Internet Governance Forum

Internet Governance Forum (IGF) is a global initiative under the umbrella of the UN aiming to bring together all interested parties to participate in discussions related to internet governance. The initiative was launched in 2006 at the ‘World Summit on Information Society’ (WSIS) in Tunisia by the UN Secretary General as an open platform for discussions related to internet governance issues.

A primary motivation for this decision arose from the growing need to include wider social community in discussions about internet governance and regulations since it became obvious that the internet governance related topics exceeded topics on IP address space, internet protocols and domains. Also the need to include other stakeholders like representatives of civil society, academic community, industry and the private sector in discussions was identified.

IGF does not have a mandate to make decisions, nor pass binding acts. With its conclusions and drawing attention to issues they find important, IGF can influence decision makers and thus participate in the formation of official positions or public statements.

IGF is completely open to all interested in internet sustainability, stability, security, use and development.

IGF is an important component of a multistakeholder internet management model recognized by top global development organizations such as the World Economic forum in Davos, where a CEO of a multistakeholder advisory group which coordinates the work of IGF presented the main conclusions of this year’s IGF.

Apart from a global IGF there are regional initiatives such as EuroDIG – European Dialog on Internet Governance, SEEDIG – South East European Dialog on Internet Governance and national such as CRO-IGF), or even age initiative such as Youth IGF.

More details at Internet Governance Forum website.

IGF initiatives, national and regional in particular, are important because they promote communication and improve the culture of dialogue of different stakeholders regarding internet related issues which ensures articulated positions and include different perspectives and interests.

Principles on which the IGF was founded:

• openness and transparency (allowing all interested parties to participate in IGF-u, open to public)
• inclusion (allowing active participation for all interested)
• bottom-up approach (public involvement in the development of IGF programs)
• not intended for sale of goods and services
• multistakeholder model (involvement of all interested parties: academic community, business sector and industry, civil society organizations and state and public administration).

In addition to the global IGF which brings together participants from all over the world, a number of regional and national IGF initiatives have been established because it was recognised that some specific issues should be discussed taking into account national, regional, cultural and other particularities and interests. For an initiative to be recognized by the global IGF in Geneva, it has to fulfill the criteria of openness and accessibility to all interested stakeholders.

Croatian national IGF was established in 2015 and has been recognized by the global IGF. Croatia was one of the first countries in a region (Austria 2015, Slovenia 2016) which successfully established a national IGF and clearly took a side of those countries that advocate the aforementioned multistakeholder model of internet governance. Apart from a political statement, a national IGF allows us to start a discussion on less familiar topics relevant to our country and internet governance.

The goals of CRO-IGF:

• point out the possibilities of getting involved in internet governance processes to different interested parties regarding their business activities, encourage discussions and, if needed, offer help in understanding of the internet related topics;
• empower and get all stakeholders in Croatia interested in active participation in the national and then, directly or indirectly, in regional and international internet governance processes;
• identify internet governance topics relevant for Croatia.

All individuals and organizations interested in the future of the internet, members of the academic community, industry and business sector, civil society and state and public administration participate in the Forum on equal terms.

 

Academic Community:

• Tihomir Katulić, Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb
• Marin Vuković, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, University of Zagreb

Private Sector / Industry:

• Adrian Ježina, Telemach
• Hrvoje Hadžić, Ericsson Nikola Tesla
• Martina Silov, CroAI
• Branimir Rajtar, NOG.hr

Public Administration:

• Tihomir Lulić, Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs
• Marin Ante Pivčević, Central State Office for the Development of Digital Society
• Krešo Antonović, Ministry of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure 
• Nataša Glavor, Ivana Jelačić, CARNET
• Zdravko Jukić, Mislav Hebel, HAKOM

Internet User / Civil Society:

• Kristijan Zimmer, HROpen