On Friday, April 25, 2025, the Internet Society Haiti Chapter (ISOC-Haiti) successfully held the 2nd National Conference on Universal Acceptance (UA). The event, organized in collaboration with ICANN, the organization that allocates IP addresses, manages domain names, and root servers, UNESCO, the Haiti Sustainable Development Network Foundation (RDDH), and the National Telecommunications Council (CONATEL), attracted over a hundred participants across Zoom and several regional hubs located in Carrefour, Jérémie, Gros Morne, and Hinche.

This conference aimed to raise awareness among the Haitian public about the importance of a truly inclusive Internet, capable of accepting all domain names and email addresses, regardless of language, script, or length, while also highlighting the national domain .ht.

Two panels provided an opportunity to explore the major themes of Universal Acceptance. Over the course of the discussions, several major themes emerged :

- The need to fully integrate multilingual domain names into Haitian systems;

- The importance of modernizing digital infrastructure to ensure Universal Acceptance;

- The desire to promote the use of the .ht domain, which is essential for asserting Haitian digital identity.

Speakers unanimously emphasized that the success of these objectives depends on close collaboration between the public sector, private companies, civil society organizations, and educational institutions. The organization of a competition in partnership with the RDDH to promote websites using the .ht domain, with an awards ceremony scheduled for May 17, 2025, as part of World Telecommunications Day, demonstrates a clear desire to position Haiti as a committed player in the transformation of the global Internet towards greater inclusivity.

HL/ HaitiLibre