NEW YORK - The United Nations (UN) will launch the first round of consultations next month on creating an Internet Governance Forum (IGF), as agreed by delegates attending the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in November last year in Tunisia, according to combined news agencies.
The UN is welcoming all stakeholders to attend the consultations, which will take place in Geneva February 16-17, according to a statement by Swiss diplomat Markus Kummer, who had previously participated in the WSIS Working Group on Internet Governance.
The consultations will focus on developing "a common understanding among all stakeholders on the nature and character" of the proposed IGF and to prepare for the first meeting of the new Forum, to take place in Athens before the end of this year, the statement said.
Internet governance was arguably the most controversial issue at WSIS. To defuse the heated war for political control of the internet, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan proposed creating the IGF. Government delegates in Tunis agreed on the proposal.
Although the Forum itself will have no oversight or decision-making function, some governments view it as an opportunity to sow the seed for a new internet governance regime.
Others, notably the US, view it in the same way they viewed WSIS itself: a multilateral, non-binding body with a very broad mandate but with no real power - except to meet in Greece