Session
- Bahaa El-Taweal - Google - Africa Group
- Erlingur Erlingson - Adapt- WEOG
- Cristina Herrera Garcia - Adapt - GRULAC
- Stephanie Seale- OHCHR- WEOG (On site moderator)
Speaker 1: Alex Walden, Global Head of Human Rights, Google
Speaker 2: Jason Pielemeier, Executive Director, GNI
Speaker 3: Esteve Sanz, Head of the Internet Governance Sector in the DG=CNECT, European Commission.
Speaker 4: Ian Barber, Legal & Policy Lead, Global Partners Digital
5. Gender Equality
16. Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
17. Partnerships for the Goals
Targets: SDG 5 Gender Equality: Women and other vulnerable groups are unequally targeted in their online experiences, in many cases resulting in reducing their involvement in online discussions. Protecting online rights improves the presence of women online and contributes to greater gender equality. SDG 16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions - Promoting human rights in online environments promotes justice and some of the collaborations mentioned, help enforcement agencies, creating strong institutions. SDG 17 Partnerships for the Goals - The panel will highlight success stories of collaboration across sectors to protect users' online experience.
Classroom
Introduction and goals for the Session - 5 minutes Discussing challenges and collaborative projects - 30 minutes Audience input and Q&A - 25 minutes Wrap up - 5 minutes
Technology has created a vital digital space for expression, information sharing, and access. This panel explores the crucial intersection of online experiences and fundamental human rights, including freedom of expression, data privacy, and access to information. We'll discuss the challenges faced by civil society, tech companies, and enforcement agencies in protecting these rights within a complex, borderless online environment. Panelists will also highlight collaborative projects contributing to online human rights protection.
This session prioritizes active engagement, both in-person and online. We've allocated significant time for audience interaction, leveraging the expertise present at the IGF. By incorporating audience comments and questions, we aim to tailor the discussion to address key concerns and interests. Ultimately, we seek to foster greater cross-sector collaboration to strengthen human rights protections in online environments.
Report
Moderator: Peggy Hicks - director of the Thematic Engagement, Special Procedures and Right to Development Division, OHCHR
Speakers:
- Alexandria Walden - Global Head of Human Rights, Google
- Jason Pielemeier - Executive Director, GNI
- Esteve Sanz - Head of the Internet Governance Sector in the DG-CNECT, European Commission
- Ian Barber - Legal & Policy Lead, Global Partners Digital
Practical Takeaways
The session was well attended, both in-person and online.
We found it practical to limit opening remarks and focus on diving straight into the discussion among the panelists, and would say this approach makes the session feel more organic and less formal as sessions can when panelists are essentially reading prepared statements. Here it helps to have a capable moderator that can move the conversation and pivot to interesting questions or topics as they come up during the panel discussion - we were of course very lucky to have Peggy Hicks from OHCHR in that role!
We held a prep call, which was very useful. We also found it very useful having a single point of contact organizing the session to handle any logistics of procedural questions in advance and on the day. This included being able to keep the moderator informed of late-emerging travel delays for one of the panelists.
Key Session Takeaways
- Civil society is facing major funding challenges. There is a growing funding crunch - donors reducing or cutting funding - accompanied with a lessened priority on human rights as donor focus shifts to national security. This disproportionately impacts already underfunded civil society in global majority countries.
- Digital authoritarianism is on the rise. The Internet is not just controlled, but also being used for control.
- Stakeholder engagement is critical. It is important for companies and governments to engage with stakeholders in an effort to be transparent and get input and feedback on legislation, policies and products.
Session Calls to Action
- The multi stakeholder approach needs to be defended as it is increasingly hard for civil society to engage with processes that are not inclusive or transparent.
- Human rights must be built into legislation and tech policies and products, and safeguarded through multilateral processes like WSIS+20.
