II National Internet Governance Forum of the Dominican Republic (II-FNGI-2016) — In-Depth Report: Minutes Digest & 3-Line Summary

The 3-Line Summary

On 23 August 2016, the second National Internet Governance Forum of the Dominican Republic (II-FNGI-2016) drew 115 participants to the Hotel Lina Barceló in Santo Domingo, organised by the local Internet Society chapter, ISOC-RD.
With speakers from regional bodies such as LACTLD and LACNIC, the forum debated net neutrality, human rights online, youth participation and e-commerce — producing concrete proposals including a charter of internet rights principles and new university cybersecurity programmes.
It is a textbook case of a small Caribbean country seating regulators, telecoms and civil society at one table on a US$6,000 budget — proof that continuity matters more than scale in national internet governance.

Welcome — this is the Japan IGF Support Organization. This in-depth report on II National Internet Governance Forum of the Dominican Republic (II-FNGI-2016) draws on official outputs, session records and on-site reporting. In a hurry? The three lines above and the diagrams carry the gist.

Conference at a Glance (from official records)

Item	Detail
Official name	II National Internet Governance Forum of the Dominican Republic (II-FNGI-2016)
Dates	23 August 2016
Venue	Salón La Mancha, Hotel Lina Barceló Santo Domingo (Av. Máximo Gómez at 27 de Febrero), Santo Domingo
Theme	Regional governance themes
Participants	115 (115 on-site participants (45% women) plus 130 viewers on the YouTube stream; 99% from the Dominican Republic, with attendees from Uruguay, Curaçao, Puerto Rico, Panama and the US)
Host	ISOC-RD (Internet Society Dominican Republic chapter, founded 2014); chaired by Amparo Arango (INDOTEL), with Osvaldo Larancuent (INTEC) as IGF coordinator

(See the source list at the end of this article.)

Discussion Digest — from the Session Records

Key exchanges extracted from session records and transcripts.

1. From Regional to National IGFs — Rooting the Dialogue at Home

Sessions: Keynote and multisectoral panel 'From the regional IGF to national IGFs: lessons, opportunities and challenges' (9:10–10:30)

Andrés Piazza of LACTLD (the Latin American ccTLD association) keynoted on how good practices from regional forums can feed national dialogue spaces [1]
Osvaldo Larancuent (INTEC), Wanda Pérez (ISOC-RD), Vianny Uribe (regulator INDOTEL) and Patricia Zorrilla (telecoms operator CLARO) debated the value of a national IGF from each sector's standpoint [1]
ISOC-RD reported selecting the agenda through an open call, following the IGF principles of openness, transparency, inclusion, bottom-up process and non-commercial character [1]

2. Net Neutrality — A National Debate Carried Over from 2015

Sessions: Panel II 'Net neutrality: continuing the 2015 discussion' (11:30–12:30, moderated by César Díaz, LACNIC)

César Díaz of the regional registry LACNIC moderated, joined by colleague Carlos Martínez, Luis Shecker of regulator INDOTEL and Feliz Jáquez of operator WIND TELECOM [1]
The panel examined suspected net-neutrality violations detected in the country and their likely explanations, putting regulator and operators in direct dialogue for a second consecutive year [1]

3. Human Rights Online — A National Charter Takes Shape

Sessions: Panel III 'Human rights on the internet: privacy, free expression, security' (14:00–15:00, moderated by Laura Breton, CIPAF)

Moderated by Laura Breton of the women's organisation CIPAF, with Antonio Medina Calcaño (UASD law faculty) and Carlos Pimentel (Participación Ciudadana) examining how the constitution and laws protect rights online [1]
A pre-event workshop on 'Principles for Human Rights on the Internet' fed its results into the forum, where they were approved [1]
The organisers report three initiatives born of the dialogue: a Charter of Principles for Human Rights on the Internet, new university cybersecurity degrees, and dedicated events on security and data privacy [1]

4. Youth, Women and E-commerce — 'The Internet We Aspire To'

Sessions: Panel IV 'The internet we aspire to: a youth perspective' and Panel V 'Challenges for innovation in e-commerce' (15:30–17:00)

The youth panel — including Ana Ortega of the Presidency and Alberto Fortunato of the SIG Youth Observatory — discussed building a trustworthy internet inclusive of young people and women [1]
The e-commerce panel brought together the Industry and Commerce Ministry, INDOTEL, payment processor CARDNET and Ecommerce.com.do to tackle the creation and monetisation of local digital content [1]
The organisers concluded that internet and ICT issues had never before been addressed in the country with such an open, multi-perspective methodology, noting a ripple effect of invitations for ISOC-RD members to speak at regulator and university events [1]

Three-Minute Short Talk — Your Questions Answered

Q. What did the meeting actually decide?

A. Nothing binding — it is a national dialogue forum where government, telecoms, academia and civil society talk as equals. But it did launch concrete follow-ups: a charter of internet rights principles and new university cybersecurity programmes.

Q. Why 'second edition' — wasn't 2016 the first?

A. No. The first forum was held in July 2015; 2016 was the second (II-FNGI-2016). The organisers' own report to the UN states they ran the forum in both 2015 and 2016.

Q. Why should I care?

A. Because it shows a minimum viable national IGF: 115 people and a US$6,000 budget were enough to get a regulator and operators debating net neutrality in public. A useful blueprint for any small country or community.

What Is Dominican Republic IGF? (for first-time readers)

Dominican Republic IGF is a National or Regional IGF Initiative (NRI), aligning local internet governance discussion with global IGF principles.

Why It Matters to You

What was discussed here becomes the baseline for national digital policy, platform rules and AI regulation worldwide within a few years. The principles confirmed at the 2016 meeting are the foundation of the "next rules" for the phones, social platforms and AI services you use every day.