Reviewing Our United Nations Activities
Perhaps the crowning achievement of PPI has been our participation in UN forums. We created a separate headquarters in Geneva in 2016, specifically with the goal of having a seat at UNOG. The following year in 2017 we were officially admitted into the Economic and Social Council Affairs Council. That same year we set up another center in New York hosted by local pirates, which assists representatives attend events at UNHQ. In 2018 PPI achieved a milestone registering representatives simultaneously in all three UN centers. Most recently, since 2024, we now have an additional center in Vienna that can also assist Pirates who wish to attend events at UNOV. We want to take this opportunity to share with our communities about our activities at each of the three UN centers as well as the numerous UN and other international organization activities that we participate in around the world. These activities are attended by Pirates from numerous Pirate parties around the world, as well as activists who are not necessarily members of any Pirate party but wanted to be active in the international movement. Some of our participants do not physically attend event but rather will speak online, help draft policy statements, network with other NGOs… There are innumerable ways for Pirates to get involved in global politics, and at the bottom of this post we share information for how anyone who is reading this blog can get involved.
Our current main representatives at each UN center are the following:
UNHQ- Dr. Ohad Shem Tov
UNOG- Mr. Carlos Polo
UNOV- Mr. Kay Schroeder
In addition to our main representatives we also have between one and five additional representatives and also nominate temporary representatives with three month passes.
PPI and USPP representatives at UNHQ
ECOSOC is our main forum for UN activities. This is one of the five original bodies and the main avenue for NGOs to participate. ECOSOC provides us with groundspasses, which provide the representatives daily access to UN offices, meetings, libraries, and numerous opportunities to participate in both ECOSOC and other UN bodies. Aside from ECOSOC, PPI has also participated in the World Trade Organization, the Internet Governance Forum, and numerous forums. At UNHQ, PPI is often given opportunities to submit policy statements and make speeches on the main floor for high level events attended by government representatives and of course many other NGOs. These events are shown on UN TV, and they are also often broadcasted in international press. PPI representatives have participated at UNHQ in the Science, Technology and Innovation Forum, the Open-ended Working Group on Ageing, the Commission for Social Development, the Commission on the Status of Women, Cybercrime Committees, and the ECOSOC High-Level Segment for NGOs. In 2018 at the United Nations Economic and Social Council and also submitted a statement for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, emphasizing that digital rights are human rights.
Ohad Bar Siman Tov at UNHQ before his speech
UNOG is the main location for NGO activities, as UNHQ usually holds higher level political meetings. PPI has been active annually at UNOG, and we have sent more representatives to events there than any of the other UN centers. This is commendable considering that our representatives receive absolutely no compensation for their activities, and Geneva is extremely expensive. Our representatives there have attended events on the Economic Commission for Europe Resource Management, the International Labour Organization, WSIS, the Science, Technology and Innovation Forum. In December 2025, PPI also published a response to the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), describing the outcome as consequential for the future of a free and global internet and welcoming language around digital public goods, open standards, and related digital governance principles. We also take a keen interest in the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development events, as PPI seeks to also conduct its own research wing whereby we would publish our own research about topics of internet governance, privacy, and other relevant themes for our organization.
Due to COVID our activities at UNOV that had just started were cut short, but we have since returned in force. Our representatives there routinely attend events of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, especially the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, as well as commentary on the Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption. We have tried to attend events on nuclear issues and have managed to watch a few, but these events are highly regulated. We recently attended the 9th Global Conference on Criminal Finance and Crypto and the 69th session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs. Our main focus there has been digital rights issues, anti-corruption, over-policing of narcotics, illicit finance, and crypto governance.
PPI UNOV Representatives Kayra Kuuymcu and Kay Schroeder
Aside from events at the main three UN forums, we have had a major presence at the Internet Governance Forum for about 10 years now. We have hosted stands at the conference, and at the most recent IGF in Norway, the chairperson of PPI, together with PPEU board member Sara Hjalmarsson, and academics from the UK and France, presented a workshop on “Ethical Networking: Sustainability and Accountability.” PPI´s General Secretary Alexander Isavnin is very active in this conference, having attended several times around the world. This conference has allowed us to collaborate with luminaries from the Tor Foundation, Access Now, and numerous others.
Keith Goldstein and Alex Isavnin at the Internet Governance Forum in Kyoto, Japan
How can you get involved?
Would you like to participate in a UN event online or in person? Please write to our volunteers form or send an email to our board or a board member. We also have a number of vibrant communities on Telegram and Discord.
Join our Telegram: https://t.me/+01bDaIIOL8k2Yjc6
Join our Discord: https://discord.gg/GxaTf9QK
Fill out a volunteer form: https://lime.ppi.rocks/index.php?r=survey/index&sid=341246
