Mission
The IGF Internet Governance Forum is a platform for global debate, conducted under the aegis of the United Nations, which stimulates the debate between all interested parties according to a multi-stakeholderapproach, allowing to discuss, exchange best practices and initiatives related to Internet Governance to bring them to the attention and address them to governmental and non-governmental bodies.
IGF is based on the principles of transparency, inclusiveness and the identification of the issues on the agenda through a “bottom-up approach“. IGF promotes and facilitates discussion between all interested parties following a principle of equal participation.
IGF was established by the UN Secretary in 2006 as a result of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS 2003 – 2005) with a mandate to discuss issues of public interest relating to the governance of the Internet. Document
How IGF works
Over the years it has become the reference point for the global discussion on Internet governance issues for the Multistakeholder discussion and comparison model.
IGF stakeholders are divided into four groups (governments, industry, civil society, academia / technical community), complemented by representatives of international organizations (including ICANN, ITU, UNESCO, etc.), media and other relevant communities for the advancement of the Internet.
Today, there are 80 national IGFs 16, regional, 17 youth initiatives. The UN Secretariat of the IGF, with the contribution of local initiatives, created in 2016 a guide for the organization of national IGFs in accordance with the principles and processes adopted by the global IGF (NRI Toolkit).
NRI
The success of the IGF discussion and confrontation model has led to the creation of national, regional and youth initiatives that adopt the principles of the global model and bring their contributions to the annual IGF discussion. The coordination of national, regional and youth initiatives, known as NRI (National Regional and Youth Initiatives), is carried out by the global IGF Secretariat.
History
In the Tunisi Agenda articles 72 -80 defines the mandate of the global IGF. International editions followed the inaugural IGF meeting in November 2006 in Athens: Brazil 2007, India 2008, Egypt 2009, Lithuania 2010, Kenya 2011, Azerbaijan 2012, Indonesia 2013, Turkey 2014, Brazil 2015, Mexico 2016, Geneva 2017, Paris 2018, Berlin 2019, Katowice 2020 (virtual), Katowice 2021. To date there are 80 national IGFs 16, regional, 17 youth initiatives. The UN Secretariat of the IGF, with the contribution of local initiatives, created in 2016 a guide for the organization of national IGFs in accordance with the principles and processes adopted by the global IGF (NRI Toolkit).