The United Nations Secretary-General, Mr Antonio Guterres, has appointed Ms. Anriette Esterhuysen of South Africa as the new Chair of the Internet Governance Forum’s Multistakeholder Advisory Group. Ms Esterhuysen is Senior Advisor on Internet Governance, Policy Advocacy and Strategic Planning at the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) and was previously its Executive Director.
The IGF Multistakeholder Advisory Group advises the Secretary-General on the programme of Internet Governance Forum annual meetings and comprises 50 members drawn from Governments, the private sector and civil society, including representatives of the academic and technical communities.
Anriette who was the executive director of the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) from 2000 to 2016 is currently a Commissioner on the Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace. She continues to work with APC as a consultant and convenes the African School on Internet Governance (AfriSIG) a joint initiative of APC, the African Union Commission and Research ICT Africa.
She has served in various relevant capacities including on the African Technical Advisory Committee of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa’s African Information Society Initiative (1996-1999), the United Nations ICT Task Force (2002-2005), the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Working Group on Financing Mechanisms (2003-2005).
She has also served on the Commission on Science and Technology for Development Working Group on Internet Governance Forum (IGF) Improvements (2011-2012) and on Enhanced Cooperation (2017-2018), the Global Commission on Internet Governance and the Multistakeholder Advisory Group (MAG) of the IGF (2012-2014).
In 2013 she was inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame as a Global Connecter.
The Secretary-General expressed his deep appreciation to Ms. Lynn St. Amour, outgoing Chair of the Multistakeholder Advisory Group, for her leadership and able guidance since 2016.
