2026-03-31 APRALO ICANN85 Read-Out

 Moderator

Amrita Choudhury is a distinguished leader within the ICANN community, currently serving as the Chair of APRALO. In March 2026, she received the ICANN Community Excellence Award for her long-standing commitment to internet inclusivity. Her work focuses on representing end-user interests, mentoring through the Fellowship Program, and facilitating critical policy discussions.

 Panelists

Rafik Dammak is a software architect / IT practitioner residing and working in Japan in the data centre sector. He has been involved within civil society on Internet Governance issues since 2007, attending several Internet Governance Forums and other internet-related conferences either as speaker or workshop organizer. His main area of focus is on ICANN policy making processes where he was involved with the Non-Commercial Stakeholder group and GNSO council in different roles, and on developing awareness on Internet Governance issues in the MENA region. He is currently the NCSG Chair.

Jo-Fan Yu is the Chief Executive Officer of the Taiwan Network Information Center (TWNIC), responsible for managing the .tw and .台灣 domain names and Taiwan’s IP address resources. She leads strategic initiatives in Internet infrastructure, cybersecurity governance, digital trust, and international cooperation, strengthening TWNIC’s role in global Internet governance.With over twenty years of experience across law, policy, and technology, Jo-Fan brings an interdisciplinary perspective to digital governance. She has actively promoted multistakeholder collaboration and advanced initiatives such as DNS abuse mitigation, Trusted Notifier frameworks, and regional capacity-building. She represents TWNIC at major global forums including ICANN, APNIC, APrIGF, and CENTR. Before joining TWNIC, she was Head of Public Policy and Government Affairs for Google Taiwan and Hong Kong, and a partner at Baker McKenzie, specializing in competition law, telecommunications, and platform regulation. She began her career as a prosecutor handling cybercrime and intellectual property cases.Jo-Fan currently serves as a board member of DotAsia and an executive director of TWIGF. She is committed to building an open, resilient, and rule-of-law–based Internet ecosystem.

Bernhart Farras Sukandar is a Multidisciplinary Lecturer and Professional in Policy, Education, Journalism, Communication, and Technology. With 10 years+ of multidisciplinary professional experience, including 5 years in leadership, on building impact across startups, corporates, mass media, non-profits, and government institutions. Proven track record in leading cross-functional teams and fostering effective collaboration across complex, multistakeholder, multicultural, multinational, and multilingual environments. Bernhart Farras Sukandar’s involvement with the ICANN ecosystem began in 2012 at age 16,when he founded http://HartLogic.com and operated as a domain reseller. This early work gave him hands-on experience with the Domain Name System (DNS), from technical to governance.

Sukandar is a multidisciplinary lecturer, international journalist, and professional innovator. Sukandar became formally engaged with ICANN in 2020 through his contribution to public policy, government relations, and controls for independent registry management, domain misuse, and DNS Abuse at the Indonesian Domain Name Registry (.id). Beyond his long-standing technical and policy contributions, Sukandar experienced abuse within his own family through fraudulent domain-based schemes. These experiences reinforced his conviction that digital literacy, social equity, and human protection are critical in DNS governance. “I profess positive impact-driven collaboration across technical, governance, and end-user perspectives to advance justice-oriented policy, strengthen child protection, and balance digital sovereignty.”

Shita Laksmi is a digital governance consultant with over two decades of experience spanning international development, quasi-government roles, and academia. Over the past three years, her consultancy portfolio has included work with a philanthropy organization in Asia, DiploFoundation, the Open Government Partnership, Humanis, SBC4D, and B&S Europe. Her expertise covers transparency and accountability, personal and open data, media development, and internet and digital governance. From 2019 to 2022, Shita served as the Executive Director of the Tifa Foundation. Additionally, she was a member of the expert team at Indonesia’s Ministry of Communications and Informatics from 2017 to mid-2019, while simultaneously managing DiploFoundation’s projects across Asia. She has held key advisory roles, including as a member of the UN’s Internet Governance Forum Multistakeholder Advisory Group (2014–2017) and a co-founder of the Indonesia Internet Governance Forum (ID-IGF). 

Abdulrahman Abotaleb is a Yemeni ICT engineer, journalist, and Internet governance advocate based in the Netherlands. He is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of the Yemen Science Network, a platform dedicated to science & technology in Yemen and the Arab region. With over 15 years of experience in digital communications and media, Abdulrahman has worked with international organizations including the United Nations and Internews on strategic communication and digital engagement. He is an active member of the global Internet governance community, having participated in ICANN, RIPE NCC, APSIG, MEACSIG and Internet Society programs. He is also a co-producer of the podcast Internet Changemakers, which explores key issues shaping the future of the Internet. Abdulrahman is particularly interested in digital rights, access, and community empowerment in developing and conflict-affected regions.