UN ICT TASK FORCE GLOBAL FORUM ON INTERNET GOVERNANCE TO BE HELD, 25 – 26 MARCH

UN ICT TASK FORCE GLOBAL FORUM ON INTERNET GOVERNANCE TO BE HELD, 25 – 26 MARCH

NEW YORK, 5 February (UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs) -- A Global Forum on Internet Governance will be held on 25-26 March 2004 at United Nations Headquarters in New York, to bring together leading actors and all relevant stakeholders, including Member States, civil society and the private sector, interested in Internet governance issues.  Organized under the auspices of the United Nations Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Task Force, the Global Forum will be an opportunity to engage in an open discussion on all aspects of Internet governance.

The views expressed from around the world in on-line discussions to be organized with other partners in the weeks ahead will contribute to the Forum to ensure as broad and comprehensive a reflection of perspectives and ideas on the issues to be addressed.  The Global Forum will contribute to the world-wide consultation process to be organized by the Secretary-General.  (For future announcements, please visit:  www.unicttaskforce.org/sixthmeeting, http://www.wsis-online.net/.

Background

The Plan of Action adopted at the Geneva phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in December 2003, requested the United Nations Secretary-General “to set up a working group on Internet governance, in an open and inclusive process that ensures a mechanism for the full and active participation of governments, the private sector and civil society from both developing and developed countries, involving relevant intergovernmental and international organizations and forums, to investigate and make proposals for action, as appropriate, on the governance of Internet by 2005”. 

Among the principal issues that the group will address are a working definition of Internet governance, identification of relevant public policy issues, and the roles and responsibilities of different stakeholders.  While the Secretary-General has yet to make a final decision on how to organize a Working Group on Internet Governance, he expressed his view that this Global Forum “will be of great utility” for any future consultation process.

UN ICT Task Force

The Task Force is a multi-stakeholder initiative launched by the Secretary-General in 2001.  In supporting the first phase of the WSIS, the Task Force successfully helped in placing the United Nations development objectives at the heart of the Summit and mobilized the participation of the multi-stakeholder networks, organized a series of side events and launched new initiatives, including on education.  The Task Force intends to contribute actively to the preparations for the second phase of the WSIS leading up to the Tunis Summit in November 2005.

The Secretary-General has decided to extend the initial three-year term of the Task Force until the end of 2005.  In his letter of 29 January 2004 to the Chairperson of the Task Force, Mr. José-María Figueres Olsen, the Secretary-General stated:  “I have followed the work of the Task Force with keen interest and wish to express my appreciation to you and the other members for your successful efforts in helping to place ICT at the service of development, making this a central theme of the WSIS”.

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