Letter from international civil society organisations to President Dilma Rousseff in support of her statement at the 68th Session of the UNGA

by Anja Kovacs

Earlier this week, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff delivered a rousing speech in the UN General Assembly, slamming the USA for the NSA's spying, emphasising the importance of freedom of expression and privacy to support democracy, and calling for a global, democratic and just framework for Internet use and governance. The Internet Democracy Project joined other civil society organisations from around the world in expressing our strong support to Ms. Rousseff, through a letter, for the many excellent point she raised in her speech. The text of our letter can be found below. The full list of signatories can be found here.

The letter with the signatures was personally delivered to Ms. Rousseff by well-known Brazilian civil society member Carlos A. Afonso - Photo: Roberto Stuckert Filho/PR.

The letter with the signatures was personally delivered to Ms. Rousseff by well-known Brazilian civil society member Carlos A. Afonso — Photo: Roberto Stuckert Filho/​PR.

Your Excellency,

We, the undersigned organizations and individuals from around the world, committed to the development of the Internet and its use for advancing social and economic justice, would like to express our strong support for the statement delivered this week by your Excellency at the 68th Session of the United Nations General Assembly. We commend you for taking a leading role on these issues and would like to:

  1. Fully endorse the five principles enunciated on the occasion, in clear accordance with the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee’s Principles for the Governance and Use of the Internet.
  2. Stress the importance of the timely adoption of the Brazilian Draft Bill of Internet Rights (Marco Civil da Internet) in a way that upholds these principles and endorses the innovative and democratic process in which it was conceived.
  3. Commend the courage of Brazil in expressing disapproval and demanding explanations from the USA about the procedures of illegal interception of information and data, framing it as a grave violation of human rights and of civil liberties
  4. Reinforce our support for an extension into broader spheres of Internet Governance of the experiences from the Brazilian multistakeholder model of Internet governance, led by CGI​.br.

We express our deep appreciation for your serious commitment to social justice and development, of which an open, stable, and reliable Internet is a fundamental pillar.

UPDATE: To access a copy of the letter, with signatories as delivered to the Brazilian president, please click here.

UPDATE2: For more background on the speech and letter, please read ​‘Brazil to lead the governance of the Internet’ by Monika Ermert.

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