{"id":14721,"date":"2024-07-25T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-25T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nkzw.jp\/igf\/2024\/07\/25\/en-bangladesh-igf-2024-overview\/"},"modified":"2024-07-25T14:00:00","modified_gmt":"2024-07-25T05:00:00","slug":"en-bangladesh-igf-2024-overview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nkzw.jp\/igf\/2024\/07\/25\/en-bangladesh-igf-2024-overview\/","title":{"rendered":"19th Bangladesh Internet Governance Forum, Dhaka-2024 (BIGF 2024) \u2014 In-Depth Report: Minutes Digest &#038; 3-Line Summary"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nkzw.jp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/en-bangladesh-igf-2024-overview_thumbnail.svg\" alt=\"Bangladesh IGF 2024 \u30c0\u30c3\u30ab \u2014 Thumbnail\"><\/p>\n<h2>The 3-Line Summary<\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nkzw.jp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/en-bangladesh-igf-2024-overview_s3.svg\" alt=\"Bangladesh IGF 2024 \u30c0\u30c3\u30ab \u2014 3-line summary\"><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>On 29 January 2025 the 19th Bangladesh IGF (BIGF 2024) convened at the University of Dhaka&#39;s MIS Department conference hall \u2014 an edition delayed by the August 2024 upheaval, held as a one-day dialogue still branded &#39;Dhaka-2024&#39; under the theme &#39;Building Our Multistakeholder Digital Future&#39;.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>The discussions revolved around &#39;never again&#39; on internet shutdowns: the telecom regulator BTRC&#39;s Director General called the internet a fundamental human right, the old Digital Security Act was pronounced &#39;a completely failed law&#39;, and the country&#39;s lack of CDN and DPI servers was framed as an absence of internet sovereignty.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>It was a snapshot of a post-upheaval nation reckoning with its record of shutdowns and speech control \u2014 the regulator itself disavowing blackouts \u2014 and a telling case of what a national IGF can be for.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Welcome \u2014 this is the Japan IGF Support Organization. This in-depth report on <strong>19th Bangladesh Internet Governance Forum, Dhaka-2024 (BIGF 2024)<\/strong> draws on official outputs, session records and on-site reporting. In a hurry? The three lines above and the diagrams carry the gist.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>&#x1f4cd; Officially styled the &#39;19th Bangladesh Internet Governance Forum, Dhaka-2024&#39; in Bengali; despite the 2024 branding it was actually held on 29 January 2025 as a one-day dialogue<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h2>Conference at a Glance (from official records)<\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nkzw.jp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/en-bangladesh-igf-2024-overview_h2.svg\" alt=\"Bangladesh IGF 2024 \u30c0\u30c3\u30ab \u2014 Conference at a glance\"><\/p>\n<table>\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th>Item<\/th>\n<th>Detail<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>Official name<\/td>\n<td>19th Bangladesh Internet Governance Forum, Dhaka-2024 (BIGF 2024)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Dates<\/td>\n<td>29 January 2025<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Venue<\/td>\n<td>Conference hall of the Department of Management Information Systems (MIS), University of Dhaka<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Theme<\/td>\n<td>Building Our Multistakeholder Digital Future<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Host<\/td>\n<td>Organized by the Bangladesh Internet Governance Forum (BIGF); the Director General (Systems and Services) of the telecom regulator BTRC attended as chief guest, with APNIC supporting and presenting remotely<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>(See the source list at the end of this article.)<\/p>\n<h2>Discussion Digest \u2014 from the Session Records<\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nkzw.jp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/en-bangladesh-igf-2024-overview_minutes.svg\" alt=\"Bangladesh IGF 2024 \u30c0\u30c3\u30ab \u2014 Discussion map\"><\/p>\n<p>Key exchanges extracted from session records and transcripts.<\/p>\n<h3>1. &#39;Dhaka-2024&#39;, Held the Following January \u2014 How the Upheaval Reset the National IGF Calendar<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Sessions<\/strong>: How the meeting came about (new executive committee elected December 2024; meeting held 29 January 2025)<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Delayed past calendar 2024 by the post-August turmoil, the 19th edition kept its &#39;Dhaka-2024&#39; branding but met on 29 January 2025 \u2014 leaving 2024 as a year without an annual BIGF meeting [1][3][5]<\/li>\n<li>In December 2024 BIGF elected a new 2024\u201326 executive committee: Amber IT CEO Aminul Hakim as chairperson, flanked by vice-chairs from Bangladesh Submarine Cables PLC and BRAC University&#39;s law school [1][3][5]<\/li>\n<li>The restart was deliberately modest: from 2023&#39;s three-day, 400-participant forum to a one-day dialogue in a university conference hall, with APNIC continuing its support [1][3][5]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>2. &#39;The Internet Is a Fundamental Human Right&#39; \u2014 Shutdown Memories and the Regulator&#39;s Turn<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Sessions<\/strong>: Chief guest address by Brig. Gen. Mohammad Khalil-ur-Rahman, Director General (Systems and Services), BTRC<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>&quot;The internet must never be shut down, because it is now a fundamental human right. That is why we must expand its reasonable use (translated from Bengali-language press)&quot;<br \/>\n\u2014 <strong>Brig. Gen. Mohammad Khalil-ur-Rahman (Director General, BTRC)<\/strong> [1][2]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p>&quot;The internet is not a technology \u2014 it is our digital rights. There must be safeguards so that no government can ever shut the internet down again (translated from Bengali-language press)&quot;<br \/>\n\u2014 <strong>Aminul Hakim (Chairperson, BIGF)<\/strong> [1][2]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<ul>\n<li>In a country that saw nationwide shutdowns during the July 2024 protests, the heart of this meeting was the BTRC&#39;s own Director General declaring shutdowns off-limits [1][2]<\/li>\n<li>He argued that guidelines and awareness, not laws, should secure the internet \u2014 adding that &#39;no one owns the internet; the internet belongs to everyone&#39; [1][2]<\/li>\n<li>He also invited ideas for using the Social Obligation Fund (SOF) to connect remote areas, signalling a reopened dialogue between regulator and civil society [1][2]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>3. &#39;We Have No Sovereignty Over Our Internet&#39; \u2014 Missing CDNs, DPI and the Sovereignty Question<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Sessions<\/strong>: Policy address by Faiz Ahmad Taiyeb, Policy Adviser for the ICT and Telecom Divisions<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>&quot;We have no CDN servers and no deep packet inspection servers in the country. As a result, we have no sovereignty over our internet (translated from Bengali-language press)&quot;<br \/>\n\u2014 <strong>Faiz Ahmad Taiyeb (Policy Adviser, ICT and Telecom Divisions)<\/strong> [2][4][1]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<ul>\n<li>The interim government said it is working to bring Facebook (Meta) and Google servers into the country, framing the absence of big-platform infrastructure as a sovereignty problem [2][4][1]<\/li>\n<li>At the same time Taiyeb pledged that, unlike the previous government, the state would not ask Meta to delete posts or hand over citizens&#39; data except in cryptocurrency or financial-fraud cases [2][4][1]<\/li>\n<li>His admission that the current legal framework &#39;is not sufficient&#39; and needs updating stood out amid the post-upheaval institutional rethink [2][4][1]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>4. Reckoning with the Digital Security Act \u2014 &#39;A Completely Failed Law&#39;<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Sessions<\/strong>: Panel discussion featuring Zyma Islam, senior reporter at The Daily Star, and others<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>&quot;The Digital Security Act was a completely failed law. The previous government pitted people&#39;s rights against national security \u2014 and that was its biggest weapon for silencing people (translated from Bengali-language press)&quot;<br \/>\n\u2014 <strong>Zyma Islam (Senior Reporter, The Daily Star)<\/strong> [1][2]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<ul>\n<li>Criticism of the speech-chilling Digital Security Act was aired openly with the regulator in the room \u2014 a striking contrast with the 2023 edition, held in the tense weeks after the Cyber Security Act&#39;s passage [1][2]<\/li>\n<li>Speakers included an ICT Division additional secretary, the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law, and two International Crimes Tribunal prosecutors, giving the legal-reform debate multiple angles [1][2]<\/li>\n<li>Chairperson Hakim echoed the theme \u2014 protect the global village with awareness, not laws \u2014 marking a shift from legislation-first to dialogue-first [1][2]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>5. The Next Chapter Toward IPv6 \u2014 APNIC Joins Remotely<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Sessions<\/strong>: Remote presentation by Subha Shamarukh, Internet Resource Analyst, APNIC<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>APNIC&#39;s Subha Shamarukh presented remotely on &#39;RIRs and the Next Chapter of Internet Growth \u2014 from IPv4 to IPv6&#39;, bringing the address-resource perspective to the connectivity debate [3][2]<\/li>\n<li>APNIC&#39;s support, following its participation in the 18th edition in 2023, shows the RIR-to-national-IGF link surviving across the political rupture [3][2]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Three-Minute Short Talk \u2014 Your Questions Answered<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Q. What stood out most?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A. That it happened at all. With the annual meeting derailed by the August 2024 upheaval, the 19th edition restarted on 29 January 2025 \u2014 still branded &#39;Dhaka-2024&#39; \u2014 as a one-day dialogue in a University of Dhaka conference hall.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q. What was the core issue?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A. The memory of internet shutdowns. The telecom regulator&#39;s own Director General declared the internet a fundamental human right that must never be switched off, while the old Digital Security Act was pronounced &#39;a completely failed law&#39;.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q. Why should I care?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A. The framing of missing CDN and DPI servers as a loss of &#39;internet sovereignty&#39; plugs straight into global debates on data sovereignty and platform regulation \u2014 and the meeting shows a national IGF serving as the first table where regulator and civil society sat down again after an upheaval.<\/p>\n<h2>What Is Bangladesh IGF? (for first-time readers)<\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nkzw.jp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/en-bangladesh-igf-2024-overview_h1.svg\" alt=\"Bangladesh IGF 2024 \u30c0\u30c3\u30ab \u2014 About Bangladesh IGF\"><\/p>\n<p>Bangladesh IGF is a National or Regional IGF Initiative (NRI), aligning local internet governance discussion with global IGF principles.<\/p>\n<h2>Why It Matters to You<\/h2>\n<p>What was discussed here becomes <strong>the baseline for national digital policy, platform rules and AI regulation worldwide within a few years<\/strong>. The principles confirmed at the 2024 meeting are the foundation of the &quot;next rules&quot; for the phones, social platforms and AI services you use every day.<\/p>\n<h2>Sources &amp; References<\/h2>\n<ol>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.prothomalo.com\/technology\/w7abidenta\">\u0986\u0987\u09a8 \u09a8\u09af\u09bc, \u0997\u09be\u0987\u09a1\u09b2\u09be\u0987\u09a8 \u0993 \u09b8\u099a\u09c7\u09a4\u09a8\u09a4\u09be \u09ac\u09be\u09a1\u09bc\u09bf\u09af\u09bc\u09c7 \u0987\u09a8\u09cd\u099f\u09be\u09b0\u09a8\u09c7\u099f\u09c7 \u09b8\u09c1\u09b0\u0995\u09cd\u09b7\u09be \u09b8\u09ae\u09cd\u09ad\u09ac\uff08\u6cd5\u3067\u306f\u306a\u304f\u30ac\u30a4\u30c9\u30e9\u30a4\u30f3\u3068\u610f\u8b58\u5411\u4e0a\u3067\u30cd\u30c3\u30c8\u306e\u5b89\u5168\u306f\u5b88\u308c\u308b \u2014 BIGF\u30d7\u30ec\u30b9\u30ea\u30ea\u30fc\u30b9\u306b\u57fa\u3065\u304f\u958b\u50ac\u5831\u9053: \u4f1a\u5834\u30fb\u767b\u58c7\u8005\u30fb\u767a\u8a00\uff09<\/a> \u2014 Prothom Alo (accessed 2026-07-22)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20250131063322\/https:\/\/samakal.com\/technology\/article\/278128\/%E0%A6%A6%E0%A7%87%E0%A6%B6%E0%A7%87%E0%A6%87-%E0%A6%AB%E0%A7%87%E0%A6%B8%E0%A6%AC%E0%A7%81%E0%A6%95-%E0%A6%97%E0%A7%81%E0%A6%97%E0%A6%B2%E0%A7%87%E0%A6%B0-%E0%A6%B8%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%B0%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%AD%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%B0-%E0%A6%86%E0%A6%A8%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%B0-%E0%A6%89%E0%A6%A6%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%AF%E0%A7%8B%E0%A6%97\">\u09a6\u09c7\u09b6\u09c7\u0987 \u09ab\u09c7\u09b8\u09ac\u09c1\u0995, \u0997\u09c1\u0997\u09b2\u09c7\u09b0 \u09b8\u09be\u09b0\u09cd\u09ad\u09be\u09b0 \u0986\u09a8\u09be\u09b0 \u0989\u09a6\u09cd\u09af\u09cb\u0997\uff08\u56fd\u5185\u306bFacebook\u30fbGoogle\u306e\u30b5\u30fc\u30d0\u30fc\u8a98\u81f4\u3078 \u2014 19th BIGF\u30c0\u30a4\u30a2\u30ed\u30b0\u8a73\u5831\u3001Wayback Machine\uff09<\/a> \u2014 Samakal (accessed 2026-07-22)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.apnic.net\/2025\/02\/28\/event-wrap-bigf-2024\/\">Event Wrap: BIGF 2024\uff082025\u5e741\u670829\u65e5\u30c0\u30c3\u30ab\u958b\u50ac\u30fb\u30c6\u30fc\u30de\u30fbAPNIC\u767b\u58c7\u306e\u78ba\u8a8d\uff09<\/a> \u2014 APNIC Blog (accessed 2026-07-22)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/meatechwatch.com\/2025\/01\/30\/bangladesh-pushes-for-greater-control-over-internet-infrastructure\/\">Bangladesh Pushes for Greater Control Over Internet Infrastructure\uff0819th BIGF\u306e\u82f1\u8a9e\u5831\u9053: CDN\/DPI\u30fb\u4e3b\u6a29\u8ad6\u30fb\u767b\u58c7\u8005\uff09<\/a> \u2014 MEA Tech Watch (accessed 2026-07-22)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/computerjagat.com.bd\/post\/5865\">\u09ac\u09be\u0982\u09b2\u09be\u09a6\u09c7\u09b6 \u0987\u09a8\u09cd\u099f\u09be\u09b0\u09a8\u09c7\u099f \u0997\u09ad\u09b0\u09cd\u09a8\u09c7\u09a8\u09cd\u09b8 \u09ab\u09cb\u09b0\u09be\u09ae\u09c7\u09b0 \u09a8\u09a4\u09c1\u09a8 \u099a\u09c7\u09af\u09bc\u09be\u09b0\u09aa\u09be\u09b0\u09cd\u09b8\u09a8 \u0986\u09ae\u09bf\u09a8\u09c1\u09b2 \u09b9\u09be\u0995\u09bf\u09ae\uff08BIGF\u65b0\u30c1\u30a7\u30a2\u30d1\u30fc\u30bd\u30f3\u306b\u30a2\u30df\u30cc\u30eb\u30fb\u30cf\u30ad\u30e0 \u2014 2024\u301c26\u5e74\u671f\u65b0\u57f7\u884c\u59d4\u54e1\u4f1a\u30012024\u5e7412\u67083\u65e5\uff09<\/a> \u2014 Computer Jagat (accessed 2026-07-22)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.intgovforum.org\/en\/content\/bangladesh-igf\">Bangladesh IGF\uff08UN IGF\u306eNRI\u767b\u9332\u8a18\u9332: \u30c0\u30c3\u30ab\u62e0\u70b9\u306e\u56fd\u5185IGF\uff09<\/a> \u2014 intgovforum.org (accessed 2026-07-22)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><em>Quotes are translated or condensed from the records listed above. Bracketed numbers [n] refer to the source list.<\/em><\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><strong>Related links<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>IGF official (NRI list): <a href=\"https:\/\/www.intgovforum.org\/en\/content\/national-and-regional-igf-initiatives\">https:\/\/www.intgovforum.org\/en\/content\/national-and-regional-igf-initiatives<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Japan IGF: <a href=\"https:\/\/japanigf.jp\/\">https:\/\/japanigf.jp\/<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Yuki Nakazawa&#39;s blog: <a href=\"https:\/\/nkzw.jp\/category\/igf\/\">https:\/\/nkzw.jp\/category\/igf\/<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>\u66f4\u65b0\u5c65\u6b74<\/h2>\n<p>\u7b2c1\u7a3f\u6295\u7a3f 2026\u5e747\u670816\u65e5 12\u664225\u5206\uff08\u8a18\u4e8b\u30b3\u30f3\u30c6\u30f3\u30c4\u30a2\u30c3\u30d7\uff09<\/p>\n<p><em>\u2014 \u4e2d\u6fa4\u7950\u6a39<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On 29 January 2025 the 19th Bangladesh IGF (BIGF 2024) convened at the University of Dhaka&#8217;s MIS Department conference hall \u2014 an edition del<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,78,3,11],"tags":[163,2567,161,160,162,164],"class_list":["post-14721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aprigf","category-bangladesh-igf","category-igf","category-regional-igf","tag-3-line-summary","tag-bangladeshigf2024","tag-deep-dive","tag-english","tag-minutes-digest","tag-sourced"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nkzw.jp\/igf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nkzw.jp\/igf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nkzw.jp\/igf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nkzw.jp\/igf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nkzw.jp\/igf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nkzw.jp\/igf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14721\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nkzw.jp\/igf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nkzw.jp\/igf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nkzw.jp\/igf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}