There won’t be any lull in the Internet rights conversation at the United Nations this week, with a full schedule of panels and presentations planned through Friday. This week’s discussions come roughly a week after the release of Special Rapporteur Frank La Rue’s report on the Internet and human rights.
La Rue asserted in his report that Internet rights are human rights, and that nations with the budget to do so are required to provide technological infrastructure for their citizens. Universal access means anyone who desires access to the Internet should be able to get it, he said in his report.
At a Wednesday event hosted by the Geneva Press Club, the Press Emblem Campaign award committee presented three laureates with awards for their journalistic work during the North African revolutions. Selected for awards were Neji B’Ghouri, president of the Tunisian Journalists Syndicate, Ahmed Abdelaziz, who represented the Egyptian bloggers that played a role in reporting and organizing the Egyptian revolution, and Khaled Saleh, representative from the Swiss-based nongovernmental organization (NGO) Libyan Human Rights Solidarity (LHRS). The guests were given their awards and had a chance to address the room.
Abdelaziz began the ceremony by requesting a moment of silence for those who died in the Egyptian revolution.
He emphasized his belief that while the revolution in Egypt began out of inspiration from other Arab nations, the uprising was “a genuine Egyptian revolution from within the country.” However, he said, “the dawn of freedom in Egypt” was in part a success because “the dawn started in the west in Tunisia.”
B’Ghouri, representing Tunisian journalists, said the work of new journalists on Twitter played an integral role in the revolution. This new electronic medium continues to have an influence on the nation, he said, and the “old” press is following the lead.
The successful citizen movements in neighboring Tunisia and Egypt inspired the revolution in Tunisia, Saleh said. “They paved the way for the Libyan revolution to take off.”
Thursday’s U.N. docket includes an event co-hosted by the United States Mission and the Institute for Media and Global Governance (IMGG) titled, “The Importance of a Free Internet to the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights.” According to a U.S. Mission press release, the Mission and the IMGG have selected seven “writers, bloggers and journalists from around the world who are using social media … to promote human rights at the grass roots level.”
Ambassador Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe will present the journalistic seven, who come from China, Uganda, Burma, Korea, Indonesia, Egypt and Tunisia, to the press on Thursday.
A source within the U.S. Mission said Thursday’s event is sure to cause an uproar. The source would not disclose who or what the cause of the uproar would be.
Following Thursday’s event, the U.S. Mission is hosting an all-day seminar on Friday focused on Internet journalism and online freedom. The “Internet Freedom Fellows,” as the U.S. Mission has christened the seven journalists, will be present at Friday’s seminars.
