From 30 November to 3 December 2021, the 10th Anniversary Freedom Online Conference took place under the theme “Openness, Accessibility and Inclusion – Human Rights Online in the 2020’s’’. For the first time ever, the Freedom Online Conference was held virtually, and despite challenging circumstances related to the Covid-19 pandemic, it gathered more than 800 participants from 72 countries over four days across various stakeholder groups.
Providing a unique multistakeholder forum, the 2021 Freedom Online Conference brought together governments, civil society, academia, the private sector and others to discuss and share information on the most urgent challenges to Internet freedom and the enjoyment of human rights in the digital space, and advance the FOC’s vision for promoting Internet freedom, human rights and a digitally inclusive world in the 2020s.
The Conference featured more than 70 speakers and 13 sessions covering priority issues of the FOC outlined in the Program of Action 2021, including disinformation, digital inclusion, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, challenges by authoritarian regimes, as well as other topics related to Internet freedom raised by the broader community.
The event culminated with a high-level Ministerial Meeting on Friday, 3 December, which featured remarks from more than 30 high-level government representatives. The Ministerial Meeting provided an opportunity for the FOC to launch its “Freedom Online Coalition 10th Anniversary Helsinki Declaration – Towards a rules-based, democratic and digitally inclusive world”. The Helsinki Declaration, signed by all FOC members, outlines the Coalition’s vision on stepping up efforts to protect Internet freedom in the coming decade, and reaffirms its commitment to protect and promote human rights for all, both offline and online.
A key takeaway from across all Conference sessions was the notion that tackling issues relating to freedom online must be done in a way that respects international human rights law, and by advocating for the existing universal human rights framework in global forums. The Conference reaffirmed that multistakeholder engagement must be at the heart of FOC’s activities going forward.
The Conference also provided strategic opportunities for the FOC and FOC Advisory Network (FOC-AN) members to gather in internal virtual meetings, including a Strategy and Coordination Meeting, and a Joint FOC and FOC-AN Roundtable.
You can read the Chair’s summary here.
