From 15-19 December, the Freedom Online Coalition (FOC) will be hosting a series of multistakeholder panel sessions, workshops, and dialogues during the 2024 Internet Governance Forum (IGF), taking place in-person in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and online.
This year, the Coalition will host four sessions aimed at addressing pressing issues relating to digital technologies and leveraging opportunities to advance a shared vision of a democratic, inclusive, and rights-respecting digital future. Through the following sessions, FOC Member States, together with insights from civil society, academia, technical community, and private sector stakeholders, will contribute to shaping global norms and policies that protect human rights online, and advance the IGF’s crucial role as a multistakeholder platform for discussions on Internet and digital public policy.
View the IGF schedule via the following link and join the FOC in-person or online at the following times (UTC+3):
Sunday, 15 December:
15:45 – 16:45 Inclusive Multistakeholderism: Tackling Internet Shutdowns
Organised by the co-Chairs of the FOC’s Task Force on Internet Shutdowns (TFIS), the United Kingdom, the Global Network Initiative, and Access Now, this session will reinforce the importance of the multistakeholder approach to tackling digital threats, including Internet shutdowns, exploring and showcasing ways in which inclusive multistakeholder collaboration can facilitate and effect positive change.
17.00 – 18.00 Human Rights Impacts of AI on Marginalized Populations
Organised by the U.S. State Department’s Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, this session will facilitate a discussion among government, civil society, academia, and private sector panellists to explore pressing issues related to AI’s impacts on marginalized populations, in addition to showcasing success stories and identifying feasible steps that can advance the identification, assessment, and mitigation of risks to marginalized populations that are created or exacerbated by AI.
Tuesday, 17 December:
15:45 – 16:45 A Rights-Respecting Approach to Emerging Tech Development
Organised by the Kingdom of the Netherlands, 2024 Chair of the FOC, together with the Office for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), this networking session will explore the role of the private sector in ensuring a rights-respecting approach in developing emerging technologies, including generative AI tools and systems, as well as the role of governments in ensuring that the development and implementation of technical standards around these technologies is conducted in alignment with states’ obligation to protect and promote human rights.
Thursday, 19 December:
13.15 – 14.45 Ensuring an Inclusive and Rights-Respecting Digital Future
The FOC’s Open Forum will bring together the current and future Chair of the FOC, the Netherlands and Estonia, alongside stakeholders from civil society, the private sector, academia, the technical community, and relevant UN bodies, to discuss strategies for upholding the multistakeholder model of Internet governance. The session will examine the path forward in implementing the Pact for the Future and the Global Digital Compact through the WSIS+20 review, and provide an opportunity to explore methods for reaffirming and strengthening the IGF’s role as a key platform for multistakeholder policy dialogue and the promotion of inclusive, open, safe and secure digital space.
