Youth SIG at the IGF2021

The YouthSIG (Youth Observatory) participated at the annual Internet Governance Forum with several sessions in collaboration with the Youth Coalition on Internet Governance, and others as part of the NRIs we coordinate.

NRI Coordination session: Our Head of Editorial Commission Pedro Lana spoke about the experience of organising the YouthLACIGF2021 as it was the first time the Youth NRI received funding from the Internet Society Foundation.

Day 0 Event #123 Global Youth IGF- Presenting Successful Initiatives: Our Head of Translation Commission Umut Pajaro Velasquez gave an introduction of the work done during the year and invited people to join the Youth Observatory. Also, our Regional Engagement Director for LAC region Eileen Cejas spoke about the Youth Coalition on Internet Governance.

Global Youth Summit: Our Board members Mohammad Atif Aleem, Umut Pajaro Velasquez and Eileen Cejas presented the results of their Working Groups. Also, Pedro Lana presented the winners of the Wikicontest completion about Open Data.

IGF 2021 WS #259 Digital Cooperation process – Analysis from Youth lenses: This session explored the three models of architecture of Digital Cooperation: IGF Plus, the Co-Governance and Digital Commons model. Participants agreed on the importance of educating youth on Internet Governance topics. Our Board member Eileen Cejas also remarked that youth should become a separate stakeholder in order to obtain more impact to create agency in the Internet Governance field.

IGF 2021 WS #271 Youth Talk about IoT Security and AI misuse. Speakers discussed Artificial Intelligence and IoT from a youth perspective, exploring advantages and disadvantages of both, and how young people should take action and be involved especially in standardization for an inclusive and robust standard.

GF 2021 Town Hall #63 Tackling the menace of E-Waste through greener ways. The session covered wide points and approaches on greener ways, policy oriented solutions to e-waste challenge, and it encouraged the young audience through exploring innovation in the e-waste management sector, catering to newer avenues for environmental education as well. 

IGF 2021 WS #240 Education 4.0: Who is looking at cybersecurity?: The goal of the session was to tackle the issue of cybersecurity given the context of the pandemic and the transition from traditional education to online education. It addressed the challenges for privacy and safety of children and youth, who are the most impacted by online educational platforms and the roles of each stakeholder in improving the trust of digital educational spaces for the purpose of expanding teaching and learning to the Internet.

IGF 2021 Lightning Talk #32 AI vs. Our Bodies: Queering AI: our Head of the Translation Commission Umut Pajaro Velasquez shared about the work of the organisation Queer in AI and invited participants to discuss more inclusive policies in Artificial Intelligence.

IGF 2021 WS #115 Fan the Flames? Regulating Competition in Digital Markets: The session co-organised with Youth Observatory analysed that local small and medium-sized enterprises are not often in the same level with big tech companies in complying with those regulations that can even be destructive to the SMEs, that is why governments should take into consideration these companies while regulating the digital markets and use a multistakeholder approach considering the future impacts of their regulations.

YCIG Session IGF 2021 YCIG Youth in the decision-making process: hear us!  At the YCIG DC session, we discussed the youth engagement in the IGF2021, looking at the youth’s opinions on the Multistakeholder High Level Body and the Leadership Panel, with the participation of Pedro Lana as onsite moderator and our board member Eileen Cejas as a remote speaker. From the session, YCIG created this “Map to Youth Initiatives” that gathers the outcomes of all the YCIG meetings so far.

IGF 2021 WS #272 Youth in IG policy-making process: Let’s talk about the MHLB. The speakers shared some insights from the MHLB and youth participation in this body, the role of the Youth Coalition on Internet Governance and the Youth Summit process. As part of the session, we also compiled the inputs into a document called “Youth position towards the present and future of Digital Cooperation” which are available here.

NRI Coordination session on Digital Sovereignty was the perfect opportunity to discuss digital sovereignty, the jurisdiction of data and free flow of information. Our Head of the Editorial Commission Pedro Lana spoke on behalf of the YouthLACIGF, and our Regional Engagement Director Eileen spoke in the representation of the Youth IGF Argentina.

IGF 2021 Main Session: The good, the bad and the ugly of the Internet in times of crises: our Board member Eileen Cejas spoke on behalf of the Youth IGF Argentina, sharing the Argentinian experience conducting the virtual meetings in 2020 and the upcoming meeting of 2021, adding some reflections on the role of youth building the Internet Governance ecosystem.