On 10 June 2021, which marked the 10th anniversary of RightsCon, UNESCO presented the latest developments in its ROAM Principles (Rights, Openness, Access and Multistakeholder participation) and Indicators project, calling for RightsCon stakeholders’ engagement in building a Human Rights-based internet.
In her opening remarks, Marielza Oliveira, UNESCO's Director for Partnerships and Operational Programme Monitoring in the Communications and Information Sector, highlighted how the Internet has become the de facto new “public commons”. She pointed out the importance of implementing the Internet ROAM principles and indicators framework to create a cyberspace that adheres to humanistic principles, raise people’s wellbeing, contribute to sustainable development, promote and protect human rights.
The implementation of the Internet Universality ROAM principles and indicator framework has demonstrated its benefits in two ways: first, as a process, the framework catalyzes a national and multi-stakeholder shared vision for the internet, and dialogue on regulatory and policy changes needed to get there. Second, as an output, the IUIs provide solid evidence upon which to base Internet transformation in line with international human rights standards.
A panel of multi-stakeholder experts - Dawit Bekele representing Internet Society, Valeria Betancourt from APC (Association for Progressive Communications), Lina Rainienè, the co-chair of the Human Rights and International Law Working Group of the ICANN Government Advisory Committee (GAC) and Antoine Vergne representing Missions Publiques - reiterated their collective support to the Dynamic Coalition on Internet Universality Indicators (IUIs), and stressed the relevance of its multi-stakeholder nature in building digital collaboration and fostering human-rights online, fully in line with respective organizations’ mandates and activities.
Anja Gengo, Internet Governance Forum (IGF) Secretariat and NRIs(National and Regional Initiatives), reminded participants that the “Dynamic Coalition’s mission is to address the digital divide”, and proposed that it “centers its mandate around empowering local communities by providing knowledge, capacity-building tools and infrastructures to vulnerable groups such as people in rural and remote areas.” She welcomed increased collaboration between IGF NRIs and UNESCO in implementing national assessments of Internet Universality ROAM-X indicators, and in policy formulation discussions.
Xianhong Hu, UNESCO focal point for ROAM-X, discussed national assessment experiences, highlighting how participants appreciate how the indicator framework holistically generates evidence on the quality of the internet in terms of adherence to human rights, to openness, to users’ experiences of inclusive access, and to multi-stakeholder governance. Lyad Harasheh, leading researcher for the Palestine national assessment of Internet Universality ROAM-X Indicators, also shared his national experience and lessons-learned, underlining the process and methodology for data collection.
Participants agreed that the Dynamic Coalition on Internet Universality Indicators not only fosters digital collaboration and advances human rights in line with the UN SG’s roadmap of digital cooperation, but it also contributes to digital inclusion. This is a welcome impact, as the digital divide between the connected and the unconnected is more visible than ever, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.