The East Africa Internet Governance Forum (EA-IGF), which first convened in 2008, aims at creating a community of practice that will, in the long term, become a sustaining foundation for meaningful participation of East African stakeholders in internet public policy debates at the national, regional and international level. This year’s EA-IGF was held in Nairobi Kenya, with over 200 participants from varying sectors, from fifteen different countries. This year’s forum focused on cyber-crime, policy regulatory needs consumer issues, critical internet resources, and access to broadband.

After eleven years, a direct relationship of accountability between the US government and the Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is now over. This is a step forward although civil society commentators are clear that this does not mean that ICANN is entirely independent of US control.

The Board of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) opened new accountability measures for public comments. Willie Currie, APC's policy manager, said in his submission that “The community still does not have the power to dismiss the Board [which] is a signifier of a lack of accountability and democratic procedure that cannot be cured by the current proposed amendments.”

The Association for Progressive Communications (APC) condemns the precipitated and unilateral decision of the coup government in Honduras to take over management of the .hn domain and affirms our solidarity with the long-time domain administrators, RDS, a pioneer provider of internet services especially oriented to civil society networks in Central America. APC calls for immediate dialogue with all stakeholders towards a positive solution for the Honduran people, prioritising the stability of the domain name system and the stability of the internet.

The Honduran Sustainable Development Network has been running Honduras' .hn domain since the 1990s and is a pioneer in providing internet services in Central America especially oriented to civil society networks. Now they have been ordered to hand over control of .hn in an arbitrary decree made by the current Honduran dictatorship. Find out more and take action.

The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) was set up in 2006 as a kind of “pressure relief valve” for some of the most controversial international discussions on the future of the internet. The IGF provides a space where this type of dialogue, between adversarial opponents, can really move towards deepening understanding and ultimately influencing decision makers to make better internet policy for a more just world. Learning to listen to traditional adversaries, understand different perspectives and look for common solutions to complex problems, without losing sight of closely held values and principles, has not come easily to an international rights-based NGO with a broad activist membership like APC. We explore our role in the creation and development of the IGF and its agenda.