Youth LACIGF 2024 (9th edition) — In-Depth Report: Minutes Digest & 3-Line Summary

The 3-Line Summary

On 4–6 November 2024 the ninth Youth LACIGF met at the Universidad de Chile's Casa Central in Santiago — the forum's first time in Chile, with 117 on site, 243 participants in total from 43 countries, and 16 hybrid sessions.
Four tracks shaped the agenda: AI and data governance, digital rights and freedoms, cybersecurity and trust, and — a first as a headline theme — environmental sustainability and climate change. LACIGF 17 followed in the same city on 7–8 November, completing a regional governance week.
The edition finally delivered the Santiago plan cancelled by COVID in 2020, and its roster — including participants from Africa and Asia — showed a regional youth forum with global pull.

Welcome — this is the Japan IGF Support Organization. This in-depth report on Youth LACIGF 2024 (9th edition) 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	Youth LACIGF 2024 (9th edition)
Edition	9th edition (first time in Chile)
Dates	4–6 November 2024
Venue	Casa Central of the Universidad de Chile (Av. Libertador Bernardo O'Higgins 1058), Santiago de Chile (hybrid)
Theme	Regional governance themes
Participants	117 in-person participants and 243 in total from 43 countries; 16 sessions. On-site attendees came from 15 LAC countries, joined by participants from Ghana, Singapore, Australia, the US, Chad, Ethiopia, Tanzania, the UK, Nigeria and Cameroon
Host	Hosted and co-organised by the Instituto de Estudios Internacionales (IEI) of the Universidad de Chile, the ISOC Chile Chapter and Magliona Abogados, with support from NIC Chile and other digital-ecosystem organisations

(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. Santiago, Four Years Late — A University-Hosted Governance Week

Sessions: The 9th Youth LACIGF as a whole (4–6 November, Casa Central, Universidad de Chile)

The Santiago meeting planned for 2020 and cancelled by COVID finally happened, hosted locally by the Universidad de Chile's Institute of International Studies (IEI), the ISOC Chile Chapter and law firm Magliona Abogados, with support from NIC Chile [1][2][4]
LACIGF 17 followed on 7–8 November at Santiago's Telefónica Building — a back-to-back week in which the youth forum (three days) now outlasted the main meeting (two days) [1][2][4]
With 117 on site, 243 in total and 43 countries, national reach hit a series record, including participants from Ghana, Singapore, Australia, the US, Chad, Ethiopia, Tanzania, the UK, Nigeria and Cameroon [1][2][4]

2. Environment Meets Digital — Climate Change Becomes a Headline Track

Sessions: The 'environmental sustainability and climate change' track and related sessions (4–6 November)

Alongside AI and data governance, digital rights and freedoms, and cybersecurity and trust, environmental sustainability and climate change entered the series' headline tracks for the first time [2][4][5]
Sessions tackled AI-generated disinformation, meaningful connectivity in rural schools, environmental sustainability through digital education, child safety online, autonomous weapons systems and indigenous communities' digital access [2][4][5]
Host-university students — Patricia Cantero and Noemí Núñez — served as panellists on 'connected childhoods and gender diversity: building spaces for internet access' [2][4][5]

3. Margins to Centre — Indigenous, LGBTIQ+ and Afro-Descendant Voices on Stage

Sessions: Sessions across the digital rights and freedoms track

"These spaces, though still incipient and advancing timidly, are fundamental for carrying with us the voices, experiences, knowledge and resistance of our communities (translated from Spanish)"
— Alithu Bazan Talavera (research coordinator, Hiperderecho, Peru) [3][4]

Alithu Bazan Talavera, a trans researcher with Peru's Hiperderecho, wrote that panels were built from 'historically excluded groups' — sexual and gender minorities, Afro-descendants, indigenous peoples — speaking as experts, not subjects [3][4]
Civil-society organisations on gender and digital rights filled the stage: IPANDETEC, the ISOC Chile and Brazil chapters, Technovation Girls Chile, Amaranta ONG, Luchadoras, DataGénero and Derechos Digitales among them [3][4]
The running theme: the fight for digital rights is inseparable from the broader fight for social justice [3][4]

Three-Minute Short Talk — Your Questions Answered

Q. What was the headline?

A. First time in Chile — finally delivering the Santiago plan COVID killed in 2020 — and climate change debuting as a headline track, with a record 43 countries represented.

Q. How did it relate to the main LACIGF?

A. Same city, back to back: the youth forum ran 4–6 November, then LACIGF 17 followed on 7–8 November. The youth event is now the longer of the two.

Q. Why should I care?

A. Treating digital governance and climate change as one conversation — alongside AI disinformation and child safety — previews where governance agendas everywhere are heading.

What Is Youth LACIGF? (for first-time readers)

Youth LACIGF 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 2024 meeting are the foundation of the "next rules" for the phones, social platforms and AI services you use every day.