Sustainable Internet Governance & the Right to Development

IGF 2020 Sustainable Internet Governance & the Right to Development

This meeting continues groundbreaking work drawing links between environmental sustainability and human rights. Its focus is Article 4 of the Charter of Human Rights and Principles for the Internet in light of the urgent need to identify and rectify the adverse environmental impacts of internet technologies. This meeting will contribute to emerging action plans to ensure that environmental sustainability and the full realization of human rights are cornerstones of internet governance.

Internet-connected technologies play a vital role in helping to achieve full realisation of human rights. All around the world emerging technologies are contributing to the effort of eradicating poverty, hunger, and diseases and promoting gender equality and empowerment of women and youth. Digital technologies are also increasingly central to our current efforts to find solutions to the climate crisis and to promote environmental protection. However in this still highly digitally divided world we live in, the drive for digital overconsumption is creating unprecedented levels of e-waste, a burden that affects mostly developing countries with the huge environmental cost, and the consequent exposure of entire populations to serious health conditions.

This year the IRPC meeting will be looking into Article 4 of the Charter of Human Rights and Principles for the Internet  – Right to Development Through the Internet to address how human development and environmental sustainability can be achieved through the Internet, and will work with representatives from all stakeholder groups to identify the adverse environmental impact of Internet-connected technologies and to help developing solutions to ensure the full realisation of human rights in the online environment.

Meeting Format

Opening Remarks and brief introduction to the Internet Rights and Principles Coalition
Minda Moreira, co-Chair IRPC

Presentations from invited SpeakersQ&A from participants, discussion, closing remarks

Objectives of this session:

• Address the major issues arising from the rapid growth of the ICT industry and digital overconsumption in view of the human rights directly affected by resulting environmental hazards
• Consider further the specific impacts on human and sustainable development goals as these intersect with “greening the internet” policymaking.
• Bring together representatives of all sectors committed to work on the urgently needed solutions to ensure that next generation of internet-connected technologies enable human development and a sustainable environment for full realisation of human rights.

Policy questions that this meeting will address include:

1. How does the environmental impact of internet-connected technologies affect human rights especially the right to development?
2. As the UN SDGs look to “connect the next billion”, how can internet policymakers, designers, and citizens better respond to the environmental issues arising from the growing energy demands, manufacturing, consumption and disposal of internet-connected technologies?
3. In which specific areas can different stakeholders cooperate more closely to work towards environmentally sustainable and human rights-respecting internet futures?

This session follows up to Coalition’s annual meetings organised at IGF2018 in Paris and IGF2019 in Berlin, as well the 2019 EuroDIG in The Hague, and Plenary 4 from the EuroDIG 2020. It is part of the IRPC’s ongoing outreach and dissemination work based on the Charter of Human Rights and Principles for the Internet.