The regional Internet community will meet in El Salvador in hopes of shaping the regional Internet Governance agenda following the NetMundial meeting recently held in Brazil.
Representatives of civil society, governments, academia, the private sector and the technical community will meet on 16-18 July at the Hotel Real Intercontinental in San Salvador, where they will debate the next steps involved in controversial, complex and urgent topics such as human rights on the Internet (privacy, access to knowledge, freedom of expression), security, pervasive surveillance of communications, the roles and responsibilities of the various stakeholders, and net neutrality in Latin America and the Caribbean.
This is one of the most important events of the year for the regional Internet community. Known as LACIGF meetings, Latin American and Caribbean preparatory meetings for the Internet Governance Forum provide a space for regional dialogue and policy debates in which the different stakeholders involved in Internet Governance have now been participating for seven years.
LACIGF is organized by a Program Committee made up by representatives of the different stakeholder groups (governments, civil society, private sector, academia, and the technical community) who believe that Latin America and the Caribbean need a stage for discussing topics that are relevant to the region and which can later be taken to, and discussed at, the global Internet Governance Forum (IGF).
The organizations that are part of the LACIGF Program Committee are: representing civil society, APC, AGEIA DENSI Argentina, ADC, and ONG Derechos Digitales; representing the technical community, ICANN and LACTLD; representing the private sector, ECOMLAC and AHCIET; as well as representatives of the Argentine, Brazilian, Uruguayan and Mexican governments. Since 2012, LACNIC has served as the LACIGF Secretariat. This year, the event is also supported by Conexion El Salvador in the role of local host.
Speaking of the upcoming El Salvador meeting, Andrés Piazza, External Relations Officer at LACNIC, highlighted the participation of colleagues from different countries throughout the region who promote "leadership in the construction of a space for regional discussions on Internet Governance issues." Piazza specifically highlighted the work of three notable women who serve on the IGF's Multistakeholder Advisory Group (MAG): Olga Cavalli (Argentine government representative), Carolina Aguerre (LACTLD, technical community) and Fátima Cambronero (AGEIA DENSI Argentina, civil society).
In turn, Olga Cavalli, Argentine government representative, noted that this regional space presents a valuable opportunity for the coordination of topics that are of interest to the various Latin American and Caribbean countries, such as "the IANA transition process, the impact of the new gTLDs, security, and freedom of expression, among others." In Cavalli's opinion, "the region benefits from the participation of all stakeholders, particularly governments, as they are the ones responsible for enforcing laws and developing regulations."
The role of the Program Committee is very important in deciding the city where each event will be held, selecting the recipients of financial assistance for attending the meeting, and, most importantly, for preparing the LACIGF agenda in close collaboration with the regional community.
"Preparing this year's LACIGF agenda is a challenge for the members of the Program Committee, as we cannot ignore the changes that have taken place on the regional and global Internet Governance agenda following the NetMundial meeting or several other processes that are taking place, such as the globalization of ICANN, the transition of IANA's oversight functions, and the results of WSIS+10, among others," added Fátima Cambronero of AGEIA DENSI.
Meanwhile, Valeria Betancourt of APC noted that "NetMundial was a significant step forward towards implementing the multistakeholder model for the definition of guidelines that will orient Internet Governance. The San Salvador meeting offers a chance to analyze this progress through a regional looking glass and reflect on the actions and participation models needed to develop principles and define a roadmap for Internet Governance in Latin America, as well as to establish strategies for including the region in the various global processes."
To conclude, Carolina Aguerre of LACTLD, said she believes that this year's LACIGF meeting "will strengthen its role, as the regional community has been demanding more than simply a space for debate and, for this reason, every regional stakeholder interested in taking part in these debates – which this year will probably aim at developing a regional multistakeholder agenda – has been invited to become involved and encouraged to participate in the event."
The meeting is open to anyone wishing to participate. There are no registration fees involved and the only requirement is that attendees must register on the LACIGF website. Each year, the Program Committee assigns a significant number of sponsorships as a way to explicitly support the participation of different regional stakeholders in the meeting and encourage their involvement in Internet Governance issues and processes.
LACIGF is supported by NIC.Br, ICANN, ISOC, lACNIC, Telefonica, Google and LACNIC.
For more information: http://www.lacigf.org/sp/lacigf7/index.html
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