Yahoo! Business & Human Rights Summit « yhumanrightsblog.com Blog

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Yahoo! Business & Human Rights Summit

Click here for the invitation to the Yahoo! Business & Human Rights Summit 2010, on May 4, 2010

On May 5, 2009, the BHRP hosted Yahoo!’s first-ever stakeholder learning forum about how technology, the Internet and social media facilitate free expression around the world, and about innovative approaches to addressing government challenges to free expression. For the agenda, click here.

Company Shared Learning Session

The day began with a company only shared learning session, in which companies frankly and openly discussed the complex issues we face as we stand between users and governments. Wilson Korol, of Nortel Networks, blogged his reaction to the session: “The most interesting session for me was a closed door meeting that took place solely among representatives from various tech companies, where we were able to have a very frank discussion about the learnings and challenges we have had during the implementation of human rights policies in our respective companies. I have probably spent more than five hundred hours on this issue for Nortel and this was the first time I had be able to be in such a situation and it was quite illuminating, as well as reaffirming.”

Carol Bartz Opens the Summit

Yahoo! CEO Carol Bartz opened the public portion of the Summit, addressing Yahoo!’s commitment to human rights and calling for companies and NGOs to work together to support free expression and user privacy on the Internet.

Ory Okolloh's Keynote

The Summit keynote speaker was Ory Okolloh, Executive Director of Ushahidi, the innovative crowdsourcing platform for conflict situations that was developed in Kenya and has been deployed around the world, including in the Congo, Gaza and India. She discussed how the idea for Ushahidi grew from being a project born out of violence and necessity to evolving into a platform that can be used by ordinary people around the world to inform and connect. She also noted the rarity of having technological solutions coming from the developing world, and from Africa, in particular.

Social Media and Citizen Journalism Panel

Ory’s talk was followed by a panel on social media and citizen journalism, with bloggers and journalists representing Bahrain, India, Ethiopia and Kenya, and moderated by Rebecca MacKinnon, former CNN Beijing and Tokyo bureau chief and co-founder of Global Voices Online. Abebe Gellaw, Yahoo!’s International Fellow and a journalist and former prisoner of conscience from Ethiopia, spoke about the critical importance of Internet journalism in a country where all other forms of media are owned by the state. To learn more about Abebe, please see this Yodel blog post and video. Gaurav Mishra, Yahoo!’s International Fellow at Georgetown, was also on the panel, and he raised provocative questions about how social media enables “accidental” activists. For more of Gaurav’s insights, visit his blog. Amira al Hussein, Global Voices’ Middle East Editor, discussed press censorship in the Middle East, and described her experiences as the first woman editor in chief of a newspaper in Bahrain and as an active blogger on women’s issues in the region.

Global Network Initiative Panel

The final panel described the Global Network Initiative and its multi-stakeholder approach.

Flickr Gallery

The Summit closed with a reception and a Flickr gallery show, which featured photographs and stories from Flickr community members around the world. To view photographs from the event and from the gallery show, please click on the BHRP Flickr gallery on the left.