Portugal with an active voice on Internet Governance at the UN General Assembly
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The FCT, as the entity responsible for public policies for the Information Society in Portugal, and ANACOM, as the government's assistants in the field of communications, made up the Portuguese delegation headed by the Permanent Representative of Portugal to the UN, Ambassador Álvaro Mendonça e Moura.
In 2005 the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society reiterated the benefits that Information and Communication Technologies produce in the lives of citizens and committed to developing mechanisms to combat digital divides.
Ten years later, representatives from over 190 nations are meeting again to discuss the impact of these actions on the economic and social development of countries. The conclusion was that, despite the progress that the digital universe has registered in the last decade - there is now more infrastructure and higher levels of digital literacy among populations - inequalities in the distribution of opportunities for access to technological knowledge have increased. It is therefore necessary to combat the digital divide that continues to divide countries, regions and generations.
The importance of the Internet for development in general and the challenges that arise from the use of ICT were other aspects highlighted on the agenda of this meeting of nations, which culminated with the renewal for another 10 years of the mandate of the IGF Forum (Internet Governance Forum) - the multistakeholder platform that promotes the discussion of policies on network governance.
Portugal, through FCT, has played an active role in the Information Society movement. Besides participating in the discussion of proposals, monitoring the various European and international forums and cooperating with world governments in the implementation of measures, Portugal is, since 2009, a member of the UN Commission on Science and Technology for Development, the high-level advisory body on science and technology policies.
In this sense, Ambassador Álvaro Mendonça e Moura demonstrated that in matters of Internet governance Portugal is aligned with the WSIS recommendations to keep the Internet free, open, interoperable, stable, secure and trustworthy, citizen-centric, inclusive and development-oriented, based on the respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.
The Portuguese diplomat's speech on the second day of the High Level Meeting recalled that the World Wide Web was developed in one of the largest research laboratories that contributes most to the free and collective dissemination of knowledge, science and technology, - CERN.
Álvaro Mendonça e Moura points out that "a joint effort is needed to ensure that, in the future, everyone can benefit from the potential of the Information Society to improve the quality of life, as well as to develop skills. We believe that this vision will only become a reality through a multistakeholder model."
In the end, the representative of Portugal reaffirms that "the discussion of public policies for the Information Society should involve the broad participation of the various stakeholders and, for these reasons, Portugal supports the renewal for another 10 years of the mandate of the Internet Governance Forum."
