Session
Global Digital Justice Forum, Dynamic Coalition on Internet Rights and Principles, Digital Constitutionalism Network, Dynamic Coalition on Platform Responsibility
Round 1 speakers:
- Isabel De Sola Criado, OSET
- Luca Belli, FGV Law School
- Bruna Martins, GNSO Council
- Chris Buckridge, Buckridge Consultants
- Onica Nonhlanhla Makwakwa, Global Digital Inclusion Partnership (joining virtually)
- Jimson Olufuye, AfICTA
Round 2 speakers:
- His Excellency Muhammadou M.O. KAH Ambassador, Chair of the Bureau of the Commission on Science and Technology for Development (joining virtually)
- Gitanjali Sah, ITU
- Cédric Wachholz, UNESCO
- Nandini Chami, IT for Change (joining virtually)
- Renata Avila, Open Knowledge Foundation (joining virtually)
- Jorge Cancio Melia, Deputy Director of International Relations, Swiss Federal Office of Communications
Round 3 speakers:
- Anriette Esterhuysen, APC and Global Digital Justice Forum
- Anita Gurumurthy, Global Digital Justice Forum (joining virtually)
Valeria Betancourt and Anriette Esterhuysen
Dennis Redeker
Nandini Chami
8. Decent Work and Economic Growth
9. Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
10. Reduced Inequalities
Targets: The event addresses the broad gamut of global digital cooperation. With tech policy playing an impactful role in determining the fulfillment of overarching development objectives such as innovation and infrastructure development, work and economic growth and reduced inequalities, the session and the discussions are well aligned with the above identified SDGs.
Roundtable
The event is structured as a visioning exercise, which will take place in three rounds that are detailed below. The onsite moderator will help facilitate the discussion in a plenary through discussion prompts that move through problem setting towards solutions development. Short context setting presentations from experts will be woven into the rounds to aid the visioning exercise. Round 1. A different multistakeholderism In round 1, the session will focus on the issues with the current model of multistakeholderism, and the ways in which multistakeholderism needs to be made anew towards the goal of accountable and effective digital governance. Illustrative issues the session will take on include: - Unpacking elite capture within multistakeholder spaces and solutions to counter the same - Evolving a new grammar of multistakeholderism that can expand the parameters and mechanisms of inclusion - Restructuring deliberative spaces for networked participatory governance - Determining the new frontiers of digital governance The session will bring on board contributions from actors deeply immersed in internet and digital governance spaces to share from their analogous experiences. Indicative speakers include representatives from the UN Tech Envoy's office, IGF MAG members, HLEC members from Net Mundial+10, ICANN community members and governments. Round 2. A new multilateralism: old truisms or radical change? In round 2, the session will go deeper into the challenges of present multilateralism and the solutions that are needed to address head on the system’s resource and capacity gaps, as well as the strategies that can be deployed to make it fit for purpose to take on global governance challenges. In particular, the session will explore in earnest how multilateralism can deliver on south-south cooperation among developing nations, as well as work to evolve policy regimes around the building blocks of the digital economy. Illustrative issues the session will take on include: - The realpolitik of development cooperation and how to shift finance flows - The role of democratic institutions in protecting people's sovereignty - Human rights constitutionalism for the digital everyday - The brass-tacks of multilateral coordination and inter-agency cooperation The session will bring perspectives about the ever increasing digital governance spaces. Indicative speakers include UN agency representatives like UNCTAD, ITU, UNESCO, UNDP, WHO, ILO, as well as intergovernmental organisations like South Centre, and policy centres like Global Policy Watch. Round 3. The vast open spaces of a multi-scalar solidarity The third session will open up thinking around how global digital governance agendas and processes can create more meaningful -channels of integration from the bottom-up to ensure that the concerns, voices and perspectives of marginalized communities and people find fair representation and inclusion. Illustrative issues the session will take on include: - New horizons for solidarity - South-South and North-South alliances and agendas - Digital governance non-negotiables for planetary peace, prosperity and sustainability - Alternative digital economy models and knowledge networks for an equitable future - Reclaiming the internet as a regenerative global common The session will include multi-sectoral and multi-constituency views and standpoints from transnational social movements, community technology activists, feminist digital justice advocates, platform cooperatives, UN Special Rapporteurs, governments, and regional inter-governmental organizations.
Twenty years after the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), the project of building an inclusive, people-centred and development-oriented digital economy and society continues to present challenges. Even as divides in connectivity and access to ICTs have not been bridged, newer divides in data and AI infrastructural capabilities have emerged among and within countries, entrenching inequitable geographies of development and neo-colonial extractivism. The wealth of networks has been usurped by transnational platform firms who monopolise the foundational socio-economic infrastructures that underpin all domains of life, resulting in a simultaneous erosion of political and economic democracy. Last but not the least, the unsustainable ecological footprint of the ongoing digital transition poses new dilemmas for sustainable development in the context of the global climate crisis.
Status-quoist global digital cooperation arrangements have proved inadequate to this challenge. There are gaping governance deficits with respect to addressing state and corporate accountability for the protection and promotion of human rights in the digital context; leveraging cross-border data flows for development justice; and addressing the societal risks and harms of the rapidly advancing arc of AI innovation.
In a multilateral environment where there are widening trust deficits, the adoption of the Global Digital Compact in September 2024 is one step towards a principles-based global digital cooperation framework that can advance “an inclusive, open, sustainable, fair, safe and secure digital future for all”. At the same time, the potential of this new framework can materialise only through full synergy between the Implementation Map of the Global Digital Compact and WSIS mechanisms, particularly focusing on a re-invigoration of the WSIS Action Lines from a digital justice standpoint.
Global civil society (CS) has a critical role to play in advancing the strategic conversation on connecting the dots between WSIS+20 and GDC implementation.
At this zero-day event, we intend to create the space for this much-needed civil society reflection that will facilitate the construction of a forward-looking digital justice agenda that informs strategic action vis-a-vis the WSIS+20 review and GDC implementation.
Session flow:
The session will have three rounds. The first two rounds will have a set of initial catalyst presentations from a multistakeholder panel of digital rights organisations, technical community members, and WSIS Action Line holders. Round 3 will involve a strategic stocktaking exercise moderated by the organisers (with on-site and on-line participation).
Round 1 (10.45-11.15 AM) Missing Dots:
From WSIS to the Global Digital Compact, global digital cooperation and governance have come through ups and downs. From a digital justice standpoint, what would be the elements? Can we plot the institutional and issue-based deficits?
Round 2 (11.15-11.45 AM) Connecting Lines:
To further digital justice, how can we reinvigorate WSIS implementation? How can we make the WSIS action lines speak to the contemporary digital moment?
Round 3 (11.55-12.35 PM) Moving the agenda
Part 1 - Reflections on Rounds 1 and 2 - CS representatives
Part 2 - Open Discussion
12.35 -12.45 PM: Wrap up by Valeria Betancourt and Dennis Redeker
Report
1. Alignment Between WSIS and GDC: Stronger alignment between WSIS implementation and GDC processes is needed to avoid duplication, ensure inclusivity, and tackle emerging issues like data governance, digital public goods, AI ethics, gender equity, and environmental sustainability.
2. Implementation Challenges: Lack of a detailed roadmap with clear targets and financing mechanisms, the proliferation of digital governance intersections, and inadequate mechanisms for inclusive stakeholder participation may hinder effective GDC implementation. It is important to address these issues along with promoting transparency and accountability in digital policy-making.
3. Equitable and inclusive participation: There is a need for promoting equity and inclusivity in digital governance spaces, particularly of the Global South and underrepresented communities. There is urgent need to integrate gender considerations into digital cooperation frameworks, particularly exploring intersections between WSIS implementation and Beijing+30’s digital transition agenda.
1. Develop a clear GDC implementation roadmap, defining roles, accountability, and leveraging the WSIS platform to align WSIS and GDC processes. 2. Address gaps in global digital governance by creating a binding framework and institutional mechanisms. Complement multilateral and multistakeholder approaches, prioritize data/digital economy governance, and enhance civil society participation, focusing on underrepresented groups and gender equality.
3. Reinvigorating WSIS action lines: We need to clearly address the questions of 'who is going to take up which action areas', 'where are the resources' and 'what is the incentive to cooperate' and look at the intersections of older issues with contemporary challenges - financing for digital infrastructure, digital soveriegnty, digital taxation, data governance -- and the overall issue of geoeconomics in digital cooperation.