BHIGF 2017 (Bosnia and Herzegovina Internet Governance Forum) — In-Depth Report: Minutes Digest & 3-Line Summary

The 3-Line Summary

The third Bosnia and Herzegovina IGF, BHIGF 2017, met in Sarajevo on 11–12 December 2017 — the series' first two-day edition — under the theme 'The network effect: from infrastructure to children'.
Sessions moved from strategic infrastructure and affordable access to children and online content regulation, intermediary responsibility, the Internet economy and human rights, drawing on research at national, regional and global levels.
It proved to be the last meeting of the One World Platform era: the series then went silent for five years, making this wide-angle edition the capstone of its founding period.

Welcome — this is the Japan IGF Support Organization. This in-depth report on BHIGF 2017 (Bosnia and Herzegovina Internet Governance Forum) 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	BHIGF 2017 (Bosnia and Herzegovina Internet Governance Forum)
Edition	Third edition — the last before a five-year hiatus; the next meeting was held in 2023
Dates	11–12 December 2017
Venue	Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina (venue name not confirmed in primary sources)
Theme	"The network effect: from infrastructure to children"
Host	Initiated by One World Platform (civil society) in collaboration with the Communications Regulatory Agency (CRA), under the auspices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

(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 Infrastructure to Access — Delivering Equal and Affordable Connectivity

Sessions: Telecommunications infrastructure sessions

Strategic aspects of Internet infrastructure and the importance of equal, affordable access to technology and information formed one pillar of the meeting [1]
The format centred on sharing findings from national, regional and global research and confronting the perspectives of different stakeholder groups [1]

2. Children and Online Content — Regulation, Intermediary Liability and Online Safety

Sessions: Sessions on child safety online and gender rights online

Children and online content regulation, intermediary responsibility and online safety made up the 'to children' half of the theme [1]
A session on gender rights online ran alongside child safety, keeping the rights-first line unbroken since the first edition [1]
Implications for the Internet economy and human rights were read in the BiH context — casting everything from infrastructure to children as one continuous network effect [1]

3. Day 0's 'Internet Governance Compass' — and the Long Pause That Followed

Sessions: Day 0 student pre-event: 'Internet governance compass, or what you need to know to navigate the Internet governance landscape'

Following the previous year's parliament programme, a student Day 0, the 'Internet governance compass', handed young people a map of the governance landscape [1][2][3]
The official site later recorded that the BHIGF 'was held in 2015, 2016 and 2017' and returned in 2023 after 'pet godina pauze' — a five-year pause — making this the founding era's final edition [1][2][3]
UN NRI records show the same gap: annual report links jump from 2017 straight to 2023, corroborating that no editions took place in 2018–2022 [1][2][3]

Three-Minute Short Talk — Your Questions Answered

Q. What kind of meeting was this?

A. Bosnia and Herzegovina's third national IGF and its first two-day edition. 'From infrastructure to children' spanned telecoms infrastructure, affordable access, child safety online, intermediary liability, and the Internet economy and human rights.

Q. What happened to the BHIGF afterwards?

A. This was the last edition for five years — the official site itself calls it a five-year pause. The forum only returned in 2023, revived in Sarajevo under a new committee led by investigative outlet BIRN.

Q. Why should I care?

A. The 'infrastructure to children' framing neatly ties connectivity policy to user protection in a single theme — and the pause that followed is a cautionary tale about what happens when a national IGF rests on one NGO's shoulders.

What Is Bosnia IGF? (for first-time readers)

Bosnia 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 2017 meeting are the foundation of the "next rules" for the phones, social platforms and AI services you use every day.