Switzerland has joined Freedom Online Coalition (FOC) becoming the 31st Member of the Coalition and has pledged to uphold and advance its shared goals and values as stated in the FOC Founding Declaration and the Tallinn Recommendations for Freedom Online.
In its letter of intent, the country stated: “Switzerland strongly believes that freedom of expression needs to be guaranteed and preserved online as well as offline and sees the Freedom Online Coalition as a key tool to strengthen engagement between all stakeholders in order to protect human rights and fundamental freedoms in the internet age.”
The objectives of the FOC are consistent with Switzerland’s existing engagement and legal framework to promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms universally. While it does not create new obligations for its members, FOC membership provides Switzerland with important additional tools to promote and implement existing human rights more effectively and enhance international collaboration.
Welcoming Switzerland to the Coalition, the FOC expressed its delight saying it looks forward to working together with the country to support Internet freedom worldwide.
The Coalition’s efforts to advance Internet freedom worldwide are now shared by the 30 countries among which are: Australia, Austria, Canada, Costa Rica, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, and Ireland.
The rest are Japan, Kenya, Latvia, Lithuania, the Republic of Maldives, Mexico, Moldova, Mongolia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
FOC is a partnership of governments working to advance Internet freedom. Its members work closely together to coordinate their diplomatic efforts and engage with civil society and the private sector to support Internet freedom – free expression, association, assembly, and privacy online – worldwide. With Switzerland joining the Coalition, the membership has now risen to 31.
