Strengthening Internet Governance in Asia-Pacific

On 29 September, national leading experts from Asia-Pacific countries presented their national assessment projects, showcasing the advances made with the ROAM framework and the Internet Universality Indicators. This was in a panel discussion organized by UNESCO on the occasion of the Asia-Pacific Regional Internet Governance Forum (APrIGF). The theme for this year’s APrIGF is “Inclusion and Trust, touching on key issues including Digital Rights and Human Rights”.

Jointly organized by UNESCO and Digital Rights Nepal, this session fostered further engagement with Asia-Pacific Regional IGF communities and stakeholders.

Michael Croft, UNESCO representative to Nepal, stated that the purpose of the ROAM principles is to guide governments in making evidence-based decisions and actionable Internet policies.

Simon Ellis, author of the national assessment of IUIs in Thailand, then shared key areas and findings of the implementation of the IUIs in Thailand. He also gave contextual information on the Internet culture in the Asia-Pacific region.

Speaking on behalf of Media Matters for Democracy, Sadaf Khan mentionned the ongoing project in Pakistan, stressing that the collection of disaggregated data to cover the cross-cutting category and gender-related issues has been a challenge.

Tank Raj Aryal, General Secretary at Digital Rights Nepal, discussed the major issues in key areas such as inclusion, sustainability and trust in the implementation of the IUIs in Nepal. He further stressed the importance of relying on the legal framework to advance the digital agenda at national level.

All participants agreed on the relevance of the IUIs in fostering and strengthening the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as the framework allows countries to identify gaps and formulate strong recommendations by exploring different themes in more depth.

According to UNESCO, the ROAM framework remains highly relevant to assess human-rights, openness, accessibility, multistakeholder and gender equality dimensions of the Internet, and mitigate potential risks.

UNESCO calls all Asia-Pacific countries and stakeholders to join the Dynamic Coalition on Internet Universality Indicators and get involved in the collaborative research of ROAM-X indicators at global, regional and national levels.  The Organization seeks to engage in an extensive partnership with the APrIGF community via the newly launched Dynamic Coalition of IUIs, so as to join forces for advancing evidence-based policy making of Internet governance and fostering digital collaboration in the region.