Speech by Uri Rosenthal, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, at a press and policy meeting organised by Google and the European Centre for International Political Economy on the occasion of the launch of a report ‘Digital Authoritarianism’, Brussels, 23 May 2011

Internet freedom part and parcel of freedom of expression

Ladies and gentlemen,

Promoting internet freedom is vital. Why? Because building a democratic society, based on the rule of law, starts by granting people the freedom to inform and express themselves. Freedom of expression is the foundation of every free nation, of an open society. Freedom of expression opens the gate to the enjoyment of many other human rights. Without it, the road to the rule of law and democracy remains closed. And free trade is being hindered.

As early as 1946, at their first session ever, the member states of the newly established United Nations adopted resolution number 59, in which they agreed that: "Freedom of information is a fundamental human right and ... the touchstone of all the freedoms to which the United Nations is consecrated." Today, without doubt, the internet has become the world’s foremost public space. People all over the world turn to the internet. We saw it in Moldova in 2009. We saw it in Iran in 2009. This year we have seen it in Tunisia and in Egypt. As we speak, cyber -dissidents in Libya and Syria are trying to overcome the censorship of their regimes to speak their minds. The world wide web is a new arena where the right to freedom of opinion and expression still has to be defended.  

The Netherlands has a long tradition in defending freedom of expression. I want to thank Google and the European Centre for International Political Economy for putting this event together. I would also thank my Swedish colleague Carl Bildt for all his good work in support of internet freedom.

(working together to promote internet freedom)

What I would like to stress is that the public and private sectors should act together pursuing a  global response to threats to freedom of expression on the internet. Of course, it is the responsibility of democratic governments to ensure the free flow of information. It’s their obligation, enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. But since internet freedom is - by its very nature - a multistakeholder issue, others should help to guarantee it.

Several ICT companies and search engines have shown they take their corporate social responsibility seriously. They limit their dealings with countries that censor the internet. Some of them even proactively provide cyber dissidents with tools against censorship. Google and Twitter’s joint efforts during the Egyptian uprising stand out as an example. They provided voicemail to help Egyptians speak their minds when the internet was down and converted these voicemails into tweets to let the world know what was going on. Such spontaneous creativity deserves great credit.

It is important that companies commit to joint codes of conduct that guarantee internet freedom, like the Global Network Initiative (GNI). I again call on European companies to adhere to this type of global Code: it sends a clear message about the importance of fundamental freedoms, including freedom of expression.

At the same time, governments should contribute their fair share. The Netherlands has called for a discussion in the European Union on possible restrictions on exporting internet filter technology to repressive regimes. Our technology is not meant to help dictators. We should do this in close consultation with companies, NGOs, internet experts and like-minded countries like the United States and Canada.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Last month, I sent a new human rights policy to the Dutch Parliament. Promoting and protecting the freedom of expression is a priority for us. This includes internet freedom.

First of all, I am going to increase our support to cyber-dissidents operating in repressive circumstances. I will increase political support as well as financial support, from the Dutch Human Rights Fund. We will give higher priority to projects that give bloggers, journalists and others the knowledge and tools to join forces to tackle censorship and monitoring.  Already, we have done so in recent years in countries like Iran, Zimbabwe and Burma. We’re always open to sharing best practices. Next month we’re organizing a workshop for EU member states to exchange experiences.

Next week, I will meet with United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression Frank La Rue to see how the Netherlands can further support his work. Mr La Rue will present his findings to the next Human Rights Council in June. Sweden has been extremely helpful in gathering relevant information for this report. The involvement of Mr La Rue should not stop here. His approach is a good one, as it covers internet freedom issues on every continent. This is important: internet freedom is a global issue that deserves a global approach.

Later this year, the Netherlands will host – together with Canada – a ministerial conference on internet freedom. We do this to ensure better coordination of support to cyber dissidents among governments. To deepen the ongoing dialogue with the private sector on how they shape their responsibility. And to collect more information on respect for internet freedom in specific cases and individual countries and regions. We need this information to make our global response more effective.

I look forward to working with all relevant stakeholders. I want us to take concrete steps forward. We shouldn’t wait. Internet is not waiting. Dissidents in repressive regimes can’t wait!

Thank you.