STATEMENT OF THE DYNAMIC YOUTH COALITION IGF 2010

This statement has been created by members of the Youth Coalition on Internet Governance. We appreciate the Internet as a space where young people are positively developing and are pleased that many more young people are participating in the IGF this year to share our inputs and opinions on how the Internet should be governed. We urge the UN to give the new five year term for this unique opportunity to share ideas and to collaborate on action in this multi-stakeholder approach.

While noting that progress has been made towards the inclusion of young people in this forum, there remains a recurring problem where in many sessions the voices of children, young people and young adults have not always been invited or listened to. It is a great shame that sessions discuss youth issues solely from adult points of view; instead of youth discussing the future of the Internet as equal stakeholders with all other participants.We continue to urge the IGF to enhance youth participation at all levels with the following in mind.

Firstly, young people have a unique experience of the net often as early adopters of new technologies. Hence, we have first hand information and knowledge on what needs to be done to make the Internet a better place, for all of us.

Already, youth around the world are taking part in the process of Internet Governance. For example, the YouthIGF project in the UK and the youth IGF camp in Hong Kong have contributed key insights and action points on the issues of censorship, privacy and the digital divide.

Their statements, statements from young people at EuroDig 2010, and from the Youth Dynamic Coalition meeting at Sharm El Sheik, which we encourage you to read about at http://www.ycig.org, contain considerable depth, which has been lacking from dialogues where youth voices are absent, or where adults have not taken the time to listen.

Secondly, youth reinforce the multi-stakeholder approach of the IGF by bringing in new ideas and skills. In fact, in many cases young people are the experts. We can help improve the IGF. After all, we are the decision makers, entrepreneurs of the future, not just in the future. We are citizens of the net today.

Thirdly, we bring energy and skills to resolve core Internet governance challenges. We are more than willing to collaborate with workshop leaders and IGF stakeholders to support a greater diversity of voices to be involved. Youth need to be seen as stakeholders and as an asset, not as a problem.

We believe that the Internet Governance dialogue is made richer by focusing on the opportunities the Internet presents for the youth and addressing the times when they are not realized, rather than using fear-based arguments to restrict Internet freedoms. It is better to focus on fighting ignorance and building digital literacy than applying ‘safety’ strategies based on restriction.

We have established a coalition not to compete with, or replace many youth groups who have come to play a role in the regional and  International IGF process over recent years. Instead, we want to bring together the messages from many different groups. There is not a single voice of youth, but there are many important youth perspectives on the  Internet Governance debate.

Let us not waste time talking about the youth but let the youth talk as rightful stakeholders in the Internet space. We could all benefit from the knowledge that the youth has. It is not enough that young people are simply showcased, allowed to express their concerns for a few minutes and then ignored – as we hope will not happen right now. All youth, children, young people and young adults, from all genders, backgrounds and cultures should already be discussing the Internet, instead of stakeholders only discussing the need for their participation.