9th December 2011, Male'; The Ambassador of Maldives to Belgium and the EU, H.E. Mr Ali Hussain Didi attended the Freedom Online Conference at The Hague, Netherlands.
The conference hosted by H.E. Mr Uri Rosenthal, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands was organised to call on a joint action for Free Expression on the Internet, in the presence of Foreign ministers and representatives from Austria, Canada, the Czech Republic, France, Estonia, Ghana, Indonesia, the Republic of Ireland, Kenya, Mexico, Mongolia, the United Kingdom,theUnited States, Sweden,the European Commission, UNDP, NGO's, cyber activists, internet companies and H.R.H Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands, Prince of Orange.
US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton delivered a keynote speech at the opening session of the conference hosted by Google and Free Press Unlimited in which she urged her counterparts to: "work together in this century to secure them in cyberspace. This is an urgent task. It is most urgent, of course, for those around the world whose words are now censored, who are imprisoned because of what they or others have written online, who are blocked from accessing entire categories of internet content, or who are being tracked by governments seeking to keep them from connecting with one another."
Ambassador Ali Hussain Didi delivered a speech on behalf of The Minister of Foreign Affairs, H.E. Mr Ahmed Naseem, in which he praised the initiative taken by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, to hold a conference on Internet Freedom. It further stated: "It is up to us as representatives of the international community to step up our efforts to remind all governments of their responsibilities, under international law, to protect human rights on-line. It is also beholden on us to better assist those who live under repressive regimes and who are trying to use the internet to spread the word about their plight, to mobilize support and to engender change. With this in mind, the Maldives is pleased to be part of this nascent international contact group, and we look forward to playing our full part today and in the future."
The conference aims to establish a coalition among countries to push for the protection of freedom online as a human right. A draft declaration was circulated among the state representatives to this effect.
ENDS