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[Greg Shatan]

ICANN Blog: Reflections on the WSIS+10 High-Level Meeting

https://www.icann.org/news/blog/wsis-10-hlm#.Vnga0UtX06Y.email

After a lot of hard work and collaboration, the world has just witnessed
the successful close of the United Nations General Assembly High-Level
Meeting, on 15-16 December, on the overall review of the implementation of
the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS+10 HLM
<https://publicadministration.un.org/wsis10/GA-High-Level-Meeting>).

This all started 12 years ago in Geneva, where representatives from around
the world declared a common desire and commitment to build a
people-centered, inclusive and development-oriented information society at
the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS <http://www.wsis.org/>).
Two years later, this same group met in Tunisia for a second time where
they confirmed a consensus statement called the Tunis Agenda
<http://www.itu.int/net/wsis/docs2/tunis/off/7.pdf>, which among other
things, created the Internet Governance Forum (IGF <http://intgovforum.org/>),
the mandate of which was extended for another ten years at the WSIS+10
high-level meeting.

Since 2005, different United Nations agencies, including the International
Telecommunications Union (ITU), the United Nations Conference on Trade and
Development (UNCTAD) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization (UNESCO), have been facilitating the implementation
of aspects of the Geneva and Tunis WSIS outcomes, including the so
called “Action
Lines <http://www.itu.int/net/wsis/implementation/>.” One issue also
outlined in the Tunis Agenda was the conducting of an overall review of the
implementation of theseWSIS outcomes in 2015.

The review process was initiated with a dialogue in early 2013, which
started in conferences hosted by UNESCO in February 2013 and the ITU in
June 2014. The following year, UNCTAD was mandated to carry out a ten-year
review of the WSIS outcomes that it concluded in June 2015. Along with many
otherWSIS stakeholders, I had the honor of attending these preparatory
events that ICANN contributed to.

This past June, the President of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA)
appointed
<http://www.un.org/pga/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2015/06/010615_World-Summit-on-the-Information-Society.pdf>
two
ambassadors - the permanent representatives of the United Arab Emirates and
Latvia to the UN - to co-facilitate the WSIS+10 review process in New York.
It was decided that the overall WSIS review would be conducted as a two-day
high-level meeting of the General Assembly to take stock of the progress
made in implementation of the outcomes and address areas for continued
focus. The two ambassadors facilitated a successful process to bring
together all members of the UN, as well as representatives from the civil
society, the business and technical communities in order to produce a
final Outcome
Document
<http://workspace.unpan.org/sites/Internet/Documents/UNPAN95735.pdf>.

We were pleased to see that the Outcome Document shows that the issue of
Internet governance no longer evolves around the question of whether it
should be *multilateral* or *multistakeholder. *Instead it recognizes the
“Internet as a global facility includes *multilateral, transparent,
democratic and multi-stakeholder processes*, with the full involvement of
Governments, the private sector, civil society, international
organizations, technical and academic communities, and all other relevant
stakeholders in accordance with their respective roles and
responsibilities.” This is an evolution from the 2005 Tunis Agenda, which
had spoken of “*international* management of the Internet”, and was
specific that it should be “*multilateral, transparent and democratic.*”
This is a reminder that the Internet is not centralized, and its governance
model is polycentric.

We were conscious from the start of the WSIS+10 Review process that early
engagement and building relationships of trust with both governments and
the inter-governmental organizations were needed forICANN’s productive
input in the consultations. This was facilitated through the work of ICANN’s
Government Engagement and Global Stakeholder Engagement teams. Our
executive staff engaged in a dialog globally, with the appropriate
ministries and governments, as well as with the Missions to the UN in New
York and Geneva, the UN, and the other inter-governmental organizations.
This engagement work was also coordinated with ICANN’s Governmental Advisory
Committee
<https://gacweb.icann.org/display/gacweb/Governmental+Advisory+Committee> (
GAC).

On 15 December 2015, I was privileged to participate in the
co-facilitator’s welcome opening panel
<http://webtv.un.org/watch/general-assembly-cofacilitators-welcome-high-level-meeting-on-the-overall-review-of-the-implementation-of-the-outcomes-of-the-world-summit-on-the-information-society-wsis/4662204627001>
 ofWSIS+10, where I was asked about the current and future governance of
the Internet. I noted how everything we all do now is affected by the
digital revolution, and the governance of the Internet is a constantly
evolving and challenging task for all of us.

During the WSIS+10 HLM, whether in conversations with heads of delegations
from developing or developed countries, there was recognition of the
evolution that ICANN and its multistakeholder community has undergone in
the last few years, towards becoming a widely recognized global
organization.

ICANN is looking forward to work with all stakeholders, including the I*
organizations, in the future deliberations and discussions, as defined in
the WSIS+10 Outcome Document.

Governments, private sector, civil society and technical community have
shown on various occasions that we can all work together on important
issues, relevant to the global Internet community, as we did in Sao Paulo
at the NETmundial <http://netmundial.br/> meeting in April 2014.

In the meantime, there will be significant work done in the United Nations
and its agencies for the implementation of the future WSIS follow-up work
in using Information and Communication Technologies to help implement the
recently agreed upon Sustainable Development Goals
<http://www.itu.int/net4/wsis/sdg/Content/wsis-sdg_matrix_document.pdf>.

After speaking with ICANN Board Director Lousewies van der Laan, she added,
“The Outcome Document is neither the end nor the beginning of a process;
it’s only one step in a continuous effort to keep the Internet open, secure
and interconnected. ICANN has been and will continue to be engaged in the
WSISprocess.  We at ICANN look forward to increased dialogue, understanding
and cooperation with the people from the UN, its agencies and the missions,
to make sure the Internet continues to develop with full participation of
all stakeholders.” As we look to the future, the WSIS+10 Outcome Document
will serve as a way forward for the next ten years until the next
high-level meeting.
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