Good morning.
I am speaking on behalf of a Technical Community Coalition for Multistakeholderism (TCCM). TCCM is made up of members of the Internet’s technical community: the companies, organizations, groups and actors whose day-to-day job is to operate the critical infrastructure and services at the heart of the Internet.
We are united in our support for strengthened multistakeholder Internet governance.
We appreciate this opportunity to contribute to the WSIS+20 Zero Draft, and we are grateful to the President of the General Assembly, to the co-facilitators and to the Secretariat for their work thus far in the Review process.
We commend the co-facilitators on their proactive engagement with the broader multistakeholder community and encourage its continuation over the remainder of this process.
TCCM recognises there are a broad range of views in the international community on the issues in the Zero Draft, and we consider that the Zero Draft is a promising start.
We strongly support reaffirming the value and principles of multistakeholder cooperation and engagement and we welcome the Zero Draft’s recognition of the technical community as a distinct stakeholder group.
Today, I wish to highlight a number of specific points, including areas where we consider the Draft can be further improved:
● First, we welcome language that would make the Internet Governance Forum permanent. Recalling paragraph 28 of the Global Digital Compact, we believe the IGF should be reaffirmed as the primary multistakeholder platform for discussion of Internet governance issues. We also believe that future stable and diverse funding for the IGF is a critical issue for its future, and that decisions about future funding should be made in consultation with all relevant stakeholders.
● Second, we believe the WSIS Action Lines defined in the Geneva Plan of Action are broad, technology-neutral statements that remain suitable for their purpose of guiding the actions of all stakeholders in achieving the WSIS vision.
● Third, we believe that ongoing cooperation between all stakeholders remains the best way to engage support for the Internet and digital technologies which are critical to building inclusive, resilient societies.
● Fourth, we support the renewal of the WSIS framework, and integrating the Global Digital Compact without duplication, including efforts to build synergies with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and related initiatives.
Further details on each of these points are set out in our written submission, available at tccm.global, which is endorsed by thirty organizations.
Thank you for this opportunity.