The Vice-Chairman (Africa) of the World Information Technology and Services Alliance (WITSA) and former ITAN President Dr Jimson Olufuye concludes his United Nations assignment at the UN Commission for Science and Technology for Development Working Group (WG) on Improvements to the Internet Governance Forum (IGF).
It can be recalled that Dr Olufuye was appointed by the United Nations Commission on Science & Technology for Development on January 27, 2011 to represent the Business Community in the developing nations as one of the five global Business representatives in the Working Group. While the group was to have concluded its work in May 2011, it however could not due to the complex nature of the internet governance issues.
The mandate of the WG was derived from the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) consensus resolution 2010/2 of 19 July 2010 on the “Assessment of the progress made in the implementation of and follow-up to the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society”. By the resolution, ECOSOC “invites the Chair of the Commission on Science and Technology for Development (CSTD) to establish, in an open and inclusive manner, a working group (WG) which would seek, compile and review inputs from all Member States and all other stakeholders on improvements to the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), in line with the mandate set out in the Tunis Agenda, and which would report to the Commission at its fourteenth session in 2011 (now at its 15th Session in 2012*) with recommendation, as appropriate. This report is to constitute an input from the Commission to the General Assembly, through ECOSOC, should the mandate of the IGF be extended.
In its Resolution “Information and communications technologies for development” (November 2010), the General Assembly decided to extend the mandate of the IGF. In the same Resolution, the General Assembly also underlined the need to improve the IGF “with a view to linking it to the broader dialogue on global Internet governance” and that particular consideration should be given to “inter alia, enhancing participation from developing countries, exploring further voluntary options for financing the Forum and improving the preparation process modalities, and the work and functioning of the Forum’s secretariat.”
The WG at the first instance met twice in Switzerland. First on February 25-26, 2011 at the Hotel Majestic in Montreux and on March 24-25 in Geneva. Though the WG could not submit a report of specific recommendations on improvements as mandated within the time frame of December 2010 and March 2011 due to insufficient time to arrive at consensus on specific recommendations, it however was able to seek, compile and review inputs from all Member States and all other stakeholders on improvements to the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), in line with the mandate set out in the Tunis Agenda. The work of the WG was captured in the report of the maiden Chairman of the Working Group, Mr Frederic Riehl of Switzerland available at http://www.unctad.info/en/CstdWG.
Following the extension of the mandate of the CSTD WG on IGF till May 2012 by the ECOSOC at its meeting on July 4-29, 2011, the third and fourth meeting of the WG under its new Chair, Mr Peter Major of Hungary took place in Geneva on October 31 - November 2, 2011 and January 11-13, 2012. The final meeting holds February 20-22, 2012. The report of the WG is expected to be translated into UN languages for consideration by the CSTD in Geneva on May 21-25, 2012.
It is expected that this time around the WG will conclude its assignment with sets of recommendations on the improvement of the Internet Governance Forum.
Dr Olufuye concludes UN CSTD assignment
