Freedom Online Coalition

About

Participating countries commit to "promoting the freedoms of expression, association, and peaceful assembly with respect to the Internet and connection technologies." They endorse the principle that the human rights that people have offline should enjoy the same protection online, including freedom of assembly and the right to organize and the right to be protected from "arbitrary" intrusions into their privacy. Its work builds on the resolution on "The Promotion, Protection and Enjoyment of Human Rights on the Internet" adopted by United Nations Human Rights Council in July 2012. The coalition has also endorsed a set of recommendations for cybersecurity policy making that respects human rights as well as a definition of cybersecurity. In 2020, the FOC published a Joint Statement on Spread of Disinformation Online, a normative instrument outlining ways to address disinformation and counter its use in undermining human rights, law, and democracy.

Periodically, the FOC holds a multistakeholder Conference that aims to deepen the discussion on how freedom of expression on the Internet is helping to promote social, cultural and economic development. Previous Conferences have been held in The Netherlands (2011), Kenya (2012), Tunisia (2013), Estonia (2014), Mongolia (2015), Costa Rica (2016), Germany (2018), Ghana (2020), and Finland (2021).