ICANN 83 Policy Forum was held in Prague from June 9 to 12, bringing together over 1750 participants from 137 countries. Attendees included representatives from governments, professional and technical communities, civil society and the private sector. Armenia was represented by the Internet Society NGO, the administrator of the national domains .am and .հայ. The delegation included Kristina Hakobyan – Board Vice Chair, and Katarina Gevorgyan – External Relations Manager.
“Ensuring a stable, secure, and unified Internet, along with a domain environment free from abuse, remains a global challenge that experts around the world continue to address,” emphasized Kristina Hakobyan. “In this context, ICANN conferences serve as valuable platforms for learning about diverse approaches and contributing to their development. We are committed to making effective use of these opportunities to support the growth of Armenia’s national domain space.”
The challenges of global Internet governance were central to the discussions at ICANN 83.
- enhancing the effectiveness of the multi-stakeholder model
- preventing abuse within the Domain Name System (DNS)
- developing legal frameworks for domain name protection
- protection of intellectual property rights in the domain space
The conference additionally marked the tenth anniversary of the Universal Acceptance (UA) movement, highlighting a decade of progress toward making all valid domain names and email addresses work across all software applications.
“The anniversary of the UA movement served not only as a reflection on past achievements, but also as a clear roadmap for future action,” said Katarina Gevorgyan. “Our organization remains committed to advancing Universal Acceptance, leveraging the new opportunities provided through ICANN.”
Armenia’s representatives also took part in regional thematic discussions, sharing insights on the development of the .am and .հայ domains, existing DNS security mechanisms and the integration of Universal Acceptance initiatives at the national level.
