IGF 2016: Enabling Inclusive and Sustainable Growth

[20-Minute Lightning Session]

The session is an opportunity to inform the international community on the IG situation in the MENA region throughout Maharat Foundation work, especially that most of the MENA countries are not applying IG principles neither related to Human Rights and shared values nor to the processes particularly multistakeholderism and adoption of inclusive, transparent and open processes. They deal with internet as telecommunication service and consider IG as sovereign right to be discussed and regulated via government enacted policies and regulations and their main concerns revolve around monopolistic protectionism and national security. The League of Arab States is not playing leadership and catalyst role as the umbrella of the AIGF by providing an open forum where member governments, civil society and I* organization can come together, discuss and issue recommendations on best practice IG which do not contribute in enabling inclusive and sustainable growth. Maharat has issued lately a study that includes recommendations based on 4 keystones access, freedom of expression and content, privacy, and IG in Lebanon. This report was endorsed by ISOC Lebanon, considered as a baseline to build on. Some of the outputs were included in a wider report on internet freedom in the Arab World produced by ANHRI (Arab Network for Human Rights Information). Another compilation of the status of internet in the Arab World was conducted by Maharat in partnership with ANHRI and the GCHR (Gulf Center for Human Rights) and was disseminated during the last AIGF in December 2015 in Beirut.