DiploFoundation associates meet Viviane Reding
Athens, Greece – October, 2006
DiploFoundation associates met Viviane Reding, EU Commissioner for Information Society and Media, and Annette Muehlberg, the chair of ALAC, during the reception of the At-Large Advisory Committee of ICANN in Athens.
During the opening session of the Internet Governance Forum, Commissioner Vivian Reding spoke about the need to respect fundamental human rights and the need to protect freedom of expression – “A key objective for the European Commission is therefore to keep the Internet an open and censorship-free zone where all the world's citizens can communicate freely with each other without the need to seek the permission of anyone else, not least their governments, in line with internationally recognised fundamental rights."
She further acknowledged the benefits the Internet can bring to development policies – “The benefits of the Internet must be shared by all the world's citizens, not just those in Northern Europe, Northern America and South East Asia. In other words, the digital divide needs to be bridged… Let me add a point: although infrastructure is important, bridging the digital divide is not just a matter of bringing screens and cables to all parts of the world. An equally important dimension is the recognition of the extent and value of cultural diversity within the global village created by the Internet.”
Commissioner Reding also highlighted multilingualism as a theme that often comes up in this context, which can help bridge the digital divide by its very nature, it promotes culturally and linguistically diverse content on the Internet. “At the same time, I believe we should also think about multilingualism in Internet Governance mechanisms themselves. The Internet that we know and value today has much of its roots in the developed world, in particular in Europe and in the USA. English has been, and will continue to be, a very important and very useful "lingua franca" that facilitates cross-border and inter-cultural co-operation between worldwide communities, such as scientists, engineers and academics, or in the economic sectors.”
Finally she commended the organisers of the Internet Governance Forum and concluded by saying that “the future of the Internet will very much depend on such an open dialogue and on the willingness of all interested parties – whether from the side of civil society, of industry or of governments – to co-operate in a spirit of collaboration and mutual understanding.”
