WSIS TalkX on ICTs for Peace

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Good morning, good afternoon, good evening and welcome to this WSIS TalkX on “ICTs for Peace”.

Many thanks to the United Nations Technology Bank for Least Developed Countries in co-organising the event with us, and to Mr Seth, Executive Director of UNITAR, and Ambassador Zhang, Deputy Director-General of WTO, and all the other panelists and youth campaigners for being with us.  

The ITU is the world’s oldest international organisation and its Constitution recognises the growing importance of telecommunication for the preservation of peace and the economic and social development of all States, and has the object of facilitating peaceful relations and international cooperation. So it is very appropriate that we recognise World Science Day for Peace and Development.   

More and more voices are airing concerns about the dangers posed by new digital technologies like artificial intelligence and the growing threat of cyber wars. 

At the same time, AI and other emerging technologies are being used to address violence and conflict in new and innovative ways, from using drones and satellite imagery in peacekeeping operations, to leveraging online platforms to monitor elections and document human rights abuses.

As the Nobel Prize winner and economist Amartya Sen said: “The power to do good almost always goes with the possibility to do the opposite”. ITU, as the UN specialized agency for information and communication technologies, always promotes the power of digital technology as a force for good - as exemplified by our annual AI for Good global summit​.

One of the challenges is cybersecurity. With the world ever more dependent on digital technology since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, this is even more challenging. Sixteen years ago, the United Nations World Summit on the Information Society entrusted ITU with leading the effort on building confidence and security in the use of ICTs. Since then, we have spared no effort to fulfill this mission ─ be it through the WSIS Action Line C5 or the Global Cybersecurity Agenda Framework.   

Our world is facing complex and ever-changing threats. Climate change tops that list. As COP26 is drawing to a close, I am more convinced than ever that emerging technologies such as AI, 5G and others offer a significant contribution not only to the fight against climate change, but to all the world’s most pressing challenges. ICTs have a key role to play in accelerating progress on all the UN Sustainable Development Goals, including SDG 16 on peace, justice and strong institutions. 

Peace remains elusive in too many parts of the world. And ICTs are still out of reach, unaffordable, irrelevant, unsafe or too complicated to use for too many people across the globe. My hope is that we can use this moment to strengthen cooperation and collaboration – inside the public and private sectors – to bridge both the peace divide and the digital divide. 

With that, I wish you a successful session and look forward to hearing our panelists’ insights and first-hand experiences of using ICTs to foster peaceful, sustainable societies. 

Thank you.​