Multistakeholder approach and human rights in Internet Governance

Abstract

Andrey A. Shcherbovich - Lecturer, Department of the Constitutional and Administrative Law, National Research University Higher School of EconomicsAddress: 20, Myasnitskaya Street, Moscow, 101000, Russian FederationE-mail: ashcherbovich@hse.ru The decision-making system in international organizations is still very conservative. The composition of international forums that can generate significant international instruments has not changed for centuries. Only diplomats and representatives of international organizations whose credentials have been confirmed in a certain way are admitted to international decision-making. The Internet Governance Forum (IGF), under the auspices of the UN, UNESCO and the International Telecommunication Union, was established in 2006 on the basis of the World Summit on the Information Society, which is today the world’s most authoritative international discussion forum on Internet governance, though its potential to achieve the best regulation of international Internet governance processes is not fully used. The basis for this regulation is the multistakeholder approach, which consists in a multiplicity of categories of the decision-making mechanism, including, in addition to the traditional representatives of states and international organizations, civil society, business, the academic and technical community, the media, and other interested stakeholders. This research is expected to provide guidance for improving the global Internet governance arrangements, taking into account the interests of all categories of participants, as well as to establish procedural rules for decision-making based on the multistakeholder approach in Internet governance to give the Internet Governance Forum the opportunity to adopt international “soft law” instruments. An example of this is the Draft Charter of Rights and Principles on the Internet, developed by the Dynamic Coalition on Human Rights and the principles of the Internet Governance Forum - something comparable to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights with regard to the Internet. The need to bring human rights instruments to the Internet determines the direction of the development of programs and policies in global Internet governance and the role of the Internet Governance Forum in these processes.