IDPP Executive Director and AU SIS Associate Professor Dr. Derrick Cogburn has been invited to speak at the State of the Net 2017 Conference Panel on Internet Governance at the Newseum in Washington, DC on Monday, 23 January 2017.

The conference - "America's premier Internet policy series" - will cover topics ranging from the future of Internet governance to how its institutions and processes are in a struggle for legitimacy. Specifically, the conference’s Panel on Internet Governance will have an Open Forum discussion with expert panelists presenting their perspectives on crucial issues around the future of Internet governance and the appropriate actors to address these issues.

Moderated by ICANN Board Member Mr. George Sadowsky, the panel will concentrate on major issues that currently exist and that threaten the utility of the Internet.

Dr. Cogburn will focus his intervention on accessibility to the Internet for persons with disabilities, and the need to ensure the inclusion of the more than one billion people around the world living with some form of disability.

Dr. Cogburn’s remarks will address this topic from a standards perspective and from a human rights perspective, including highlighting Article 9: Accessibility of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; the inclusion of persons with disabilities in the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) +10 review; the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals; and the Habitat III New Urban Agenda. Lastly, Dr. Cogburn’s remarks will also highlight the importance of including persons with disabilities in these various forms of global governance processes – what IDPP terms “accessible global governance.”