The 11th Internet Governance Forum (IGF) took place 6-9 December in Guadalajara, Mexico. The theme of this year’s event was Enabling Inclusive and Sustainable Growth. Each year, the IGF brings together the private sector, governments, civil society, the technical community and other stakeholders who have an interest in Internet issues. The United Nations, which convened the IGF, has given it a mandate to meet until 2025. This year more than 2,000 delegates from 83 countries came together to participate in over 200 workshops and sessions.
The GSMA spoke at a number of IGF workshops covering issues ranging from child online protection to access and connectivity to women and gender issues online. Moreover, the GSMA hosted its own workshop, entitled How can Privacy help us Harness Big Data for Good?, which brought together a variety of stakeholders interested in how aggregated, big data can be used to benefit citizens and consumers while taking into account privacy and transparency, among other issues. The GSMA also hosted a booth in the IGF village to promote the regulatory Capacity Building Programme.
There are no binding outcomes from the IGF, but the Chair’s Summary highlights the main themes that emerged. Because this year’s IGF focused on sustainable growth, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was the most significant overarching theme with many of the workshops and sessions focused on how the Internet could enable the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). There was also a focus on partnerships and international cooperation with a view to finding ways to bring the next four billion people online. The GSMA has submitted several contributions to ongoing, intersessional work on Policy Options for Connecting and Enabling the Next Billion(s). Other themes of the event were human rights, the Internet of things, cybersecurity and the conclusion of the IANA transition, or the transfer of management of key pieces of the Internet from the US to the global community.
The next IGF takes place 18-22 December 2017 in Geneva, Switzerland. For more information and details on the IGF, check out their website.