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Global Access, Global Progress: Managing the Challenges of Global Digital Adoption (16 December | 14:15 - 16:15 | Main Hall) This Main Session will consider the necessary steps to connect the next billions, as a steppingstone to ensure that all emerging technologies, including AI and data exchange can be inclusive, and their benefits are harnessed by everyone, everywhere. The speakers will exchange best practices and recommendations to address the persisting divides (across all its dimensions, including geographic, gender, skills, abilities, etc), with a holistic view that considers both the challenges and opportunities offered by emerging technologies. For more information, visit the session page here. |
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Protecting Internet infrastructure and general access during times of crisis and conflict (17 December | 13:00 - 15:00 | Main Hall) The main session will explore existing guidelines, norms, principles, or agreements that safeguard Internet access and stability during times of crisis and conflict. It will assess the need for new or updated normative or legal frameworks and policies on national, regional and international levels to further strengthen the protection of the Internet's core resources. The session will also clarify the roles and responsibilities of the various stakeholders, including governments, the private sector, the technical community, and civil society, in implementing these guidelines and monitoring compliance. For more information, visit the session page here. |
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Internet Governance and elections: maximising potential for trust and addressing risks (18 December | 13:00 - 15:00 | Main Hall) This session will therefore foster a discussion on the role of stakeholders in protecting information and electoral integrity, what rights are at risk of being harmed by state and private actors before, during or after elections and what sort of policy-related solution sets could be offered through multistakeholder cooperation in order to help protect information integrity in elections. It will present existing initiatives and efforts, and address the challenges and opportunities to strengthen international cooperation in this area. The goal is to explore how we can leverage the internet to support informed citizen participation in elections, while mitigating the risks to electoral integrity. For more information, visit the session page here. Main and Cross-cutting IGF 2024 Themes: Advancing human rights and inclusion in the digital age |
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Looking back, moving forward: how to continue to empower the IGF’s role in Internet Governance (19 December | 10:30 - 12:30 | Main Hall) Reaching the WSIS vision for a people-centred, inclusive and sustainable information society requires two fundamental considerations: multistakeholder collaboration and enabling, interoperable policy environments. As one of the key outcomes of WSIS, the IGF is a pioneering example and enabler of bottom-up discussions allowing stakeholders to exchange best practices, address challenges and reap the opportunities that the Internet, and more broadly, digital technologies have to offer. Since the first IGF in 2006, the contribution it has made in shaping the Internet is profound. The development of its intersessional work enabled by meaningful exchange of information and good practices, and connection with national and regional initiatives, continue to facilitate a common understanding on how to maximize the opportunities of the Internet and address challenges in a holistic, bottom-up manner. Despite significant progress made, the vision for people-centric, sustainable digitalisation remains out of reach. With the Global Digital Compact agreed, the upcoming WSIS review of what has happened over the past two decades, and what should happen next, the IGF community must now ensure that the future of Internet governance continues to embrace an open and inclusive Internet. This Main Session will showcase the unique role of the IGF as a central asset in enabling global digital cooperation, and a vehicle towards interoperable policy approaches in Internet and digital governance. The session will present examples of the long-term contributions that the IGF and its multistakeholder community have made to the broader Internet Governance space and share recommendations on how to strengthen the IGF and ensure that it is prepared to be one of the key follow-up frameworks to the outcomes deriving from the GDC and the WSIS+20 processes. For more information, visit the session page here. Main and Cross-cutting IGF 2024 Themes: Improving digital governance for the Internet We Want |