in the countries of the north we talk about Internet and AI, Internet and economic growth, Internet and Sustainable Development Goals.
How to ensure that the balance and equity in terms of Internet Governance. North problem at the regulatory level. The Internet has become a business in Africa. What to do? Consumers pay daily for its access, but the quality has never been satisfactory. The COVID pandemic has proven to us that the digital divide is affecting young people more. We are over 50% of the world's population, but never have our voices formally considered. Among the actors of the Internet Governance ecosystem.
The future of tomorrow is our future. We must be considered and involved in making big decision process, open question to you decision makers, what is the benefit of making laws, but without being able to force their applications? Thank you.
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: Thank you very much. Next we will go online.
>> AUKE PALS: I'm from the Netherlands and I want to express my congratulations to the host for the great way of organising this Conference in a hybrid matter in especially these difficult times and making it able to be better physically. I was last week was in Poland and now from home, virtual great and this hybrid format really is a boost for people all around the world to speak up and be engaged. Moreover, also the session quality was great this year with a diverse mix. Unfortunately, we also had recurring themes. Under human rights topics but great new topics on AI, so I think the IGF is really, this IGF really gave a quality boost and I hope to see that continuing in the next years. Thanks very much.
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: Thank you.
>> PAWEL URGECZ: My name is Pawel Urgecz and I represent the Internet standard and safety coalition, and I hereby announce our new name. First, we saw a tremendous youth program this year, and I am very glad to say that we as the Dynamic Coalition will be working together very soon on education and skills so we are going to develop where they are at this point together.
What I would like to share is that the work that Sorina has done in the Dynamic Coalition Working Group is literally, and the support that we as Dynamic Coalitions got is very, very, very well received so for Sorina, big applause because she really did a tremendous job. The topic that we were able. Sorry, yes, applause, please. It's representative of how the Dynamic Coalitions work into the IGF plus and the fact that we had UNDESA and the Technical Envoy's office on the stage in our session was also very well received by the Dynamic Coalitions. Finally, I think the Polish host did a great job, and I was very happy to see old friends and made new friends and this way hope we will be able to do this in a normal way this year with everybody on board and. Thank you very much for the opportunity.
My name is Pawel Urgecz. I would like to say I few words Thanks to all of you who decided to come here and be in person and to all who joined us John line as well. A few remarks ‑‑ online as well. A few remarks, as I was representing academia, I was happy to see young people involved in different activities within the IGF this year. So I hope, and I wish to IGF to have more and more young people that do care for the next events.
This few days I had a lot of very good discussions and I really hope that they will turn into a real cooperation in the future for some good projects, and the third remark on the side is I can assure you that we have a really nice summer in Poland so you are more than welcome to come again to Katowice in summer. Thank you very much.
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: Thank you very much. And I do believe him. It is a nice summer in Poland. Please.
>> THIERRY NATHANAEL KOPIA: I come from Burkina Faso and I would like to thank the UN for organising this session that allows us to talk freely about IGF issues. I would like to thank the host country, and I would like to refer to the language barrier. Let's remember that the IGF is supposed to be an international forum representing all stakeholder groups. So you really need to make sure that every single participant can speak their own language, and so that they can clearly understand everything going on during all of the discussions, and let's make sure that the documents prepared on the basis of the IGFs can be understood later on. And translated into other languages.
It's not easy, I admit. We should also involve Governments because we are discussing governance here, but we represent the civic society, and we cannot do anything if we do not involve the Governments, and Government representatives.
So our voice needs to be heard. We need to pass on the message to decision makers of particular countries. Let's get them involved so that they can hear our voice all over the world.
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: Thank you. And also I have noticed two people have joined the queue. We had closed the queue because we really have to be on time. So sorry. But, please, go. I have to be strict because if I am not, then it goes on and on. So sorry about that. Please.
>> AYDEN FERDELINE: Thank you for giving me the floor for the final comment. My name is Ayden Ferdeline and I want to echo comments on Jennifer Chung expressing admiration and thanks to Poland to the MAG and to the Secretariat and to everyone in the room who participated in good faith in all of the discussions. Thank you and it's been an excellent session and I have been very glad to be a part of it. Thank you.
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: Thank you very much. For those of you who couldn't make it onto the queue, we will have a call for comments and you can submit your comments in, and we will take them into account and we are also going to take these into account as well, we have the recording, we have the transcript, we are taking notes and they will act as an input document to the first MAG meeting for the 2022 MAG.
So thank you for that. So now we will just go over to comments from the podium about what they have just heard.
>> ANRIETTE ESTERHUYSEN: Thank you, Chengetai.
Thank you, everyone, for the comments. I think as Thomas said, the needs are diverse, and I think for the IGF to meet those needs is challenging, and the language barriers are real. The barriers of the first of voices is real. And finding ways of bringing all of that together meaningfully is difficult.
I think clearly what stands out for me is making information available about what is being discussed at the IGF. That needs to be done more effectively. For example the Internet shutdown, it was discussed but maybe it was difficult to find out how.
>> Similarly, the different regional priorities might not stand out. There was an attempt this year to use a Wiki to map the issues to the workshops. I think it should be built on. I think also what really stands out for me is, and this is maybe my closing comments before I thank the host is that we need to not lose the fact that the IGF is there to have a space for controversial issues to be discussed.
People don't come to the IGF just because they want to be part of positive action. They also come to the IGF because they have challenges, because they do not have access, because they do not have human rights on the Internet, because they don't feel they are able to influence policy in their national or regional environments. And I think if we lose the IGF as a space for engaging those areas of conflict and attention, we will lose the value of the IGF.
So my final remarks, I really want to thank the host country. They have been remarkable. They supported the virtual IGF in 2020 as well, and just really they held nothing back in terms of trying to make this a successful event. They have been incredibly cooperative, worked with the MAG. So thank you to Krzysztof, and Michele, the entire team, to Victor who has been phenomenal. I.
I want to thank the MAG, the 2021 MAG had a challenging task and they worked hard under very difficult conditions so it's been a privilege for me to work with them, and just I wish them all the best going forward.
And the Secretariat, thanks for your incredible work. You are really amazing team, and I feel this year we have had the addition of Maria Francesca and her team and I want to thank them also for becoming part of this process and adding their perspectives and linking the IGF to the digital cooperation process through that. So thanks very much, and thanks to everyone. Carry on coming back. And make the IGF meaningful!
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: Assistant Secretary‑General.
>> MARIA FRANCESCA SPATOLISANO: May I use French? Give everybody the time to tune in if you have a device.
Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to speak French because the United Nations is not just about English. On the Internet, English is the prevailing language, but I think it is really important that we speak our native languages, so we will make every effort to foster a multi, the multilanguage nature of the Internet. Now, switching to English.
The sessions we heard are diverse and very good and I have noted some practical ones wanting to use this device rather than another one and some others which are more about the themes, so we will take them in and use it best as we can for when we devise the future versions of the future years of the IGF.
Let me, of course, thank the Chair, the outgoing Chair that has been a force of the nature for the IGF and will continue, I'm sure, to learn from their knowledge and support. And welcome the incoming Chair who is virtually with us somewhere, and the host country for the wonderful support and incredible strength you have shown in this circumstance. Thank you.
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: Thank you. And we will quickly go to Paul Mitchell, the incoming MAG Chair just to have very quick observations, and then we will move on. If possible, can we just cut the chime, I know we are a little bit over time, but we will make it quickly.
>> PAUL MITCHELL: From my perspective, I would align myself with Anriette's comments.
I think this has been a very enlightening discussion highlighting that there are still a lot of challenges that need to be addressed, and while we have had great successes over 16 years getting to this point, there remains a lot of work to be done. I'm in listening mode at the moment really wanting to understand what people are feeling and looking forward to working with the community going forward.
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: I'm sorry, Paul, we didn't quite hear that, but can you start again?
>> PAUL MITCHELL: Yes. Can you hear me now?
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: Yes, we can.
>> PAUL MITCHELL: Like the Verizon commercial from the 80's. So I align myself with Anriette's summary. I think this discussion has really indicated both the promise and the peril that we all looked forward for in terms of keeping the Internet free and open, but building upon the foundation that we have done so well so far to make it really much more inclusive in the other parts of the world where it's not inclusive to address the inequities and to continue to build upon the work that's been done. I'm in listening mode for the next little while and really very much want to understand the views of the community, so this has been a very valuable session for me. Thank you.
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: Thank you very much, Paul. Minister Krzysztof Szubert, please.
>> KRZYSZTOF SZUBERT: Thank you very much for your comments. We are running out of time. I will cover some of the points during the closing ceremony, but I would like to use this opportunity and officially thank the person I have been working with last year extensively, and the person behind the coordination of the IGF 2021 agenda, Ms. Anriette Esterhuysen, the MAG Chair 2021.
(Applause).
>> ANRIETTE ESTERHUYSEN: Thank you. I wish I could take these flowers home with me. It was a pleasure. You were fantastic, you were charming, you were efficient, and I really enjoyed working with you, and you and your team. It was wonderful. Thanks so much.
>> KRZYSZTOF SZUBERT: Thank you.
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: With that and since we are five minutes over time, we will close this session and I would just like to thank everybody for coming, thank you, everybody, for being online, waking up early in the morning or staying late online, and a very big thank you to the MAG and to the MAG Chair. It was really great working with you, and also with somebody from my home region and, of course, we will continue to be working together as we have been before you joined the MAG. So we will continue. Thank you.
(Applause).