The final day of the IGF 2025 was all about multistakeholderism. As the IGF is the only global platform that enables individuals and organisations from around the world to raise issues related to the internet, it is praised for its lively discussions, which are informed by the participants expertise. However, it is also criticised for failing to deliver tangible outcomes and results.
In the morning the concept of Personal Integrity (PI) of Minors online was introduced by Lea Peters, ecpat Germany and Michael Terhörst, German Federal Office for the Enforcement of Children's Rights in Digital Services. PI was amended as a new objective in the German Youth Protection Act in 2021. The concept is an effective way of engaging various stakeholders, and has the power to pave the way for a broader understanding of how to protect children's physical and mental well-being, and their privacy, in online environments.
In the 4th and last cluster session of Dynamic Coalitions the “Future of Multistakeholder Governance“ was discussed. The Dynamic Coalition on Accessibility and Disability (DCAD) emphasised that the future of multistakeholder governance must be genuinely inclusive, both in principle and in practice. This was seconded by the Dynamic Coalition on Children’s Rights in the Digital Environment with a reference to General Comment No. 25, para 16 - 18, we underlined multistakeholder governance should adhere to respect for the views of the child, i.e. young people under the age of 18 (UN-CRC). Although teenagers often argue that they are not children, they still benefit from the rights granted to them by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UN-CRC). All Dynamic Coalitions eventually agreed on the dynamic nature of their work, as well as on agile concepts. Their global network of stakeholders and the outcomes of their intersessional work are a cornerstone of the IGF’s multistakeholder approach, and deserve more recognition than they have received so far.
At the final forum, Torsten Krause welcomed the decision to hold joint sessions of the Dynamic Coalitions. These sessions demonstrated that the work of the various voluntary coalitions can promote progress and shape the internet. He also praised the fact that, following theIGF in Riyadh, there was a high-level session on children's rights for the second time and emphasized that this was the right place to discuss the urgent concerns of young people. Continuing this as a tradition in the future also offers the opportunity to support important objectives of the elements paper on the WSIS+20 process, which is currently still in draft form.
The IGF 2025 with 3.344 participants onsite and 6.000 online, was concluded with the Closing Ceremony, which was especially honoured by a speech given by Nobel Peace Prize Maria Ressa. She referred to children's right to protection and emphasised that platform accountability is not censorship; it is about ensuring safety. It is restoring our democracy's immun system. She also called upon all stakeholders to battel for human agency, saying algorithms that amplify our worse impulses are not inevitable; they are choices and we can choose different values. Will digital rights be universal or a privilege for the wealthy, she asked finally appealing to all participants, thus also referring to the still existing digital divide.
Children's rights are human rights, indivisible and inalienable, and this applies in the digital environment just as much as in the analogue world. This was emphasised once again in the sessions of this year's Internet Governance Forum. It is now the task of all those involved to deploy the multistakeholder concept of Internet Governance for their realisation also in the future.