Speech by the Deputy Secretary General
Council of Europe Conference
Internet Freedom –
From Principles To Global Treaty Law? Content, Stakeholders, Form

18 April 2011 at 9.30am, Strasbourg

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Ladies and Gentlemen,

First, I should like to warmly welcome you to Strasbourg and to the Council of Europe.

You are meeting today in our Agora building. In ancient Greek city-states, the Agora was an open place of assembly shared by citizens, politicians, institutions and merchants. The Council of Europe’s vocation is to offer this kind of space to various social actors to hold debates and consultations that can help us advance in our mission to promote and protect our core values – human rights, democracy and rule of law.

Creating a common legal framework of reference is often the most effective (if not the only) way to move ahead together in the right direction. The standards set by the Council of Europe over the past 60 years since its creation have helped countries to improve the protection of human rights, the functioning of democratic institutions and respect for the rule of law. Council of Europe standards are helping countries in Europe, and beyond, to effectively deal with issues such as corruption, bioethics, trafficking in human beings, data protection or cybercrime.

Europe has the highest Internet diffusion rate in the world. With almost 500 million users, Europeans make up for 25% of the
2 billion Internet users worldwide.

People go online to obtain information, to communicate with each other and to express themselves, to make commercial and entertainment transactions, to do business and to participate in social and political life.

People rely on the Internet and have a legitimate expectation that it will function. The Internet offers citizens around the globe tremendous opportunities to express their views and to realise their aspirations for freedom and democracy.

As a borderless network the Internet is a powerful medium for the exercise of freedom of expression and access to information regardless of frontiers.

The Internet is also a driver of economic growth and a platform for innovation – in this respect we may not have yet seen the best of the Internet.

In short, the Internet has a public service value. All citizens are entitled to its delivery.

Last week, at an EU ministerial session devoted to cybercrime,
I said that the Internet had created a new planet-wide “e-cology” composed of millions of human beings and data interacting in an ever-changing environment. It is indeed fascinating to observe how people have taken ownership of this wonderful and fruitful environment. But we should also acknowledge that this environment is more fragile than we often think or are ready to admit.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We cannot simply sit and wait for some hidden force governing this new “e-cology” to achieve a self-balance that will miraculously satisfy all our needs and expectations. We have to work together to ensure that our common values govern our on-line environment, so that it becomes a space with maximum freedom and that measures taken to preserve this freedom incur a minimum of restrictions.

In order to preserve an Internet that will deliver its public value to citizens, we should, as the United States Secretary of State Clinton has underlined, be thinking about the rules and principles that should guide us.

We should be striving to preserve the Internet as we know it and as we want it to be - an Agora for information, commerce and innovation that underpins free and democratic societies.

We should address the cross-border interdependencies and vulnerabilities and should work together to ensure Internet sustainability.

We almost all rely on others for Internet access and, hence, to exercise of our right to communicate, express ourselves and access information, and a host of related activities – to do business, or to buy and sell, to enjoy culture or leisure activities, to access knowledge or learn.

A recent incident affecting Armenia is particularly telling. The entire country lost its Internet for a whole 5-hour period because a woman in Georgia unwittingly cut a cable while digging. This warrants serious reflection from us, as regards the efforts that we must all undertake to ensure the Internet’s resilience and stability.

Armenia gets 90% of its Internet’s connectivity from Georgia. Other countries are in similar situations of cross-border interdependencies.

Free speech on the Internet and cyber-security are not mutually exclusive – they are complementary values. When Foreign Secretary Hague expressed the UK’s view that time has come to seek international agreements about norms on cyberspace, he underlined that cyber threats equally endanger security and the individual right to freedom of expression.

Ladies and gentlemen,

There are 2 billion Internet users today. The next few years will bring millions more. These users should enjoy their rights and freedoms without interference and regardless of frontiers. They will have legitimate expectations with regards to the enjoyment of their fundamental rights and freedoms on the Internet and the integrity and free flow of information over the network.

The question we should be asking ourselves is who should feel responsible?

In May 2009 in Reykjavik, the Council of Europe Ministers responsible for media and communication services, set out to explore the responsibilities which States share to preserve the global Internet as a means of safeguarding freedom of expression and access to information regardless of frontiers.

The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe later decided that priority should be given to examining the feasibility of legal instruments in reaching two important goals:

· First, the preservation of the cross-border flow of Internet traffic and ;
· Second, the protection of resources which are critical to the ongoing functioning, borderless nature and integrity of the Internet.

We are here today to discuss the work that a group of experts - well known and highly respected in the Internet community – has achieved in respect of these matters and presented to us.

I know that this group of experts attaches considerable importance to multi-stakeholder governance of the Internet and to principles that are already accepted as given in the Internet community. It is important that we support the multi-stakeholder model and that we all sit down together – governments, the private sector, civil society, and the technical community – to see how best to develop these issues.

I do not need to tell you that besides protecting the fundamental rights and freedoms of our citizens, there are many other strong reasons to preserve the Internet.

For numerous countries the Internet is essential to national security. For many, state and non-state players, the Internet is critical to economic growth and development.

What I wish to share with you today is my firm conviction that a fundamental rights-based approach is the way forward.

Sixty years of Council of Europe history demonstrates that this Organisation is the best forum for international co-operation on human rights and fundamental freedoms. I encourage you to use this Agora to help us find the best possible way to make sure that our shared values become the “natural forces” governing the internet environment.

I look forward to your conclusions and thank you for your attention.