Trust is vital to the future of the Internet. The best way to build it is to let a diverse group of people and interested organizations contribute their experience and knowledge. For this reason, the Internet Society and the UNESCO Regional Office has developed a capacity-building program for judges, prosecutors, public defenders, and other judicial operators in Latin America and the Caribbean.

This program shares our vision for an open, globally-connected, trustworthy, and secure Internet for everyone. We allied with UNESCO to incorporate a plan related to freedom of expression, privacy, encryption, and access to public information. In this way the program responds to the needs of judicial operators facing real cases related to the use of the Internet.

For Raquel Gatto, Senior Policy Advisor of the Internet Society,
the program represents an unprecedented opportunity: “The technical
foundations of the Internet show us that collaboration is a fundamental factor
for the functioning of the network. The Internet is a network of networks that
trust each other, allowing interconnection. The Internet can not exist without
such collaboration”.

Guilherme Canela, Regional Councilor for Communication and
Information of UNESCO, says, “For 5 years, UNESCO, in cooperation with the
Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Human Rights
System, and many other international partners, has developed the Judges
Initiative, which seeks to deepen the dialogue with Ibero-American judicial
operators on Freedom of Expression, Access to Information and Security for
Journalists. In this framework, more than 8,000 judges, prosecutors, public
defenders, and other judicial operators have already gone through the training
offered by the initiative. In the interaction with these operators, their
interest in deepening knowledge about the broad Internet agenda is clear. That
is why we are proud of this cooperation with the Internet Society, which will
offer this opportunity for additional training for those who have already gone
through the basic modules of the Judges Initiative”.

The program will be divided into two phases and will have a capacity for 1,000 people. During the first phase, participants will have access to topics related to the technical and policy principles of the Internet ecosystem, the foundations of the Internet Governance system, and the actors involved in the community. Participants who successfully complete the first phase of the program will access a second phase, consisting of a series of discussions led by experts on current issues of the Internet ecosystem, including privacy, freedom of expression, and encryption on the Internet.

Interested applicants can request registration through a simple form. The registration period is open from 21 March
to 12 April. Those selected will receive a notification on 16 April to start
the first phase of the course on the 22 April.

The Internet is a network of networks that interact with each
other on a voluntary basis. Collaboration is part of the fundamental
architecture of the Internet, which is why we promote this approach for security
and trust. Together, as a community, we can contribute to trust in the
ecosystem and continue working for an open, globally-connected, trustworthy,
and secure Internet for everyone.

Read about the collaborative security approach to tackling Internet issues.
The post Internet Society and UNESCO Offer a Capacity Building Program for Judges appeared first on Internet Society.