Chris Lynch
Chris Lynch is a journalist, videographer and content producer, broadcasting from his independent news and production company in Christchurch, New Zealand.
The New Zealand Government may have replaced the Christchurch Call with the creation of a foundation, but questions remain about its relevancy.
In May, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced the new non-governmental organisation, designed “to coordinate the Christchurch Call’s work to eliminate terrorist and violent extremist content online.”
Following Luxon’s interview on chrislynchmedia.com, residents wanted to know why a foundation named after Christchurch would be based in Wellington.
A spokesperson for the Christchurch Call said, “The Christchurch Call Foundation will be headquartered in Wellington to enable continuity of operations, with points of presence in other key locations. The Call maintains regular connections with Christchurch.”
Chris Lynch Media also inquired about the number of employees the Foundation would hire. However, the spokesperson said that it does not yet have employees. “Decisions about staffing for the Foundation have not been made yet.”
Regarding Dame Jacinda Ardern’s role, the spokesperson said, “Dame Jacinda was appointed in April 2023 as the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy for the Christchurch Call. That role will conclude, as planned, on 30 June. The Special Envoy role was an unpaid position. When Dame Jacinda needed to travel, or to have staff supporting her work, this was provided from funds allocated for the Call. She has not claimed any personal expenses for her work. Her new role, Patron of the Call, will also be a voluntary, unpaid position.”
On the Christchurch Call website, it stated, “the Christchurch Call Foundation has already attracted pledges from members of the Call Community and philanthropic donors,” but it did not specify who the community was or who was providing the funding.
There are 12 agencies listed on the Christchurch Call website, with the aim to make the internet more transparent, although their contact details were scant. Chris Lynch Media sought comment from all of them on how effective the Call had been. UNESCO was the only agency that responded.
Freedom of Expression Senior Expert Guilherme Canela said the Christchurch Call addressed and continues to address one of the most challenging issues of our times: how to protect and develop the digital ecosystem for the benefit of our societies, while mitigating the significant risks it poses, and preventing and prosecuting concrete harms.
“Just after the Call was launched, the global pandemic exacerbated several of the problems originally underlined by those who led the Christchurch Call debates, making the challenges even more complex and global. In this difficult context, the Christchurch Call has succeeded on several fronts, particularly in setting the agenda of global debates on the governance of social media platforms.”
Canela added, “the central demands of the original text of the Christchurch Call (such as the call for tech companies to be transparent) are now a key element of multilateral, multistakeholder, regional, and national policies on the governance of the digital ecosystems. What is crucial is that we develop the best framework to keep the Christchurch Call principles and goals alive. We do hope that the framework announced for the new foundation will continue the good work done so far. Christchurch Call was a global agenda-setter for complex and very important debates. UNESCO, for example, learnt a lot from the Christchurch Call, which helped us develop our Guidelines for the Governance of Digital Platforms,” Canela said.
