[At-Large] Human Rights Day 2012: your voice counts!

[Joly MacFie]

Today, December 10 2012, is International Human Rights Day. At the
WCIT in Dubai there is a concerted effort going on, against some
authoritarian opposition, to hold governments of their commitments to
free communication in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. You
have an opportunity to reinforce this call by prarticipating as
outlined below.

j

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Nicolas Seidler <seidler at isoc.org>
Date: Fri, Dec 7, 2012 at 6:56 AM


Dear all,

December 10 will mark the annual celebrations for international Human
Rights Day.

This year's theme, "My Voice Counts", will focus on inclusion and the
right to participate in public life, emphasizing the right of every
individual to voice their opinion and take part in public discourse
and decision-making processes.

In just a few years, the Internet has emerged in many parts of the
world as a major platform for communication and expression, amplifying
the voices of millions of people across the world. The
multistakeholder and bottom-up model of Internet development is itself
an example where stakeholders can play a key role in the decisions
that shape their communities.

This year's theme offers a great opportunity to reflect on the open
and global Internet as a tool which has the potential to shape
societies in a way that is more tuned to the needs and aspirations of
their constituents.

As part of our engagement on Human Rights Day, we would like to hear
from you (as Chapters, or as individual Chapter members) to get a
better understanding of the opportunities that your government is
offering to participate in public life through the use of the Internet
and ICTs, if any.

To that end, we invite you to fill the following online form (a
similar one was used in the feedback you provided for WCIT):
https://internetsociety2.wufoo.com/forms/human-rights-day-2012-my-voice-counts/
We will reflect your feedback on a dedicated page of our website from
10 December onwards. (note: we will not display names on the website,
but only Chapter affiliation).


In addition, we would like to invite you to make your voice heard and
join us on several of the following initiatives:

* Join now our Thunderclap campaign to send out a single message to
the world on Twitter and Facebook on Monday 10 December

* Make your #VoiceCount on Twitter

* Visit our website dedicated to this day:
www.internetsociety.org/humanrightsday
You can have a look at our new blog post on the Internet and the right
to participate

* On 10 December at 2:30pm UTC, the Office of the High Commissioner on
Human Rights (OHCHR) will host a Google+ Hangout for #VoiceCount Human
Rights Day. Together with other participants, High Commissioner Navi
Pillay will discuss issues related to inclusion and the right to
participate in public  life. We invite you to participate and raise
Internet related issues during the discussion. You can also send
questions to the OHCHR in advance to #AskRights.

We look forward to your participation in making this celebration a success!

Thanks and best regards,
Nicolas Seidler




Nicolas Seidler
Policy Advisor
Internet Society, Geneva
Email: seidler at isoc.org



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