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06.05.2015 Press Release

Isoc Ghana Chapter Host Iana-icann Stewardship Transition Stakeholder’s Meeting In Accra

06.05.2015 LISTEN
By Vera Akumiah

Prof. Nii Narku Quaynor has lauded government’s commitment in supporting Internet communities to actively participate in discussion relating to the “security” of the Internet. Prof. Quaynor was chairing a stakeholder meeting recently to discuss the Internet Assigned Names Authority (IANA) stewardship transition and enhancing Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) accountability stakeholder meeting in Accra.

The meeting was organised by the Ghana Chapter of the Internet Society, in collaboration with the National Information Technology Agency (NITA), Advanced IT Institute – Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in IT (AITI-KACE) and the Ghana ISP Association (GISPA).

In his Keynote address read on his behalf by Issah Yayah, Chief Director of the Ministry of Communications, Dr Edward Omane Boamah, Minister for Communications explained that Internet governance should be based on an inclusive, transparent and accountable multi-stakeholder model.

Dr Omane Boamah cited the United States, where stakeholders are expected to decide on what to do with its links with ICANN by September 2015, declaring that, the Internet according to the proponents should remain a single, open, free, unfragmented network of networks, subject to the same laws and norms that apply in other areas of day-to-day life. “The European Union proposes a “genuine multi-stakeholder’ model as a way to address the risk of policy capture in Internet Governance (IG). It has become a real risk in IG bodies, that entities with financial and organizational strength can easily dominate policy discussions,” he said.

The IANA Stewardship discussions were in response to a near break-up of the Internet in 2014 when there were claims of mass surveillance by the USA on some countries. A call was therefore made for a global multi-stakeholder entity to which the National Telecommunication Information Administration (NTIA) will transition the stewards (ownership) of the IANA function to which debates are ongoing and will end in June 2015.

ICANN Africa on its part has organized a series of activities in this direction but set April 2015 aside to engage the IANA stakeholders (technical, legal and administrative organizations who work on Internet Numbers (IP) and Domain names) in African countries, hence the stakeholder meeting in Ghana.

Mr Pierre Dandjinou, the Vice President of Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN Africa), who explained the issues regarding the IANA Stewardship transition said efforts were being made to integrate Africa within ICANN through better presence of ICANN on the continent.

ICANN Africa on its part has organized a series of activities in this direction, but has set April 2015 aside to engage the IANA stakeholders (technical, legal and administrative organizations who work on Internet Numbers (IP) and Domain names) in African countries, hence the stakeholder meeting in Ghana.

He said for the Internet and its community of users, discussions on the proposed transition of the IANA functions is important because it concerns both the technical stability of the Internet and the accountability to the public for these functions.

Ms Dorothy Gordon, the Director-General of the AITI-KACE urged African countries to take the IANA stewardship transition and enhancing ICANN accountability very seriously, saying, “Africans can no longer sit on the fence, but need to get involved in the discussion.” She also decried women were too absent from discussions pertaining to IT and hoped that this would change soon.

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