Universality and Equal Opportunities in the Digital Era

Part 1 - Lead Organizer

Contact Person

Phyo Thiri Lwin

Organization / Affiliation (Please state "Individual" if appropriate)

yIGF Myanmar

Designation

Youth Comittee Member

Gender

Female

Economy of Residence

Myanmar

Primary Stakeholder Group

Youth / Students

Part 2 - Session Proposal

Your proposal is for

Capacity Building Day (Prep Day)

Session Title

Universality and Equal Opportunities in the Digital Era

Track

Inclusion

Session Format

Array

Where do you plan to organize your session?

Virtual / online

Specific Issues for Discussion

During this digital era, the Internet plays a significant role in our daily lives and therefore accessible Internet has become a fundamental Internet right. However, 40 percent of the world's population still remains offline. So, the international community sees Internet accessibility as an equal opportunity for everyone. Because of that, most international organizations are trying to solve this problem and raise awareness about these issues. Nowadays, more and more governments are starting to see internet shutdowns as a solution to political affairs. The governments of some regions and countries are abusing the political power regarding Internet rights by making Internet blackouts, banning certain apps and sites, not allowing freedom of speech and information access. Consequently, inaccessibility to the internet brings up many serious impacts on the civilian’s education, economy, and communication.

Describe the Relevance of Your Session to APrIGF

As human rights exist not only offline but also online, it is definitely a must to protect as well as respect them. Internet accessibility is a basic right for driving society to be inclusive. One way to show respect to this basic right is by providing equal opportunities to access information and allowing people’s expression online in the community universally. Such that, the impact of blocking internet access is huge when we violate human rights and harm society. So, it is also linked to Internet governance. Therefore, we strongly believe that violating such basic internet human rights and giving everyone equal opportunities is a serious global issue needing more attention to be discussed from various aspects during the APrIGF.

Methodology / Agenda

Campfire Sessions begin a lot like a traditional presentation, with two or three speakers at the front of the room presenting case studies of 2021 in the Asia-Pacific region to participants. The session will involve three main sub-sessions (1) The impacts of Internet accessibility on equal opportunities (2) discussion over universal values and equal opportunities of Internet (3) Networking session between facilitators and participants. The session is divided into 5 mins introduction session, 10-15 mins for the first round of presentation (5 minutes for each presenter), and 10 minutes for Q&A, the second session is set for 15 minutes and 10 minutes for networking session.

Please provide 3 subject matter tags that best describe your session.

#Internetaccessibility #EqualOpportunities #HumanRights

Moderators & Speakers Info (Please complete where possible)

Please explain the rationale for choosing each of the above contributors to the session.

The speakers are very enthusiastic about sharing their knowledge with youths of the same interest on the topics in the internet governance field. They have been working together to create a world of equal access to the Internet in their respective countries. So, they are not only willing to inspire others with their stories, but also discuss similar cases within the Asia Pacific region. As they have attended prior workshops and training about equal opportunities and universal values, these individuals are qualified to be speakers at the forum.