Artificial Intelligence (AI) is, along with robotics, at the forefront of technological innovation, and may have a profound and lasting impact on the global labour market. Sam Altman of OpenAI has predicted that 2025 will be the year we may see…

In September 2024, UN Member States adopted the Global Digital Compact (GDC) to “harness the immense potential of digital technology and close digital divides”. The GDC highlights digital public goods and digital public infrastructure as key drivers…

The influence of global tech companies is growing across the political, social and economic realms. The business model of tech companies is underpinned by data, particularly data collected on their platforms’ users. Platform economics, which…

Rapid digitalisation, the dizzying speed of technological innovation and persistent digital inequality present complex challenges for the protection and respect of human rights both online and offline. This session aims to take a renewed look at the need to apply the precautionary principle to all technological innovations before solutions, services and applications are made available to users.

1. How can the use of existing international human rights standards and instruments by different stakeholders be improved as a mechanism for preventing  and addressing human rights violations and abuses in the digital environment when designing and deploying new technologies?
2. As adoption of new technologies increases, how should the different stakeholders balance innovation, access and inclusion with the effective protection of human rights? (And what practical examples exist to illustrate that balance?)
3. How can policy makers develop and implement timely and effective responses to rapidly evolving and socially impactful technologies?

Speakers:

• Anita Gurumurthy, IT For Change
• Rodrigo Goñi, Member of Parliament, Uruguay
• Pierre Bonis, Director General of Afnic
• Peggy Hicks, Director, Thematic Engagement, Special Procedures and Right to Development Division, UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR)
• Julian Theseira, Centre for AI and Digital Policy

Moderators:

• Allison Gilwald, ICT Research Africa
• Pablo Hinojosa, Independent

The discussion will focus on several policy guiding questions: Multistakeholder Cooperation and Cyber Resilience How can national and regional multistakeholder cooperation build stronger global cybersecurity resilience? What governance… In an increasingly interconnected world, cybersecurity challenges are growing in scale and complexity. Global cybercrime is projected to cost $10.5 trillion annually by 2025 (Cybersecurity Ventures, 2020), posing serious risks to institutions, economies, and fundamental rights. This session will explore how national and regional multistakeholder cooperation can build stronger, more resilient cybersecurity frameworks, while balancing innovation, security, and the protection of human rights. A key focus will be on the tension between cybersecurity legislation and existing privacy and data protection measures. In some cases, stricter regulations on service providers, such as DNS operators, may inadvertently undermine effective, rights-respecting security mechanisms already in place. Participants will discuss whether additional regulation strengthens overall digital security, and what costs it may impose on service providers and end users. Local and regional practices and experiences will serve as the foundation for this exchange, highlighting diverse approaches to governance, accountability, and incident response. The discussion will also address the growing threat of organized cybercrime, the evolving dynamics of criminal networks, and the new capabilities law enforcement agencies require. By drawing from practical experiences, the session aims to identify concrete, collaborative pathways to strengthen cybersecurity resilience in different contexts.Through a dialogue and exchange of practices and experiences of different NRIs, this session will focus on ways to combat and prevent cybersecurity threats.

The discussion will focus on several policy guiding questions from the ones listed below: Policy and Regulation How can inclusive policies and stronger regulatory frameworks close the digital divide, lower internet costs, and enforce… Why talk about local connectivity and community networks for affordable universal access? Internet connectivity is today a basic condition for the exercise of fundamental rights, access to education, health, citizen participation and economic development. However, millions of people in rural, indigenous and peripheral areas continue to face digital exclusion, demonstrating that traditional deployment models have failed to close the gap. In this context, community based networks have proven to be a viable, sustainable and deeply rooted alternative to bring connectivity to historically underserved communities. These initiatives, driven by social organization, local knowledge and collaborative work, challenge the idea that only large operators can guarantee access. This session proposes a multi-sectoral conversation on the challenges and opportunities faced by these networks: How can they be recognized and strengthened through public policy? What regulatory frameworks and financing models would allow for their expansion? What alliances should be forged to guarantee universal, affordable and meaningful access? Addressing these questions not only contributes to the construction of more inclusive and effective policies, but also recognizes communities as protagonists of their own digital development.

For those participating for the first time at the IGF, this newcomers track session will provide an overview of the IGF's structure and process modalities. It will also focus on the IGF 2025 and ways to participate meaningfully.…

The United Nations Global Digital Compact (GDC) presents a landmark opportunity for the international community to shape a shared digital future that is inclusive, sustainable, and human-centred. However, nearly 2.7 billion people worldwide remain offline, limiting their access to economic opportunities, education, and essential services.In Africa, approximately 60% of the population—over 700 million people—remain offline. The divide is most severe in rural areas, where only 23% have internet access, compared to 57% in urban areas. Gender disparities are also stark, with 43% of men using the Internet compared to just 31% of women.While 82% of Africa’s population is covered by mobile broadband, significant barriers such as affordability, digital literacy gaps, and lack of infrastructure continue to hinder connectivity. Africa’s participation in the global digital economy remains minimal, contributing less than 1% to global digital platforms and only 0.85% to ICT service exports. Beyond connectivity, nearly 500 million Africans lack recognized identification, excluding them from essential services, financial systems, and civic participation, as highlighted by the World Bank's ID4D Initiative. Additionally, 42% of the population lacks basic digital skills, further exacerbating digital exclusion.The gender gap in tech is another pressing challenge, with women representing only 24% of Africa’s tech workforce. This underrepresentation highlights the urgent need for inclusive policies and investments to bridge the digital divide, enhance skills development, and ensure equitable participation in the digital economy. Bridging the digital divide is not just a technological challenge—it is a fundamental development imperative for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Without urgent action, this divide will continue to widen global inequalities, further marginalizing those who are already underserved. Objective 1 of the Global Digital Compact (GDC), Connecting all people to the Internet, including all schools, serves as a critical accelerator for UN SDG 8 - Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all. Achieving affordable, accessible, and meaningful connectivity requires a comprehensive approach, including expanding digital infrastructure, reducing costs, building digital skills, and addressing the needs of vulnerable populations, such as women, children, persons with disabilities, and rural communities. This high-level round table discussion will examine how implementing GDC 1 can accelerate progress toward SDG 8, exploring key strategies, challenges, and opportunities to leverage digital connectivity as a catalyst for economic inclusion, job creation, and sustainable growth.

To facilitate interaction between onsite and online speakers and attendees, we will use a hybrid event platform with a dedicated moderator to ensure seamless engagement. Real-time Q&A, polling tools such as Mentimeter, and live chat monitoring will allow both in-person and remote participants to contribute equally. These strategies will create a dynamic and engaging experience, fostering meaningful exchanges and actionable outcomes for all attendees.

Technology, particularly AI, holds immense potential to address society’s most critical challenges and deliver transformative public impact by, inter alia, strengthening public service delivery, driving climate resilience, advancing education, healthcare, and agriculture, and supporting inclusive economic development. However, even as AI continues to reshape global systems at an unprecedented pace, its benefits remain unequally distributed. Research, development, and infrastructure (such as access to advanced chips, and compute resources) are overwhelmingly concentrated in the Global North. In contrast, the Global South, which accounts for nearly 85% of the world’s population, faces persistent structural barriers in accessing, influencing, and deriving benefits from AI technologies. The result is an AI ecosystem disproportionately designed around the priorities, languages, and data realities of a limited set of countries, often overlooking the cultural, linguistic, and socioeconomic diversity of the wider world. Without inclusive representation and equitable access, AI risks perpetuating existing inequalities and encoding systemic bias into future technological infrastructure. This not only weakens the ability of marginalized communities to benefit from AI but also undermines the credibility and universality of global AI systems. Multilateral cooperation is crucial to bridging this divide. It offers a pathway to co-develop inclusive governance frameworks, democratize access to critical AI resources, and scale AI solutions that are locally rooted and globally relevant. Existing international initiatives—ranging from the Global Digital Compact and the OECD AI Principles to GPAI and the AI Safety Institutes network—have made valuable progress. However, there remains a pressing need to align, harmonize, and operationalize these efforts to deliver meaningful and measurable AI impact at scale. This session at the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) 2025 in Norway serves as a key precursor to the AI Impact Summit, to be hosted by India in 2026. It will initiate a global dialogue on how inclusive multilateralism can ensure that AI benefits all—irrespective of geography, income level, or infrastructure readiness—while laying the foundation for impactful, human-centered, and future-ready AI ecosystems. The panel will discuss: • Examine the structural and technological barriers that limit inclusive access to AI innovation. • Explore the consequences of the AI divide on the quality, inclusiveness, and effectiveness of AI systems globally. • Discuss how multilateral and multi-stakeholder cooperation can address these gaps—through mechanisms such as AI commons, open models, resource-sharing frameworks, and collaborative governance. • Identify actionable pathways to co-create AI solutions that are locally grounded, culturally relevant, and capable of delivering tangible development outcomes. • How can inclusive multistakeholder processes ensure that AI governance structures represent the voices and priorities of the Global South and other historically underrepresented communities? • What lessons can be drawn from successful international partnerships that have fostered capacity-building, resource-sharing, or co-development of context-relevant AI solutions? • How can we transition from principle-based commitments to implementation-oriented approaches that deliver measurable public impact, while safeguarding innovation, safety, and rights?

The session will open with a keynote address examining the global Artificial Intelligence (AI) divide, its impact on nations' ability to leverage AI's transformative potential, and how multilateral initiatives can create inclusive AI ecosystems that leave no one behind (10 mins). This will be followed by a moderated panel discussion featuring diverse voices from across regions and sectors (60 minutes) and will conclude with an interactive audience Q&A session (20 minutes).

As Africa accelerates its digital transformation, data governance is a central pillar of its socioeconomic development. With the increasing reliance on data-driven economies, it is essential to understand the challenges and opportunities posed by national data policies, cross-border data flows, and regional regulatory frameworks. Africa’s digital economy has the potential to drive sustainable and inclusive growth, but the fragmented data governance landscape, marked by differing national regulations and inconsistent cross-border data policies, creates barriers to innovation, privacy, cybersecurity, and digital trade. This session will provide a platform for multi-stakeholder dialogue to explore the complexities of data governance in Africa, focusing on regulatory harmonization, data flows, digital rights, and the role of emerging technologies. By convening governments, industry leaders, civil society, and technical experts, the session aims to examine how improving data governance can enhance intra-continental data flows, support innovation, and facilitate the development of a data-driven economy. The session will also address how data governance can be aligned with sustainable digital practices, such as green digital applications, and strategies for creating a climate-resilient data governance ecosystem. Through dynamic discussions, participants will explore how to harmonize data regulations across national and regional levels, strengthen institutional capacity to enforce data protection policies, and foster partnerships that support a more inclusive data governance system. The session will highlight the importance of collaboration between governments, the private sector, and civil society, in advancing the continent’s data governance frameworks towards Africa's Digital Single Market realization. The session will also examine how trusted data flows can contribute to the development of AI, drive digital trade, and strengthen Africa’s role in the global digital economy. Participants will share best practices, identify areas for collaboration, and contribute to building an equitable data governance system that balances innovation, security, and human rights. Aligned with the African Union’s Data Policy Framework and regional data governance efforts, the session aims to facilitate dialogue that will help Africa overcome barriers to data flow and achieve a unified digital market. Ultimately, the session will contribute to SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure), SDG 16 (Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions), and SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals). To ensure inclusivity, the session will be moderated both onsite and online, with a focus on engaging virtual participants, fostering dynamic interaction, and ensuring equitable participation across all formats. Both moderators will ensure that the session adheres to the IGF’s code of conduct, promoting respectful and meaningful discourse

To ensure seamless interaction in the hybrid format, both onsite and online moderators will be assigned to actively engage participants. The online moderator will prioritize virtual participants’ questions and comments, while onsite moderators will ensure balanced participation from all attendees, fostering an inclusive dialogue between both groups. The session will include interactive elements such as live Q&A, polls, and discussions, with virtual participants contributing via chat or voice, and onsite participants engaging similarly. We will use the IGF’s virtual platform along with tools like Zoom for live polling, Q&A, and chat features, ensuring real-time interaction and feedback. This integrated approach will provide a cohesive and engaging experience for all participants, ensuring equal opportunities for contribution and fostering diverse perspectives.

The African Union Open Forum will serve as a platform to engage with the global community on Africa’s digital transformation agenda, highlighting progress, challenges, and key initiatives. The session will provide updates on continental efforts in digital governance, cross-border data flows, cybersecurity, and regulatory harmonization. It will also discuss collaborations with regional and international partners to advance a unified digital strategy. This interactive forum aims to foster dialogue between policymakers, industry leaders, and civil society on strengthening Africa’s digital future.

To create a seamless experience for both onsite and online participants, we will facilitate interaction between onsite and online speakers and attendees through: Dedicated Moderator Team & Technical Support: Assign a team of moderators who will actively engage both in-person and remote participants. A technical support team will ensure smooth communication. Equal Participation for Speakers: At this point in time, all speakers plan to attend the IGF 2025 in person. In case one of the speakers can only participate online, we will ensure the use of high-quality audiovisual equipment (cameras, microphones, and screens) to ensure that they appear prominently in the venue and are given equal speaking time. Live Q&A and Polling: We plan to use interactive tools like Slido or Mentimeter to allow all attendees to ask questions and respond to polls in real time. To ensure engagement and inclusivity, we will ensure: A balanced Agenda & Speaking Order that alternates between online and onsite speakers to maintain energy and engagement Include engagement activities and incorporate live polls, quick opinion rounds, and real-time feedback mechanisms. Interactive Icebreakers: A quick round of introductions or a short activity at the beginning to make online participants feel included and seen/heard as well.

The United Nations Statistics Commission is the highest body of the global statistical system, bringing together Chief Statisticians from member states around the world, as well as international organizations working on statistics. The 56th Session of the Commission that took place in March this year endorsed the Copenhagen Framework on Citizen Data—a major step forward in strengthening partnerships between National Statistical Offices and communities. This milestone in creating a more inclusive statistical system highlights the need to elevate standards for data production while reinforcing statistical systems as instruments of tolerance and diversity.

By engaging citizens, data production can be more than just numbers—it can provide the infrastructure for freedom of expression by establishing connections with population groups that are often left out or underrepresented when assessing societal needs and concerns. What information should be collected? How should it be collected? How should it be used? What does the information mean? These are just a few questions that the population itself can answer, as they are the ultimate beneficiaries of service delivery.

This session focuses on the pioneering experience of Ghana exploring the potential of citizen-generated data in improving the engagement of citizens in the measurement and assessment of public service delivery. By engaging citizens in data collection and sharing the insights derived, National Statistical Offices can foster a participatory approach that strengthens the connection between data provision and active involvement in decision-making processes. The expansion of internet coverage and the rise in technological literacy enable the use of ‘apps’ to collect information from specific population groups.

The session aims to:

• Enhance understanding of the benefits and challenges associated with integrating citizen data into public service assessments.
• Identify best practices for non-extractive, people centred data engagement models.
• Develop actionable strategies to leverage internet connectivity for inclusive data collection.
• Explore how the Collaborative on Citizen Data could support citizen data on effectiveness of service delivery