​Outputs
I.4-1 Reports and other inputs to UN inter-agency, multilateral and inter-governmental processes.

I.4-1​ Reports and other inputs to UN inter-agency, multilateral and inter-governmental processes

​ITU and the United Nations​

2015 was a milestone year for the United Nations, with the conclusion of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) process, and the approval of the new post-2015 development framework, entitled ‘Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’, which was adopted at the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit on 25 September 2015. The agenda comprises 17 goals and 169 targets, and came into effect on 1 January 2016.

The ITU Liaison Office in New York played a key role throughout the negotiation process of the new agenda, advocating for increased visibility of ICTs and strengthening relationships with different stakeholders, including Member States and U.N. agencies, Sector Members, Academia and civil society. These collective efforts resulted in having the vital role of ICTs as a catalyst for developments specifically recognized in the Declaration, stating that “the spread of information and communication technology and global interconnectedness has great potential to accelerate human progress and to develop knowledge societies, to bridge the digital divide and to develop knowledge societies, as does scientific and technological innovation across areas as diverse as medicine and energy”. In addition, four targets of the SDGs explicitly recognize the role of ICTs. This applies to the targets on Education and scholarships (4.b) on Gender empowerment (5.b) on Infrastructure for Universal and Affordable access to ICTs and the Internet in the Least Developed Countries (9.c) and more broadly, Goal 17 on Strengthening the means of implementation and revitalizing the global partnership for sustainable development, which calls to enhance the use of enabling technology, in particular ICTs. There are also several references to technology in general throughout the SDGs in which ICTs play an important direct or indirect role.

ITU’s work with the United Nations during this period was also driven by the Union’s participation in and contribution to (including the preparatory work and formulation of the outcome documents), other major conferences, summits and high level meetings, including: Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (14 to 18 March 2015, Sendai, Japan); 3rd International Conference on Financing for Development (13-16 July, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia); the 10th Annual Internet Governance Forum (10-13 November, João Pessoa, Brazil); the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP 21 (30 November - 12 December, Paris, France); and the High-level meeting of the General Assembly on the overall review of the implementation of the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society.​

The ITU Secretary-General’s annual mission to New York in 2015, on the occasion of the Summit for the Adoption of the Post-2015 Development Agenda and annual opening of the General Debate of the United Nations General Assembly, included attending the Broadband Commission meetings, participation in plenaries, thematic High Level panels, side-events, report launches and bilateral meetings among others. Of particular interest this year was the ITU 150th Anniversary Gala, Connecting the World.

During 2015, ITU continued to make all possible efforts to include the work of ITU in relevant General Assembly, ECOSOC and CSTD resolutions and to a number of UN Secretary-General’s annual reports presented to these bodies. Key areas of interest and interaction include ICTs for development (digital divide, gender, youth, inclusion, LDC, LLDC, SIDS, climate change, technology transfer, capacity building, emergency telecommunication, m-health); the World Summit for the Information Society (WSIS) follow-up process; ITU/ICT-related issues (Cyber Security, Internet Governance); MDG follow-up; Post-2015 Development Agenda/SDGs; and the Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development.

The annual outcomes of the WSIS implementation process, including the WSIS Forum, WSIS Prizes, WSIS Stocktaking, UNGIS and Partnership on Measuring ICT for development, were submitted to the Commission on Science and Technology (CSTD). These are included in the UN Secretary General’s Report and in the ECOSOC and UN GA by way of the UN GA Information and communications technologies for development Resolution.

In terms of inter-agency coordination, ITU’s visibility and leadership within the Chief Executives Board for Coordination (CEB) continued by way of the ITU Secretary-General chairing the ICT-Network Information Security Special Interest Group of the High Level Committee on Management (HLCM). ITU also participated actively in the elaboration of the Strategy for the Global Initiative on Decent Jobs for Youth, and succeeded in having endorsed a CEB Statement on WSIS+10 follow-up. ITU is also called to play a relevant role in the United Nations Inter-Agency Task Team of the Technology Facilitation Mechanism established by the Addis Ababa Action Agenda and part of the Means of Implementation of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda.

Throughout 2015, ITU has collaborated with the Joint Inspection Unit of the United Nations (JIU), which included a review of the management and administration in the ITU in its work programme for this year. The final report and recommendations will be presented to Council 2016. See also ITU Council reports C11/INF/6, C12/INF/1(Rev.1), C13/INF/10, C14/INF/7, C15/INF/4, and C16/57.

Climate change

ITU has continued to work in the area of ICTs and climate change including smart sustainable cities. Key activities conducted during the period include collaboration with GeSI (Global e-Sustainability Initiative) to promote sustainability targets in the Connect 2020 agenda, participation in the 2015 World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, UN Climate week, and the UN Climate Conference (COP 21) held in Paris in November 2015.

Coordination with other UN agencies for preparations of UN-Habitat III has continued. ITU has also continued with the work conducted by relevant study groups, as well as by the ITU-T Focus Groups on Smart Sustainable Cities and Smart Water Management, which completed their work in March and May 2015. In addition to these outcomes, ITU has continued to undertake actions to reduce its environmental footprint, and became a climate-neutral organization in 2015. CDM (Clean Development Mechanism) offsets from UNFCCC for use against ITU’s emissions have been purchased.

ITU-T Study Group 5 continues to develop standards and best practices to combat climate change, deal with e-waste, promote environmental sustainability and reduce energy consumption. ITU-T Study Group 5 has developed a set of key performance indicators for smart sustainable cities based on the work carried out by FG-SSC.

ITU-R started to update Recommendation ITU-R RS.1883 “Use of remote sensing systems in the study of climate change and the effects thereof” and ITU-R RS.1859 “Use of remote sensing systems for data collections to be used in the event of natural disasters and similar emergencies”. Work is ongoing. RA-15 discussed the new ITU-R study on Reduction of energy consumption (Modification of Resolution of ITU-R 60). A proposal to set up of a specialized UN group on e-waste management with ITU as its Chair was submitted to EMG in September 2015. ITU has organized, together with Basel Convention, UNESCO, UNIDO and others, the Green Standards Week, in Nassau, Bahamas. A new ITU-T Study Group 20 on “IoT and its applications, including smart cities and communities” was created in June 2015. Standardized training materials for a full training program on ICT and Climate Change is being developed by ITU-D.In order to raise awareness, ITU has organized a series of events and trainings, and will continue these in 2016.

For further information on ITU’s climate change related activities in 2015, see sections T.1-5, T.5-3, D.5-1, D.5-2, and I.4-1.

Emergency Telecommunications

For reporting on ITU’s Emergency Telecommun​​ications related activities and activities related to disaster prediction, detection, mitigation and relief in 2015, see sections R.2-1,T.5-3, D.5-2, and I.4-1.​

​Gender

A separate report to the Council (C16/6​) summarizes ITU’s objectives and achievements in the implementation of Resolution 70 (Rev. Busan, 2014) “Mainstreaming a gender perspective in ITU and promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women through information and communication technologies” during the period 2015-2016.

Activities reported include those related to: (a) implementation of the ITU Gender Equality and Mainstreaming (GEM) Policy; (b) efforts of the different Bureaux; (c) activities in collaboration with other UN agencies and the private sector; (d) organization of and/or participation in key events and conferences; (e) statistics about gender distribution within ITU.

Empowerment of Youth through ICTs

In 2015, ITU advanced its work in the implementation of Resolution 198 (Busan, 2014), which establishes ITU’s mandate in the area of empowering of youth through telecommunication/ICT. The implementation of Resolution 198 followed the lines of action indicated in the roadmap for 2016-2018 established by Council Resolution 1374, covering areas such as strengthening work with academia, promoting participation of young professionals in ITU meetings and governing bodies, strengthening ITU’s work in the area of young innovators and entrepreneurs, and ensuring ITU-wide coordination in the area of youth.

Some examples of activities conducted by ITU during this reporting period include: the 2015 Young Policy Leaders Programme (held during the 2015 session of Council); the 2015 ITU Telecom Young Innovators Programme; BDT’s work on youth employment and entrepreneurship; the 2015 Girls in ICT campaign; and the appointment of President Luis Guillermo Solís Rivera of Costa Rica as the new ITU Patron for Youth and ICTs; among others.

For 2016, it is planned that ITU will advance its work in the implementation of the youth roadmap, putting special emphasis on maximizing the synergies with other UN- and ITU-related initiatives and programmes to ensure the provision of youth with the necessary skills for (online) employment, including the Child Online Protection Initiative, the EMERGE initiative, and the Girls in ICT global campaign. Further information about ITU’s activities on youth is available at http://www.itu.int/youth.​​​​​​​​​​​​