11 representatives of the Government of Ukraine, civil society and educational institutions took park in Global Internet Governance Form that took place in Istanbul.
On September 2-5, Joint Programme of Council of Europe and European Union organized a study visit of 11 delegates from Ukraine to annual Internet Governance Forum (IGF) which was held in Istanbul, Turkey. Within 4 days the participants took part in the discussions, had a chance to share the best practices on human rights, personal data, freedom of speech and assembly, economic and social rights in terms of internet governance.

IGF is an open, transparent and comprehensive forum for dialog on public policy, related to the key elements of internet governance. The purpose of the forum is to achieve a common understanding on the ways to use the capabilities of the internet to solve modern problems.  The overarching theme for the meeting was «Connecting Continents for Enhanced Multistakeholder Internet Governance».

The forum had the following subthemes: 1) policies enabling access; 2) content creation, dissemination and use; 3) internet as engine for growth & development; 4) IGF & the future of the internet ecosystem; 5) enhancing digital trust; 6) internet and human rights; 7) critical internet resources; 8) emerging issues.

More than 3500 participants took part in the forum, 2400 of them directly on the venue and 1100  - online. The forum joined representatives of different backgrounds: technical community, civil society, private sector, media, governments and scientists from all parts of the world.

Roman Chlapak, manager of the project commented, “The theme of human rights protection, in terms of rights of the internet users, became cross-cutting theme of the forum and had been actively discussed at many sessions of the forum. This topic is also the key theme of Joint Programme Strengthening Information Society in Ukraine; in particular the project aims to raise awareness of civil servants, civil society and the private sector”.

On the round table, held within the forum Council of Europe had presented the Recommendation CM/Rec (2014)6 of the Committee of Ministers to Member States on a Guide to human rights for Internet users.

Andrii Pazuik, Associate Professor of the Institute of International Relations Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv had noted that, “Prior to holding Ukrainian IGF-UA, the best practices of the event management were demonstrated within the global IGF, and  also the ways of  improvements in terms  of the adoption of the final documents were identified”.

Moreover, the Ukrainian Parliamentary Committee on Informatization and Informational Technologies had organized the distant IGF hub for 16 participants in Kyiv, in terms of which participants discussed the challenges of financing the development of the internet, human rights in the internet, propositions regarding the importance of human rights protection in regard to guaranteeing the public access to the internet.

Notably, on October 3, in cooperation with the project the annual Ukrainian local IGF will be held, on which the best practices and conclusions presented on Global IGF will be discussed.
The Ukrainian delegation, organized by the project, included representatives of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, representatives of the Ombudsman of Ukraine, iNGO European Media Platform, National Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Ministry of Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Communal Services of Ukraine, NGO Ukrainian Internet Association, Parliamentary Committee on Informatization and Informational Technologies, National Commission for the State Regulation of Communications and Informatization. The participation of the Ukrainian delegation in Global IGF helped in sharing the latest development and challenges that Ukraine faces in terms of information society development, internet governance and data protection. Also this visit gave a chance to enhance and promote national and international dialog on upper-mentioned questions.

Joint Project of Council of Europe and European Union Strengthening  Information Society in Ukraine aims to promote open, inclusive and sustainable approach to internet governance that is based on human rights and puts person in the center position. Besides, project aims to enhance freedom, pluralism and diversity of the media, also to promote system of private data protection. The project will contribute to implementation of the obligations and commitments of Ukraine to the Council of Europe, the Association Agreement with the EU Action Plan on the liberalization of the EU visa regime for Ukraine.   One of the objectives of the project is to promote the participation of key stakeholders in Ukraine in the international dialogue on the internet governance and human rights.