UK IGF

The UK Internet Governance Forum

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The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) is currently in the process of reviewing the desirability of the continuation of the Forum as per paragraph 76 of the Tunis Agenda. As part of this consultation Nominet has submitted comments to the review process and these can be summarised as:

  • The IGF environment encourages an open exchange of ideas because there is no pressure to make decisions. Participants can learn from each other and draw on a wide pool of good practice to help inform their own decisions;
  • The open meetings foster the creation of multi-stakeholder partnerships so that dialogue can take place on a global level;
  • The IGF provides an open and inclusive process whereby all stakeholders can discuss public policy issues related to Internet governance;
  • The IGF has had a significant impact on Nominet and many of our stakeholders in the UK. Of particular note is the creation of the Nominet Best Practice Challenge and child protection issues being given a place on the international agenda and being discussed as part of a global debate;
  • We are pleased that members of the UK Parliament have seen the value of the opportunity to engage in the IGF;
  • The creation of the UK IGF has helped us draw increased benefit from the IGF and we are pleased that other countries have also adopted constructive engagement in the IGF.

We have also made some recommendations on how the current methods and processes could be improved and these can be found within the full text of our comment on the IGF website at: http://www.intgovforum.org/cms/2009/postings/Nominet.IGF.review.comment.pdf

Other statements on the IGF review process can also be found on the IGF website at: http://www.intgovforum.org/cms/index.php/component/chronocontact/?chronoformname=FormalConsult032009ListView

We believe that the IGF has been immensely successful in what it has achieved so far. We hope to see its continuation far beyond 2010 and we are ready to continue our support for the IGF process. If you would like to comment on the desirability of the continuation of the Forum you can email your statement to the IGF Secretariat at [email protected] Comments will be posted on a continuing basis.