Tánaiste opens OSCE Dublin conference on Internet freedom
DUBLIN, 18 June 2012 – A conference hosted by Ireland’s 2012 OSCE
Chairmanship on the challenges to freedom of expression and media
freedom online and the debate around Internet governance opened in
Dublin today.
Experts and representatives from OSCE participating States, civil
society organizations, media and business are taking part in the
two-day conference, which was opened by the Tánaiste and Minister
for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Eamon Gilmore T.D., in his capacity
as OSCE Chairperson-in-Office. Speaking at the event
the Tánaiste said:
“The Internet and other networked technologies have provided people
all over the world with a new platform for exercising their right
to freedom of opinion and expression. It has become an
indispensable tool for all citizens to seek, receive and impart
information. We, in government, have an obligation to enable
our citizens to access the Internet unhindered. Yet some
governments are increasingly resorting to a variety of measures to
restrict such freedoms, contrary to OSCE commitments and to
international human rights law.”
In bringing together this diverse group of panellists, our hope is
to inform, to stimulate discussion, and, ultimately, to guide OSCE
participating States and other key stakeholders to make informed
choices."
The conference opened with a high-level panel discussion that
focused on ways to ensure that the Internet remains an open, global
and public forum for freedom of opinion and expression and a
platform for facilitating the exercise of other human rights and
fundamental freedoms.
"There are competing views about rights, freedoms, security and
regulations online. The discussions of freedoms and rights and the
discussions around security often appear to be running on parallel
tracks,” said Dunja Mijatović, the OSCE Representative on Freedom
of the Media, who is taking part in the panel.
“We need to bring these debates and perspectives together, and we
need to encourage a more interdisciplinary understanding of
cyberspace governance that will help us avoid overly broad-brush
attempts to legislate the Internet while enabling broad
consultation. The OSCE offers a framework for the rights-security
debate that we need to take advantage of, and I hope that this
conference will help to further the discussion.”
The conference will also feature three sessions on online content,
Internet governance and human rights, and new media: social media
and social networks. Prominent speakers include Frank La Rue, UN
Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to
freedom of opinion and expression; Rebecca MacKinnon, Senior
Fellow, New America Foundation, former CNN bureau chief in Beijing
in Tokyo and co-founder of Global Voices Online; Nils Muižnieks,
Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights; Cory Doctorow,
science fiction author, activist, journalist and blogger; Alec
Ross, Senior Adviser on Innovation in the office of the US
Secretary of State, Sonia Flynn, Director of Online Operations,
Facebook; and Janez Lenarčič Director of the OSCE Office for
Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).
Google will host a “Big Tent” event, open to all participants, on
the evening of 18June.
The conference is being streamed live at:
http://www.osce.org/event/internetfreedom2012.
A live Twitter feed (@NetFreedom2012) is being used to feed
questions and comments into the different working sessions.
