Pacific IGF 2021

Sub-regional IGF
At the center of Internet Governance, stands the principle of safe, secure and open Internet and web. The internet has revolutionized the world like nothing before. The invention of the Internet and Web sets a stage to affirm reality of opportunities and challenges particularly for the Pacific and small island developing states. In these turbulent months of uncertainty with the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, we are all at the forefront of an experiencing challenges that requires a multistakeholder approach.

The Pacific Islands Chapter of the Internet Society(PICISOC) is a chapter that represents the interests of users in the Oceania- Pacific region. It focuses on local issues and developments in the Pacific region, and seeks to provide impartial advice to governments and the public on Internet related matters that are relevant to Pacific Island people. PICISOC and the Asia-Pacific Top-Level Domain (APTLD)formally launched a partnership by signing a MOU in 2020 to build a strategic partnership to explore possible areas of cooperation in the field of outreach and engagement of, and building capacity for ccTLD managers across the Pacific Countries and Territories.

The Process
The USP, PICISOC, APNIC, ISOC, APTLD, InternetNZ, ICANN, IGF and key partners in the region will working together to host the Pacific Internet Governance Forum from 6 – 8 September, 2021 – a member’s forum to facilitate dissemination, impact, promote the collaboration, and ultimately sharing of knowledge and good practices and innovative organizational-specific solutions. The Pacific Internet Governance Forum will ensure a multistakeholder process, bringing together stakeholders from the Asia-Pacific region to join the Internet Governance debate and policy discussions to ensure that the internet remains safe, secure and open. 

The Pacific Internet Governance forum will ensure a human-centric design thinking process to create new and innovative ideas to deal with the challenges faced by our members in the Pacific. The forum will not be limited to a specific area of expertise – it’s going to focus on people, processes, technology and the ecosystems to solve multifaceted problems in the area of Internet Governance. With support from key partners, we hope to create a multistakeholder approach and create opportunities for our key members to highlight their challenges and also to look at opportunities to promote knowledge sharing and identify ways to work together to solve a problem. We want a faster, better-informed process with the right solutions that will fit the Pacific context. 

Previous Involvement
There have been 3 IGF meetings conducted in the Pacific with the aim at establishing a multistakeholder platform for discussing the Internet governance related matters. Reports to these meetings can be found on these links:

Vanuatu IGF: https://www.intgovforum.org/multilingual/content/regional-igf-initiatives
Asia: https://www.intgovforum.org/multilingual/content/asia-pacific-regional-group

The Pacific IGF is recognised by the United Nations Secretariat for the Internet Governance Forum as a sub-regional IGF that adheres to the core IGF principles and procedures, as outlined in the NRIs Toolkit. It regularly participates in the monthly meetings of all 137 NRIs, coordinated by the IGF Secretariat, contributes to the NRIs network development and integration of NRIs in the IGF’s global processes.

Importance of all Stakeholders Empowerment

As an indication of commitment to the partnership, PICISOC in collaboration with APTLD will team up with other key partners such as InternetNZ, an APTLD’s founding member and the University of the South Pacific (USP) to facilitate the APTLD meeting and the Pacific Internet Governance Forum in Fiji from 6 – 11 September 2021.

Ensuring the event encourages all stakeholders empowerment, of all disciplines, inclusive of gender and youth involvement is a core goal for the organising committee.

The operational secretariat’s role is entrusted to the Pacific Islands Chapter of the Internet Society (PICISOC).

Read more on the plans for hosting of the IGF 2021 meeting.