“Mobilizing for Net Rights: The Charter of Human Rights and Principles for the Internet”

The IRPC Charter of Human Rights and Principles for the Internet (IRPC
Charter) is the outcome of a cross- sector collaboration between civil society orga-
nizations, human rights experts, scholars, and representatives from the intergov-
ernmental and private sector to provide an authoritative, human rights–based
legal framework for decisions around Internet design, access, and use. Essential to
this project’s success was an early decision to anchor the work in precursor civil
society initiatives and international human rights law and norms. The coalition-
building strategy that underpins the IRPC Charter brought a range of actors
together, face- to- face and online, in the spirit of web- enabled
collabowriting.

Since its launch in 2010/11 the IRPC Charter has grown steadily in stature, play-
ing a formative role in key policy outcomes, landmark UN resolutions, and
increasing awareness of the interrelationship between human rights issues and
Internet policy- making at the national and global level (Hivos 2014, INDH
2013, Council of Europe 2014, NETmundial 2014, UNHRC 2012, Cultura Digi-
tal e Democracia 2014, Green Party 2014). A commitment to forging alliances
and cooperation across diverse sectors in order to ensure human- centered Internet
policy- making has been a key factor in the success of the IRPC Charter to articu-
late a viable framework for rights- based agenda- setting in a policy- making ter-
rain dominated by powerful techno- commercial interests and competing political
agendas.