EURALO Trip Assessment 1

M.Komarov

a) Sharing of the best practices of ALSes from Eastern Europe and South-Eastern Europe - in a number of emerging areas, among which:

- Open Government related initiatives and citizen engagement in decision-making processes, and the role Internet plays in openness, transparency and social accountability,Governance surveillance and Open Government initiatives, etc.

- Inclusion of people with disabilities and vulnerable people in general

- Media education

b) Engaging in constructive dialogues around Internet Governance related policy frameworks in EU, and ways this is affecting non-EU member countries (how should national policies on IG be shaped, etc.).

c) Increasing the number of persons in At-Large to the ICANN Dublin meeting, by raising awareness of ICANN.

First expected outcomes were achieved during the workshop participation as a speaker and as on-site participant (workshop on Sharing experience in entrepreneurship and influence of regulations on business), (session on modern media on the Internet). There was also discussion about media literacy and modern educational principles which should include critical thinking. Second group of outcomes were achieved during non-formal and formal discussions about new regulations introduced in Russia about personal data protection and policy focused on blocking sites...

Mr. Deaconescu 

I've met with a lot of people, had a chance to also talk to other Romanian participants that I didn't meet before. I grasped some initial information regarding the decision making process in the European Internet Governence community and the entities involved in it: countries, institutions, NGOs.

Ms.Galstyan

Prior to EuroDIG, a sub-regional IGF initiative SEEDIG (South Eastern European Dialogue on Internet Governance) was organized. SEEDIG has been launched by and for stakeholders in South Eastern Europe and the neighboring area, as a space where they can gather and discuss, in an informal and open manner, about current and emerging Internet-related issues that are relevant for the region and SEEDIG was launched in a bottom-up manner. The preparatory process was open and transparent. I volunteered for the preparatory works and was included among the members of SEEDIG Executive Committee.

SEEDIG 2015 took place on 3 June 2015, in Sofia, Bulgaria. It was aimed to be both a capacity building event, as well as a space for discussions on Internet governance issues that are particularly relevant for the region. SEEDIG was held as a full day event, with a programme structured into four distinct sessions:

• Introduction to Internet governance What is Internet governance and why should I care?
• Multistakeholder Internet governance mechanisms/approaches at national level
• Human rights for Internet users: theoretical approaches vs. realities in the region
• The domain name space in South Eastern Europe – the case of IDNs

For the last session I participated as a panelist representing the case of Armenian IDN.

SEEDIG 2015 was attended by around 150 on-site participants, coming from 38 countries, both from within South Eastern Europe and the neighbouring area (73%) and from outside the region (27%). Some of the countries that were represented at SEEDIG, and that could be considered as part of South Eastern Europe and the neighbouring area, are: Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo , Moldova, Serbia, Slovenia, Romania, Russia, Ukraine. All stakeholder groups were represented at the meeting and In terms of gender representation, 52% of all participants were male, and 48% female.