Freedom Online Coalition members were actively involved in these discussions, and the Coalition held several informal and formal meetings during the week. These included an informal meeting between Coalition members and civil society stakeholders, a Strategy and Coordination Meeting for Coalition members, an Open Forum session, closed Working Group meetings and Working Group 1’s workshop on multistakeholder and human rights approaches to cybersecurity.
The main topics touched upon in these meetings examined the Coalition’s work to promote human rights online, focused on ways to increase the Coalition’s efficiency and value to stakeholders, and revolved around the Coalition’s ongoing Strategic Review. The Review, which has internal and external components and will run through the autumn of 2016, aims to evaluate the Coalition’s structure, its membership criteria, objectives and activities, and funding mechanisms. Discussion at the Strategy and Coordination Meeting therefore centred on the scope and nature of the Coalition’s work, encompassing the annual conference, intercessional work (Working Groups), joint statements, newly-established local networks in major hub cities, and external communications. One area of focus was the need to streamline internal processes to engage with online freedom issues, including how to allow the Coalition to respond to urgent incidents quickly and to mobilise for joint statements more efficiently.
At the FOC Open Forum, Coalition members were able to communicate the focal points of the Strategic Review to stakeholders and gain their feedback, stressing the importance of this review period in the development of the Coalition into a sizeable and increasingly influential intergovernmental force on online freedom issues. The panel discussion at the Open Forum focused on the importance of Coalition efforts in promoting online freedoms throughout existing channels of intergovernmental engagement, the benefits of multi-stakeholder policy development, and the challenges of balancing security and human rights. In addition, lead representatives from each of the FOC’s three Working Groups (WGs) gave updates on the work to date. Michael Walma, cyber coordinator for the Department of Global Affairs, Canada set out WG1‘s progress in developing a rights-based approach to cybersecurity, which was to be presented later in the IGF at a separate workshop. The framework has thirteen recommendations, developed through year-long consultations among WG members and external experts. James Losey from WG2 set out the plans of the group to look at the application of rule of law principles to internet development. Katharine Kendrick, co-chair of WG3 spoke about a major report investigating transparency processes in government requests to ICT companies for user information and content restriction that the Group recently published. The report analyses how both actors disclose information about law enforcement and national security requests.
At the informal meeting, civil society stakeholders engaged in a frank discussion with members on the opportunities and limitations inherent in engaging with the Coalition, providing valuable feedback for the Coalition’s Strategic Review. The dialogue offered a space for stakeholders and Coalition members to exchange views about the intricacies that dictate governmental action on human rights issues, including capacity and time constraints and the complex ecosystem of actors involved in every decision-making process. A key takeaway from the discussion included the valuable opportunity offered by engaging with the Coalition through the Working Groups and the need to maximize this opportunity by strengthening linkages between Working Group members and the Coalition to use their outputs as tools for change. In addition, civil society actors urged Coalition members to consult with other stakeholders on best practices to help operationalize the principles they have signed up to by joining the Coalition.
As a befitting close to the week, Working Group 1’s workshop, entitled “a multistakeholder and human rights approach to cybersecurity” took place on Friday 13th November to a packed room and enthusiastic audience. The workshop reviewed and looked at the practical implementation of a set of draft recommendations that the Working Group have drafted to bring multistakeholder processes and human rights into cybersecurity policy development and decision-making and was designed as a working session with breakouts for receiving direct inputs and comments on the recommendations. Excellent introductory comments prefaced the breakouts in which members of the WG led small groups of workshop participants. The feedback from the session was overwhelmingly positive and constructive, with many comments supportive of the work and its purpose.
Governments, civil society, private sector, and other stakeholders interested in learning more about the Coalition, its ongoing work, and the current Strategic Review, are encouraged to reach out to the Coalition through its Support Unit by emailing info@freedomonlinecoalition.
