IGF 2015

In December 2015, the UN GA will mark the WSIS+10 anniversary with a high-level intergovernmental meeting. 2015 is also the tenth anniversary of a multistakeholder experiment that helped bring the WSIS to a successful conclusion---the Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG). Convened by the UN SG in 2004, the WGIG assembled forty representatives of governments and stakeholders who engaged in months of intensive peer-level dialogue and collective analysis. In June 2005 it released a consensus report that advanced a ”broad definition” of Internet governance; holistically addressed a range of policy issues; offered four competing models for the ”oversight” of critical Internet resources; and proposed the establishment of the IGF. The WGIG also generated an informal background paper, and a multi-authored book that was released at the Tunis Summit.

This Roundtable reassembles WGIG members who are still active in the field to take stock of progress on the WGIG+10 anniversary. Moderated by the Executive Coordinator of the WGIG secretariat and later of the IGF secretariat, the session will consider:

• The WGIG’s procedural contributions, e.g. to multistakeholder cooperation.
• The WGIG’s substantive contributions, e.g which elements of its analysis and recommendations remain valid, and which still merit further attention.
• The WGIG’s proposed mandate for the IGF as it has been implemented. 
• Whether the WGIG could serve as a model for the resolution of other pressing issues. 

The session will be based in part of an edited book to be released 1 December by the APC entitled, The Working Group on Internet Governance: 10th Anniversary Reflections.

Moderator:

Markus Kummer, ICANN Board of Directors, Switzerland

Participants:

Carlos Afonso, Instituto NUPEF, Brazil

Peng Hwa Ang, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

William Drake, University of Zurich / Noncommercial Users Constituency in ICANN, Switzerland

Raúl Echeberria, Internet Society, Uruguay

Baher Esmat, ICANN, Egypt

Juan Fernandez, Ministry of Informatics and Communications, Republic of Cuba

Ayesha Hassan, Internet Society, France

Wolfgang Kleinwächter, European Summer School on Internet Governance, Germany

Jovan Kurbalija, Diplo Foundation, Switzerland

Olivier Nana Nzépa, Anais-AC / University of Yaoundé II, Cameroon

Alejandro Pisanty, National University, Mexico

Masaaki Sakamaki, DOCOMO CS, Inc., Japan

Charles Shaban, Abu-Ghazaleh Intellectual Property, Jordan

Remote Moderator:

Grace Githaiga, Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet)

Rapporteur:

Stefania Milan, Tilburg University, the Netherlands