The IRPC work and its relation to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Introduction
Over the past few years the Internet Rights and Principles Coalition (IRPC), through its Charter of Human Rights and Principles for The Internet , has been working on issues closely related to following Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs):
• GOAL 10: Reduced Inequality
• GOAL 12: Responsible Consumption and Production
• GOAL 13: Climate Action
• GOAL 16: Peace and Justice Strong Institutions
The Coalition has been particularly focused on:
• Articles 1- Right to Access to the Internet,
• Article 2 – Right to Non- Discrimination in Internet Access, Use and Governance,
• Article 8 – Right to Privacy on the Internet and 9 – Right to Digital Data Protection of the Charter
These articles have been the highlighted to address issues related to access and protection of rights of minority groups, such as migrants and refugees and the new challenges of the emerging technologies (IGF2018 WS346 Refugee Rights and Emerging Technologies: Building Digital Futures for all, IGF2016 – [Lightning Session] Human Rights Online: What has Internet Governance got to do with Refugees?, EuroDIG2016: Confronting the Digital Divide : WS2 Internet Access and/as Human Rights for Minorities and WS10 Refugees, human rights and Internet access) in a bid to tackle the digital divide and to reduce inequalities.
As part of Coalition’s commitment to ensuring that human rights and fundamental freedoms enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and international laws and norms are fully protected throughout the process of technological development, the Coalition has also been highlighting the online (and offline) abuse of human rights activists, media workers and women and the need to put in place more efficient and transparent regulations to tackle online abuse (IGF2016 – IRPC Meeting (with Amnesty International) “When death threats go viral: defending human rights in the face of orchestrated harassment campaign on social media” )
In light of Article 4 of the Charter: Right to Development through the Internet, the IRPC has focused on emerging technologies and Environmental sustainability. The Coalition worked with the Cities for Digital Rights Coalition, at IGF18 in Paris the IRPC held a meeting on “Sustainable Futures: The Internet, Human Rights, and Environmental Issues”, at the EuroDIG19 the IRPC organised a flash panel on Climate change and emerging technologies (“Fighting climate change with emerging technologies – for good or ill?”) and at IGF19 Berlin youth-led breakout session “Internet Futures and the Climate Crisis – Paths to Sustainability or Extinction?” in an effort to put climate emergency on the top of Internet Governance agendas.
Over the next five years the IRPC will continue to focus on the SDGs outlined through a consolidated outreach work based on the Charter of Human Rights and Principles for the Internet published by this Coalition.
To achieve our goals, the IRPC will continue to work on:
– Research and Reporting: The Coalition will paying attention to challenges to the full enjoyment of human rights and freedoms in the online environment and will address the Internet governance community to create awareness on the issues.
– Outreach: Through outreach work the DC will try to engage not only the internet governance groups but also the wider community.
– Advocacy: The Coalition will continue to ensure human rights related issues relevant to the achieving these particular goals are including in IG policy discussions and processes.
IRPC Activities in 2019
IGF19 – Berlin
The IRPC had a very well attended and enthusiastic IRPC annual meeting which included an important and youth-led breakout session “Internet Futures and the Climate Crisis – Paths to Sustainability or Extinction?” and the launch of the French edition of the Charter. From this meeting emerged a small working group of people who participated in the discussions and would like to see the issue of environmental sustainability in the IG agendas.
The IRPC hosted a very successful WS #282 Data Governance by AI: Putting Human Rights at Risk?. This session on relationship between AI and international human rights law and legal standards was co-organised with Amnesty International Germany.
The IRPC participated in the DCs Main Session, “Joint Efforts to achieve the SDGs “ , where we discussed our work in relation to the Sustainable Development Goals (achievements and plans towards 2025).
The IRPC Village Booth was the most successful the Coalition has ever had. The booth displayed all the available translations of the Charter (thanks to the support of the Swiss OFCOM), and they all run out very quickly. The IRPC also received a lot of support from the wider IGF community and we met many people interested in the Charter or already working with the document all over the world in community projects, NGOs, Universities, research centres, etc.
Regional and local activities
– EuroDIG 19 – the IRPC participated in WS 2: GDPR Implementation – Blind spots, opportunities, and the way forward on day 1, 19 June and organised a Flash 13: Fighting climate change with emerging technologies – for good or ill? on day 2, Thursday 20 June.
– Some SC members attended RightsCon19 and IGF UK
– At the Forum on Internet Freedom in Africa (FIFAfrica19) SC member Mohamed Farahat organized a workshop on refugees and digital rights.
– In Cameroon, SC member Rigobert Kenmogne has been working on a workshop on the Charter and its Principles, following his great translation work and the launch of the French version of the Charter last November
– The IRPC also started conversations with other NRIs, such as IGF Portugal for a possible collaboration in the national IGF to introduce the Charter and the work of the Coalition
- As part of the Coalition’s Observer status at the Steering Committee on Media and Information Society (CDMSI) at the Council of Europe, a member of the SC attended the Plenary meeting in June.Throughout the year the IRPC also contributed for the work of the CDMSI by giving input and feedback to the outputs of the CDMSI.
Publications
- French Translation of the Charter was launched at the IRPC annual meeting at the IGF19 in Berlin
- New editions of all available translations of the Charter were also printed
- The IRPC 10 Principles were translated into Bangla
- The translation of the Italian version of the Charter
IRPC Governance:
Steering Committee was restructured with the aim to improve the IRPC outreach effort by assigning roles to each of the members of the committee as below:
- Co-Chair: Minda Moreira
- Secretary: June Parris
- Communications Coordinator: Robert Bodle
- Outreach and Partnerships Coordinator: Hanane Boujemi and Mohamed Farahad
- Council of Europe CDMSI Observership Coordinator: Minda Moreira, with Marianne Franklin and Hanane Boujemi
Regional Experts
- Africa: Rigobert Kenmogne
- Asia-Pacific: Marianne Franklin and Sahajman Shrestha
- Latin America And Caribbean: June Parris
- Middle East and North Africa: Hanane Boujemi and Mohamed Farahad
- Europe – Minda Moreira and Marianne Franklin
- North America – Robert Bodle
- Ongoing Projects
- Charter Booklet Project Coordinator: Marianne Franklin
- The Charter of Human Rights and Principles for the Internet Educational Resource Guide (v2) Coordinator: Robert Bodle