On November 9, the UN officially opened the 15th IGF 2020 annual meeting on internet governance. The event, which is held online this year, started a week ago, on November 2, with the traditional pre-events and will run until November 17. It will be the longest of all Internet governance forums ever to take place.
The speakers who addressed the audience at the opening event included UN Under-Secretary General Liu Zhenmin, President of the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly Volkan Bozkir and President of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Munir Akram. They highlighted the importance of creating multi-stakeholder platforms such as the IGF to address the digital divide around the world.
Those who were speaking also noted that COVID-19 has accelerated the digital transformation in many countries. Small and mid-sized businesses have taken this opportunity to go digital and leverage e-commerce platforms. Germany’s representative noted that Europe has many opportunities for further digitalization through the development of an ecosystem for startups and investment in artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain and quantum technologies.
Yet, along with the progress achieved in the digital transformation of society, the digital divide has become ever more obvious, mainly between countries and regions. Studying, working or communicating is next to impossible without having access to the internet today, and many states, too, began using online platforms to provide government services for their citizens. On the other hand, this generally positive trend also exacerbates inequality in society, when being able to receive a particular service directly depends on the availability of a computer or smartphone and access to the internet. Children have become a particularly vulnerable group in this context as their chances to get an education have become directly dependent on whether or not a child has stable connectivity and access to digital devices. This problem has yet to be solved in many countries.
Those at the session also brought up the role of technology companies in bridging the digital divide and how digital technologies and internet policies can help societies become more resilient.
Because IGF 2020 is taking place via remote participation only, many of its traditional events have also become virtual. The Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ has presented some of its projects at the IGF 2020 Village exhibition: RIGF Russian Internet Governance Forum, and Youth RIGF Summer School on Internet Governance. The Coordination Center experts have also taken an active part in the preliminary sessions of the forum on November 2-6. Ilona Stadnik, supervisor of youth projects at the Coordination Center, who addressed the meeting on Dynamic Coalition on Schools of Internet Governance, shared with her colleagues the results of the first Russian Summer School on Internet Governance, which took place in August-September 2020. The video session can be viewed here.
Coordination Center experts are also involved in the main program of the forum. On November 16, chief analyst Maria Kolesnikova will moderate the session on Universal Acceptance of Domain Names and Email Addresses, and on November 17, she will make a presentation at the session on Multilingualism Online: Old Challenges and New Perspectives. Follow our updates on the most important things at the IGF.
