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Recommendation 2144 (2019)
Internet governance and human rights
1. The Parliamentary Assembly, recalling
its Resolution 2256 (2019) on
internet governance and human rights, highly values the work of
the Council of Europe in the domain of the information society and
underlines the key role of the Organisation in advocating stronger
recognition of the human rights of internet users and their effective
protection on the web, as well as its contribution to enhanced decision-making
processes for internet governance issues. The numerous and well-thought-out
texts adopted by the Committee of Ministers in this field clearly
show the crucial importance of these issues.
2. Internet governance must continue to be given high priority,
as decisions in this area have a direct impact on the lives of all
Europeans and on the future of our societies, including the stability
of their democratic foundations and socio-economic development.
3. In this respect, the Assembly considers that additional efforts
should be made to promote improved internet governance and help
Council of Europe member States to act together to take up the challenges
they have to face in this domain.
4. Internet governance requires clearer procedures, based on
transparency and accountability. These procedures should be laid
down by the community of States in consultation with other stakeholders,
in accordance with a multi-stakeholder approach. At European level,
the Council of Europe and the European Union should act together
to this end.
5. A first step in this direction could be to strengthen the
political impact of the European Dialogue on Internet Governance
(EuroDIG), so that it can play a more significant role in setting
the agenda and structuring the debate on internet governance across
the European continent. The Council of Europe should take a more proactive
stance towards those European countries which do not have a national
initiative, by encouraging such initiatives and ensuring their inclusiveness.
The active commitment and support of the Council of Europe are highly
important to guaranteeing a minimum level of participation from
all regions of Europe in the EuroDIG.
6. The Assembly is concerned about the insufficient security
of network and information systems. In this respect, it commends
the approach which is promoted by the European Union in Directive
(EU) 2016/1148 concerning measures for a high common level of security
of network and information systems across the European Union, namely
improved cybersecurity capabilities at national level; increased
European Union-level co-operation; and risk management and incident
reporting obligations for operators of essential services and digital
service providers. The Assembly considers that this approach should
be encouraged in all Council of Europe member States and, if possible,
the expertise acquired by the European Union and its members should be
shared within the wider European framework and beyond.
7. Therefore, the Assembly recommends that the Committee of Ministers:
7.1. entrust the Steering Committee
on Media and Information Society (CDMSI) to monitor the implementation
of the recommendations adopted by the Committee of Ministers in
the field of internet governance, making good use of multi-stakeholder
dialogue and the results of internet governance forums such as the
United Nations Internet Governance Forum (IGF), EuroDIG and other
regional and national initiatives;
7.2. launch a study on how to strengthen the existing forms
of co-operation in the field of prevention of cyberattacks and on
the expediency of creating a specific mechanism for monitoring,
crisis management and post-crisis analysis by sharing resources
that already exist in various countries, for example based on the
model of the EUR-OPA Major Hazards Agreement.