Carta di Praia of the 2nd Lusophone Internet Governance Forum

VERSÃO EM PORTUGUÊS | VERSIÓN EN ESPAÑOL

CARTA DI PRAIA
September 11 – 12, 2024
2nd LUSOPHONE INTERNET GOVERNANCE FORUM

We, the participants of the 2nd Lusophone Internet Governance Forum, gathered both remotely and in person in Cidade Velha and Praia, Cape Verde, from September 11 to 12, 2024, representing Portuguese-speaking countries and communities, have engaged in dialogues and debates about the multiple interactions of the Portuguese language regarding the development, utilization, and governance of the Internet—this year specifically dedicating significant time to reflect on the impacts and challenges to the linguistic and cultural diversity of Lusophony—declare and commit ourselves to the present CARTA DI PRAIA.

1. As we did in the 2003 Carta de São Paulo, we recognize the linguistic and cultural diversity across our Portuguese-speaking countries and acknowledge the unity in our Portuguese language, which manifests in diverse and local ways across our nations on different continents. In acknowledging this diversity, we also implicitly affirm the multilingual characteristic of our countries, where multiple languages and perspectives are essential for expressing and including voices in discussions and decisions regarding the advancement of technologies for the global and shared Internet.

2. We commend the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) for its initiative and recent publication of the Charter of Rights and Principles in Digital Environments, with which we are also aligned. We express our desire for an Information Society that is human-centered, fair, equitable, inclusive, and secure. We invite the CPLP and its Executive Secretary to join us in opening channels for multisectoral dialogues on the debates on governance and technological advancements of the Internet.

3. We also commend and align ourselves with the 2024 NETmundial+10 Declaration, aimed at "Strengthening Internet governance and digital policy processes." We emphasize that the principle of a multisectoral process must be fully implemented by all stakeholders.

4. This 2nd Lusophone Internet Governance Forum concludes with a commitment to foster cooperation in local discussions about the Internet across all Lusophone countries and ourselves, as well as in the activities we partake in international and national forums on Internet governance. We encourage and support the exchange of experiences, mutual efforts and support.

5. Advancing our discussions on the use, improvement, and expansion of the Internet and its technologies also means affirming that we reject being slaves to technology. We do not condone enslavement, and we believe that the development of technology (and, by extension, the Internet) should serve women, men, youth, children, and the environment—not the reverse. In this regard, we understand that the pluricentric nature of the Portuguese language offers a multidimensional contribution that can deepen understandings in support of free, open, democratic, and solidarity-driven societies in their development.

6. During our debates in Cape Verde, we recognize that Artificial Intelligence is a technology with broad applicability across different sectors and, therefore, holds significant transformative potential for the societies of Portuguese-speaking countries. However, the major language models (MLMs) currently in use in AI are not sufficiently representative of the Portuguese language and its variants, resulting in underrepresentation—or even exclusion—of the diversity and cultural and linguistic particularities of Lusophony and its varieties. Therefore, we advocate for a collaborative governance of AI technologies that includes productive sectors, governments, universities, and civil society, aiming at establishing strategic partnerships and finding solutions that promote and enhance the inclusion of gender, race, color, ethnic, generational, social, cultural diversity...and Linguistic. Once again, we affirm that the pluricentric nature of the Portuguese language provides a fundamental contribution to ensure that AI development is attentive to, and inclusive of, these diversities—not the opposite. In other words, improving the development of AI by taking into account the pluricentric nature of the Portuguese language, as both one and diverse, will introduce a global inclusive vector that embraces our singularities.

7. We have planted the seed to conceive and structure, in the very near future, the Lusophone School of Internet Governance which we aim to operationalize shortly and in a coordinated manner within the Lusophone ecosystem.

8. We invite LusNIC to engage with its members, with our necessary support and by seeking external partnerships, to host the Secretariat of the Lusophone Internet Governance Forum, in order to structure and expand the continuity of the Forum.

9. Finally, we applaud the excellent organization of the 2nd Lusophone Internet Governance Forum, brilliantly led by the team and the Chairperson of the ARME – Multi-Sector Regulatory Agency of Cape Verde. We invite them to assist us with their experience in future editions, alongside the Secretariat to be established, particularly for the 2025 edition to be held in Maputo, Mozambique.

Praia, September 12, 2024.
The Centenary of Amílcar Cabral.