In 2021 Internet Governance Forum (IGF) brought together around 8000 participants representing diverse stakeholder groups to exchange information and share good policies and practices relating to the Internet and technologies. One part of  the Youth Department’s delegation is present in Katowice in person and another part is following the sessions online.

Through participation in IGF, Youth Department contributes to global debate on human rights, internet accessibility and inclusion, youth participation, assessing impact of technology on climate change, cybersecurity and cybercrimes, artificial intelligence, digital literacy, online hate speech and many others.

 Youth participation in Internet Governance gained relevance for the Council of Europe during the No Hate Speech Movement campaign which mobilised young people for better human rights protection in cyberspace. Youth participation in Internet Governance remains a priority in the Youth for Democracy programme which emphasises the development of competences of young people for influencing decision making processes in respect to e-forms of youth participation and promotion of human rights online.