This August, at least three Internet Governance-related events are taking place in the Caribbean region: the 18th Caribbean Internet Governance Forum (CIGF), the Caribbean Youth IGF (CYIGF) Workshop, and the very first Small Island Developing States (SIDS) Internet Governance Forum (IGF). We speak with Maureen Hilyard, co-Chair of the Dynamic Coalition of Small Island States in the Internet Economy, and Nigel Cassimire, the Coordinator of the Caribbean Internet Governance Forum on: the Internet Governance (IG) landscape in the Caribbean and the Pacific Islands region: key IG issues of which we should be aware; and what is in store for us at the CIGF, the CYIGF and the SIDS IGF.

 

[Insert SoundCloud Player]

This episode is also available on SoundCloud, Apple iTunes, Google Play Music, Spotify, Amazon Music and Stitcher!

As much as we do not think about it, the state and evolution of the internet continue to be actively discussed globally, and the Caribbean countries have the opportunity to be part of those discussions and the decisions that are made.  During the latter half of the year, will be a number of important telecommunications and Internet Governance-related events, and it is prudent that we get an update on the Internet Governance landscape, along with issues of which we should be aware.

From 24 to 26 August 2022, the Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU) will be hosting the 18th Caribbean Internet Governance Forum (CIGF) and the Caribbean Youth IGF (CYIGF) Workshop. Also, and running concurrently with those two events will be the first Small Island Developing States (SIDS) Internet Governance Forum.

Maureen Hilyard

 

All of these events aim to foster and facilitate the participation of a broad range of stakeholders to discuss and hopefully develop a common position on a broad range of Internet Governance issues. However, what are some of the issues? Are the challenges that the Caribbean region faces similar to those in other SIDS? In this podcast episode, we are going to find out.

 

Introducing our guests

Maureen Hilyard

Maureen Hilyard is the co-Chair of the Dynamic Coalition of Small Island States in the Internet Economy; the Current Chair of the At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC) of the Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN); the Former Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Pacific Islands Chapter of the Internet Society (PICISOC); Former Chair of the Board of Directors of DotAsia; Member of the DNS Abuse Institute Advisory Council; a Former member of the Public Interest Registry Advisory Council; the President of the Cook Islands Internet Action Group (CIIAG); member of the Asia Pacific Regional IGF (APRIGF) and the Pacific IGF (PacIGF)  Management Committees.

Originally from New Zealand, Maureen has been a Development Consultant with the Government of the Cook Islands for 17 years, working mainly on projects that impact the environment and biodiversity of the tiny South Pacific island nation with a total population of 16,000. She also has a strong interest in the development of the internet and internet governance in the Pacific region.

Nigel Cassimire

Nigel Cassimire is a telecommunications engineer with over thirty years of experience in the technical, operational and executive management of telecommunications systems and services. He has an intimate understanding of a broad range of information and communications technologies and services, with practical experience in network and service planning, operations management and domestic and international telecommunications policy development.

Nigel has functioned as a Consulting Telecommunications Specialist since July 2005 and has worked extensively with the Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU) Secretariat in Port of Spain developing and promoting harmonised Caribbean positions in the areas of spectrum management, internet governance, and ICT policy. He has also successfully conducted consultancies for several of the member governments of the CTU. Currently, he is the Deputy Secretary General and Head of Regional Policy Development of the CTU, and the Coordinator of the Caribbean Internet Governance Forum,

 

Insights into our conversation

With the focus of ICT Pulse being, “Discussing ICT issues from a Caribbean perspective, do not get many opportunities to discuss the state of ICT issues in other parts of the world; so it was wonderful to have Maureen on the Podcast she the experiences of islands 10,000 kilometres (or around 6,500 miles) away. Essentially, the Caribbean and Pacific Island regions may have more similarities than differences.

The CIGF is a longstanding event and has been invaluable to the Caribbean region as a place to thrash out issues in a systematic manner and arrive at some consensus that can be communicated at the global Internet Governance events that are also occurring. To some degree, SIDS as a collective, do not have a similar platform, and so the concept of a SIDS IGF is being tested, with a  view to deciding how best to capture the Internet Governance-related needs and interests of SIDS worldwide.

Below are questions that were posed to Maureen and Nigel during our conversation:

  1. Nigel, how has the IG landscape in the Caribbean region changed since we spoke in 2018?
  2. Maureen, what are some of the IG issues that are of interest to the Pacific Islands?
  3. What are some of the key IG issues that are being discussed and tackled?
  4. Can you give us some background on the Caribbean IG Forum?
  5. What is the likely focus of the upcoming CIGF? Are there any key issues that the region ought to be focusing on?
  6. At the global IGF, there is a dedicated space within that even for SIDS to convene and have discussions. Maureen, why is a separate SIDS IGF necessary?
  7. Are there any specific topics or issues that have already been earmarked for discussion during the SIDS IGF?
  8. How will the event be coordinated considering the multiple time zone of the regions involved?

 

We would love to hear from you!

Do leave us a comment either here beneath this article, or on our Facebook or LinkedIn pages, or via Twitter, @ICTPulse.

Also, if you or a member of your network is interested in joining us for an episode, do get in touch.

Let’s make it happen!

 

Below are links to some of the organisations and resources that either were mentioned during the episode or otherwise, might be useful:

 

 

Images credit:  M Hilyard;  CTU; CTU;  Wikimedia Commons; Wesley Fryer (flickr)

Music credit: The Last Word (Oui Ma Chérie), by Andy Narrell

Podcast editing support:  Mayra Bonilla Lopez