IGF 2023 WS #523 Fostering a governance approach for a Latin-American digital

Organizer 1: Jamila Venturini, 🔒
Organizer 2: J. Carlos Lara, 🔒
Organizer 3: Carolina Botero, 🔒Fundación Karisma
Organizer 4: Maricarmen Sequera, 🔒TEDIC
Organizer 5: Carrillo Eduardo, 🔒Asociación TEDIC

Speaker 1: Miguel CANDIA IBARRA, Government, Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC)
Speaker 2: Michel Souza, Civil Society, Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC)
Speaker 3: Grecia Macias, Civil Society, Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC)
Speaker 4: Carolina Botero, Civil Society, Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC)
Speaker 5: Maricarmen Sequera, Civil Society, Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC)
Speaker 6: Cristian Leon, Civil Society, Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC)

Moderator

Carolina Botero, Civil Society, Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC)

Online Moderator

Maricarmen Sequera, Civil Society, Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC)

Rapporteur

Cristian Leon, Civil Society, Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC)

Format

Round Table - 60 Min

Policy Question(s)

What are the necessary human rights standards and safeguards and avoid setbacks in legislation guaranteeing privacy, data protection, and even sovereignty of countries, in the implementation of international instruments to combat cybercrime?
How to promote governance in digital security agendas in the region and at the country level?
How to include perspectives from the global South, in relation to local contexts and needs, in international regulation, and designed from the needs of global potentials?

What will participants gain from attending this session? This session will allow stakeholders from Latin America to raise awareness about the risks posed by a cybersecurity agenda that does not take into account human rights standards.

Participants will be able to establish an open dialogue that will allow them to make a regional comparison, identify similarities and differences and generate a joint learning.

It will be possible to foster cooperation and contacts between delegations allowing a greater consensus, knowledge transfer and capacity building.

Participants will receive two updated documents of analysis with recommendations and suggestions prepared by the AlSur Consortium based on the latest development in local and global regulation.

Description:

The global landscape of digital security is changing rapidly. Following the discussions on an International Convention on Countering the Use of ICT for Criminal Purposes, in the framework of the UN Ad Hoc Committee, and the approval of the Second Additional Protocol to the Budapest Convention, most countries will have to make major adaptations to their laws.

Several Latin American organizations and delegations participated in these discussions, with many challenges in reaching consensus, especially in regard to adopting greater safeguards for human rights, as the new international instruments imply setbacks. For example, there are risks related to criminalization of speech protected by freedom of expression, use of intrusive investigative tools, adoption of risky procedural measures, access to sensitive personal data, among others.

Parallel to the discussion of cybercrime fighting instruments, several governments are working on the development of national cybersecurity plans. However, most countries are following a cybersecurity perspective that focuses more on control and surveillance instead of strengthening mechanisms for protecting information assets. Thus, the use of facial recognition technologies and spyware has been extended without sufficient transparency and respect for human rights standards.

In this context, the AlSur consortium of 11 civil society organizations in Latin America working together towards strengthening human rights in the region’s digital environment, began a process of approaching governments to discuss and explore the need for the region to build a Latin-American digital security agenda.

The workshop will follow up a previous meeting in RightsCon 2023, in which we outlined a roadmap for strengthening a multi-stakeholder perspective and the adoption of human rights standards in discussions around cybercrime and cybersecurity instruments. It will be a key dialogue opportunity to consolidate a local perspective of these topics that considers our needs and context.

Expected Outcomes

Consolidate a space for dialogue and mutual collaboration in order to influence national instruments and public policies about cybercrime and cybersecurity.
Start a common agenda on digital security for countries in Latin America and with a Global South perspective.
Foster human rights standards in the adoption of cyber crime and cybersecurity instruments.

Hybrid Format: In order to generate an inclusive and fluid hybrid session, the following considerations will be taken into account:
A mapping of strategic stakeholders in the region on cybersecurity and cybercrime agendas will be shared among attendees onsite and online, so we can have a more integrated discussion, stakeholders can identify between themselves and can follow-up contacts before and after the session.
The session will be projected on-site so that onsite attendees can know who is online and vice versa.
There will be one onsite and one online moderator to ensure that both onsite and online audiences feel comfortable and included at all times and the conversation can flow.
The Mentimeter tool will be used to provide live comments and questions for both audiences.