LACIGF 2024 Santiago — In-Depth Report: Minutes Digest & 3-Line Summary

The 3-Line Summary

1. The 17th Latin American and Caribbean IGF (LACIGF) met on 7–8 November 2024 at the Telefónica Building in Santiago de Chile, drawing 260+ on-site and 350+ Zoom participants across 22 sessions.
2. For the first time under its new bylaws, the forum crowdsourced its themes and sessions through open calls vetted by a new Workshop Selection Committee. Debates spanned AI, human rights, gender and environmental sustainability, and the resulting messages were carried to the UN IGF in Riyadh that December.
3. Migration without surveillance, disinformation as gender-based violence, sustainable connectivity in the Pan-Amazon — an agenda built bottom-up from regional realities, making LACIGF 17 a model of community-driven internet governance.

Welcome — this is the Japan IGF Support Organization. This in-depth report on LACIGF 2024 in Santiago draws on official outputs, session records and on-site reporting. In a hurry? The three lines above and the diagrams carry the gist.

📍 The catalogue lists 'Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, 2024', but official records show the 17th LACIGF (2024) was held in Santiago de Chile. No LACIGF took place in Santo Domingo in 2024; Dominican participants (e.g. the ISOC Dominican Republic chapter) attended the Santiago meeting.

Conference at a Glance (from official records)

(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. The Evolution of Governance — After NetMundial+10, En Route to Riyadh

Sessions: Plenary 'Evolution of Governance (NRIs / NetMundial)' (7 November, 9:15–10:45)

"Digitalisation has been integrated into every sphere of life, creating both opportunities and challenges for our human rights, security and sustainability (translated from Spanish)"
— Chengetai Masango (Head, UN IGF Secretariat) [1][2][3]

• For the first time under the new bylaws, themes were chosen by open community consultation and sessions by open call vetted by a Workshop Selection Committee — a shift to community-driven agenda-setting [1][2][3]
• The forum's key messages and proposals were carried to the UN IGF in Riyadh in December 2024, an explicit pipeline from the region into the global debate [1][2][3]

2. Human Rights and Gender — Migration Without Surveillance, Digital Violence

Sessions: Parallel sessions on migration without surveillance, safe digital inclusion for women and LGBTQIA+ people, and disinformation as gender violence (7 November)

"Today we gather with a common purpose: to reflect, debate and build together an internet that is inclusive, safe and at the service of human rights (translated from Spanish)"
— Jessica Matus (Director, Fundación Datos Protegidos; local host) [2][3][4]

• Sessions centred people in vulnerable situations: digital surveillance in migration processes, and safe digital inclusion for women and LGBTQIA+ communities [2][3][4]
• The gender-technology intersection ran through the agenda — from framing disinformation as a form of gender-based violence to protection strategies in sexting practices [2][3][4]

3. Universal Access — The Case for Coexisting Connectivity Models

Sessions: Access and connectivity sessions, including the network fees / fair share roundtable (7 November)

"We must think about and propose the coexistence of different connectivity provision models — including those born from communities' own management, creativity and initiative (translated from Spanish)"
— Olga Paz Martínez (Colnodo) [3][2]

"Regional collaboration is key to universalising access to quality connectivity and contributing to a sustainable digital ecosystem (translated from Spanish)"
— Pablo García de Castro (ASIET, Inter-American Association of Telecommunications Companies) [3][2]

• Civil society championed a 'coexistence' approach that combines large operators with community-run networks rather than betting on a single model [3][2]
• A roundtable on network fees ('fair share') put the question of who pays for network investment squarely on the table between operators and civil society [3][2]

4. AI Regulation and Ethics — Innovation and Rights from the Region

Sessions: Plenary 'Artificial Intelligence' (8 November, 9:00–10:30) plus parallel sessions on AI in Latin America and AI ethics

• AI and emerging technologies — with their ethical and legal challenges — ranked among the community-voted themes, filling a plenary and several parallel sessions [1][2]
• Rule-making for the AI era ranged widely: content governance through the lens of the OAS Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression, digital market regulation, and an evaluation of UNESCO's Internet Universality Indicators [1][2]

5. Environment and Sustainability — Connecting the Pan-Amazon

Sessions: Parallel session 'Sustainable connectivity and socio-environmental justice: how to promote sustainable connectivity in the Pan-Amazon?' and others (8 November)

"Governance allows us to believe in this collective dream: building technology that sustains life (translated from Spanish)"
— Lilian Chamorro (LACIGF Secretariat Coordinator, Colnodo) [1][3]

• 'Environment and sustainability' was one of the community-chosen themes, with a dedicated session linking Amazon-basin connectivity to socio-environmental justice [1][3]
• The forum posed a question distinctive to a resource-rich region: how to expand connectivity infrastructure while protecting ecosystems and the communities that depend on them [1][3]

Three-Minute Short Talk — Your Questions Answered

Q. So what did the forum actually decide?

A. It doesn't decide — but the output of its 22 sessions was distilled into key messages and delivered to the UN IGF in Riyadh the following month, a visible pipeline from regional debate to the global stage.

Q. What was new this time?

A. The agenda was no longer set from above. For the first time, themes and sessions were crowdsourced through open calls and vetted by a new Workshop Selection Committee — which is how gender and the environment rose to the top of the agenda.

Q. Why should I care?

A. Disinformation policy, AI regulation and the 'fair share' fight over who pays for network investment are live debates worldwide. Note: this event is catalogued as 'Santo Domingo 2024', but the 17th LACIGF actually met in Santiago de Chile.

What Is LACIGF? (for first-time readers)

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.

Sources & References

1. Balance y resultados del Foro de Gobernanza de Internet de América Latina y el Caribe 2024 — LACIGF（公式） (accessed 2026-07-10)
2. LACIGF 17 — event page & agenda — LACIGF（公式イベントサイト） (accessed 2026-07-10)
3. 17° Foro de Gobernanza de Internet de América Latina y el Caribe: Un espacio clave para el diálogo regional — Colnodo（LACIGF事務局・APC加盟） (accessed 2026-07-10)
4. Foro de Gobernanza de Internet de América Latina y el Caribe (LACIGF) en Santiago, Chile — Fundación Datos Protegidos（現地主催・チリ市民社会） (accessed 2026-07-10)
5. 17th Latin American and Caribbean Internet Governance Forum – LacIGF 2024（助成事業ページ） — Internet Society Foundation (accessed 2026-07-10)
6. Foros anteriores（過去大会一覧） — LACIGF（公式） (accessed 2026-07-10)

Quotes are translated or condensed from the records listed above. Bracketed numbers [n] refer to the source list.

Related links

• IGF official (NRI list): https://www.intgovforum.org/en/content/national-and-regional-igf-initiatives
• Japan IGF: https://japanigf.jp/
• Yuki Nakazawa's blog: https://nkzw.jp/category/igf/

Revision History

Rev. 1 — published 8 August 2024, 01:00 (Article published)

Rev. 2 — updated 10 July 2026, 14:28 (Fully revised into the in-depth edition: added the 3-line summary, minutes digest, short talk, source list and diagrams (all quotes verified against the listed sources))

— 中澤祐樹