On 20 February, APC submitted its input to the consultation on the NETmundial Initative (NMI) terms of reference. The input affirmed APC’s principled stance towards supporting inclusive, transparent and democratic spaces in internet governance working in the public interest. It recognises NMI’s potential to further the principles outlined in the NETmundial Multistakeholder Statement, expand the conversation to include stakeholders that have been absent from the discussion, and build support for a stronger Internet Governance Forum (IGF) that can fully achieve its mission of enabling communication, debate and collaborative policy making.
A space to increase dialogue
Many do question the need for spaces such as the NMI, and the onus is certainly on the NMI to prove its value to the global internet governance community. APC has both welcomed and criticised the initiative’s initial scoping meeting, committing to assist the initiative in its consultative period to become a genuine multistakeholder effort, part of which is this consultation on the NMI terms of reference.
APC emphasised in its submission that the NMI should not seek to hold any decision-making role, but rather should support a strong IGF and democratic and bottom-up processes, serving as a space to increase dialogue, coordination and collaboration within the internet governance ecosystem and between all the interested parties. APC also believes that NMI should not draw resources away from the IGF, but rather work with and parallel to it, with an overall goal of strengthening it.
APC believes the NMI should also build on the commitment to the public interest and human rights as fundamental internet governance principles provided by the NETmundial Multistakeholder Statement. NMI can provide a platform to increase the reach of the Statement and to address its shortcomings. APC has previously released a statement acknowledging its achievements as well as its flaws.
Development and social justice orientation
Issues highlighted in the NETmundial roadmap that NMI can address include network neutrality, or the principle of free flow of information, and non-discriminatory flow of data packets across the network, on which full consensus could not be reached in the NETmundial Multistakeholder Statement. NMI should also strengthen the development and social justice orientation of the NETmundial roapmap and implementation in order to make the NETmundial statement more relevant for developing countries.
APC hopes that the consultation process helps shape the NMI into a focused but diverse approach to build on what was achieved in the NETmundial, avoiding the pitfall of taking too broad a vision, and proving its worth to the internet governance community at large.