IN BRIEF...

The Internet Rights and Principles Dynamic Coalition is working to uphold human rights on the internet and to root internet governance processes and systems in human rights standards.

The coalition is:

• A diverse group of people and organisations with a common concern for upholding rights in the information society.
• A space for multi-stakeholder dialogue about the issues.
• A platform for practical collaboration and cooperation.

OUR APPROACH...

The Internet, broadly defined, is a unique and unprecedented global phenomenon that presents tremendous new opportunities and benefits for humankind.  New approaches in policy and practice are needed to maximise these benefits whilst at the same time upholding fundamental human rights.  This dynamic coalition aims to discuss and propose principles and models for appropriate public policy for the Internet in order to preserve and promote the global public interest.

We take the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a starting point for defining rights and their related duties, specified from the point of view of individual internet users and communities.  We believe that these rights need to be translated and applied to the internet environment to ensure that they are upheld and advanced.

Responding to the IGF's mandate for multi-stakeholderism, the Coalition welcomes, and indeed explicitly seeks, participants from all stakeholder groups, including individuals, civil society groups, the academic sector, governments, intergovernmental organizations, the technical community, and the private sector.

A lot of work done in other IGF Dynamic Coalitions and open consultations deals with themes that overlap and resonate with those of this coalition. We aim to be an umbrella platform for facilitating collaboration on rights issues in the Internet Governance Forum process.

OUR MISSION:

The dynamic coalition sets out to promote, and provide a space for, multi-stakeholder dialogue and collaboration.  This is important in order to identify policy priorities and take action to advance human rights in the information society.

The coalition also aims to make "Rights and Principles on the Internet" a central theme of the Internet Governance Forum and associated internet governance debate. 

Members of the coalition work individually and in partnership to promote processes and instruments to frame and enforce rights on the Internet. More specifically, the coalition aims to:

•  Raise awareness of fundamental human rights and what they mean on the internet.
• Discuss and anchor global public policy principles to preserve the openness of the internet and ensure that its continued evolution is framed by the public interest, through open and extensive stakeholder involvement.
• Encourage all stakeholders to address issues of human and civil rights in policy-making, contributing to a people-centric discourse and policy formulation in the internet governance space.
• Identify ways in which these rights and liberties can be applied to the Internet and other ICT technologies, and evaluate the applicability of existing formal and informal guidelines and regulatory frameworks.
• identify measures for the protection and enforcement of human rights on the internet, while pushing for people-centric issues and public interest based internet governance policy making.
• engage all relevant stakeholders, and, on doing this, bring issues of key public policy principles – and a stronger policy perspective – to the arena of human rights and Internet Governance.
• Describe the duties and responsibilities of internet users and other stakeholders which, together with their rights, will serve to preserve and promote the public interest
  

The Internet Rights and Principles Dynamic Coalition aims to both build on existing work and formulate new documents and processes where relevant.  We therefore ask you to contribute to the collection of information and links to documents, projects and organisations we have started in our wiki, and to discuss your work with the coalition.