Ethiopia’s government will host the UN Internet Governance Forum 2022 at the UN-ECA Conference Center in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from November 28 to December 2, 2022. The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) is a global multi-stakeholder forum for dialogue on Internet governance issues, which is convened by the United Nations Secretary-General. It will be organized in a hybrid format bringing together stakeholders from around the world to discuss the overarching theme: Resilient Internet for a shared sustainable and common future. Participants representing governments, intergovernmental organizations, the private sector, the technical community, and civil society (including academia) are expected to have meaningful IGF sessions both online and in a physical (hybrid) form.

The host country has created a website for this year’s IGF that offers helpful information regarding hotels close to the venue, attractions, transportation, Covid-19, applying for a visa and customs.

Visas are required for all foreign visitors to Ethiopia, with the exception of nationals of Kenya and Djibouti; and Diplomatic and UN passport holders. Before applying for a visa, you must first register for the IGF 2022 through the UN Accreditation Process and wait for the approval confirmation to be sent to your email. The approval usually takes a few days. After receiving the confirmation, you can email it together with a scanned copy of your passport biopage to the Ministry of Innovation and Technology (MinT) at igf2022@mint.gov.et. The Ministry will then send you the necessary documents to apply for a visa online which are: an invitation letter, application letter, and note verbal. More information on this process can be found on the host countries website.

In our focus article “IGF 2022: Children’s and young people’s rights” you can find information on sessions that relate to children’s and young people’s rights in the digital environment.