Centering People and Planet in the WSIS+20 and beyond
Global Digital Justice Forum, IT for Change and Association for Progressive Communications
Session 370
Twenty years after the WSIS, the dream of a people-centric, inclusive, and development-oriented digital economy and society has never seemed more elusive, yet so urgent, to claim. Though more people than ever have access to the Internet today, the majority lack meaningful access. What this means is that the digital condition is not leading to socio-economic empowerment and flourishing lives for all. The new digital order dictated by corporate greed and authoritarianism has seen widespread job precarity, misinformation, war crimes, the climate catastrophe, and more. Our autonomy, agency, shared humanity, and planetary well-being are under siege.
Against this backdrop, the Global Digital Justice Forum has launched a campaign bringing together the voices of civil society organizations and people’s movements, working on food sovereignty, indigenous people’s rights, trade justice, knowledge commons, workers’ rights, public health, peace and development, ecological sustainability and other critical development domains. The 4-point call for action is a concerted vision for Digital Justice, Now!
This session seeks to inform governments, WSIS Action Line holders, and other critical stakeholders about the key demands of the campaign – endorsed by over 100+ CSOs and individuals from across the world.
We would like to catalyse a discussion on how the WSIS+20 Outcome Document can respond to the needs and interests of the most marginalized communities in the global south.
Session Flow:
9.00 to 9.10 am: Introduction to the ‘Digital Justice Now!’ campaign by Anita Gurumurthy, IT for Change
9.10 to 9.50 am: Reflections on digital justice. Inputs from each speaker on the top three priorities on global equity and inclusion for the WSIS+20 Review outcome document:
Moderator: Anriette Esterhuysen, APC
- Amb. Guilherme de Aguiar Patriota, PR of Brazil to WTO, WIPO, UNCTAD
- Ms. Mallory Knodel, Executive Director, Social Web Foundation (online)
- Amb. Thomas Schneider, Director of International Affairs, (OFCOM),
Government of Switzerland
- Ms. Liping Zhang, Chief, Science, Technology and Innovation for Development Section,
UNCTAD
- Mr. James George Paterson, Director, ICT Multilateral Affairs, Government of South
Africa
- Mr. Guilherme Canela Godoi, Director of UNESCO's Division for Digital Inclusion
- Mr. William Lee, Assistant Director, at Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional
Development and Communications, Government of Australia
9:50 - 10:00 am: Open Discussion
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C1. The role of governments and all stakeholders in the promotion of ICTs for development
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C2. Information and communication infrastructure
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C3. Access to information and knowledge
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C4. Capacity building
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C5. Building confidence and security in use of ICTs
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C6. Enabling environment
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C7. ICT applications: benefits in all aspects of life — E-government
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C7. ICT applications: benefits in all aspects of life — E-business
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C7. ICT applications: benefits in all aspects of life — E-learning
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C7. ICT applications: benefits in all aspects of life — E-health
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C7. ICT applications: benefits in all aspects of life — E-employment
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C7. ICT applications: benefits in all aspects of life — E-environment
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C7. ICT applications: benefits in all aspects of life — E-agriculture
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C7. ICT applications: benefits in all aspects of life — E-science
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C8. Cultural diversity and identity, linguistic diversity and local content
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C9. Media
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C10. Ethical dimensions of the Information Society
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C11. International and regional cooperation
One of the key demands of the Digital Justice, Now! Campaign is an expansion of the WSIS Action Lines to reflect reinvigorated efforts under the WSIS Action Lines based on international cooperation and collaboration among all relevant stakeholders.
The session will bring up some critical ideas pertaining to the expansion of the Action Lines in the following directions:
• Action Line C1: Common standards for digital public goods that emphasize democratic ownership and control, and transparent and accountable governance of digital public infrastructure.
• Action Line C2: Universal access to meaningful connectivity, and steps to dismantle the walled gardens of private platform services, promote interoperable platform architectures for enabling market competition, address fragmentation of network standards, and foster the development of multiple and diverse technologies.
• Action Line C3: Measures to protect media pluralism and diversity, and tackle risks to democratic integrity, especially misinformation, hate speech, and gender-based cyber-violence, stemming from algorithms gone rogue.
• Action Line C4: Critical and transformative public digital education and civic literacy for the age of algorithmized public life, and investment in human development for empowered participation of all in the digital society and economy.
• Action Line C5: Global agreement to end the militarization and weaponization of cybertechnologies and AI.
• Action Line C6: An integrated approach that recognizes continuities between internet-related public policy and data and AI governance.
• Action Line C7: A strong ‘data for development’ agenda that explores appropriate and rule-based data sharing at global, regional, and national levels to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
• Action Line C8: Governance frameworks for generative AI development to protect the knowledge sovereignty of indigenous communities and to ensure an open science and innovation culture that benefits all of humanity.
• Action Line C9: The right to communicate in social media and immersive internet environments.
• Action Line C10: Benchmarks on digital human rights, and due diligence guidance for transnational corporations and other business enterprises on human rights and the environment in digital value chains.
• Action Line C11: Removal of barriers to effective international cooperation on data and AI—specifically, the lack of flexibilities in IP regimes in AI value chains, constraining clauses in digital trade agreements, stifling of digital industrial policy choices of developing countries in the data economy, and lack of compute power in the majority world.
• A new Action Line on gender equality in the digital society for transversal integration of gender in the action plan
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Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
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Goal 9: Build resilient infrastructure, promote sustainable industrialization and foster innovation
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Goal 10: Reduce inequality within and among countries
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Goal 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
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Goal 17: Revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development
The session examines the linkages between global digital cooperation mechanisms, Financing for Development processes, and SDGs review processes that need to be strengthened.
The session adopts a paradigmatic approach to examining the links between digitalisation and sustainable development, moving beyond the ICTs/digital technologies as tools approach. As the previous para outlines, the session looks at how to center people and planet in the WSIS+20 review process – bringing in critical questions about the development divide in the digital transition, ecological injustice, gender inequality, the erosion of democracy, and the uneven geographies of digital infrastructural capabilities right up front.
It thus has cross-cutting links with the entire Agenda 2030, but also specifically the following SDGs:
Target 5.b. Enhance the use of enabling technology, in particular information and communications technology, to promote the empowerment of women
Target 9c. Significantly increase access to information and communications technology and strive to provide universal and affordable access to the Internet in least developed countries by 2020
Target 10.2. By 2030, empower and promote the social, economic and political inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or other status
Target 13.2. Integrate climate change measures into national policies, strategies and planning
Target 17.6. Enhance North-South, South-South and triangular regional and international cooperation on and access to science, technology and innovation and enhance knowledge sharing on mutually agreed terms, including through improved coordination among existing mechanisms, in particular at the United Nations level, and through a global technology facilitation mechanism
Target 17.7. Promote the development, transfer, dissemination and diffusion of environmentally sound technologies to developing countries on favourable terms, including on concessional and preferential terms, as mutually agreed.
- Objective 1: Close all digital divides and accelerate progress across the Sustainable Development Goals
- Objective 2: Expand inclusion in and benefits from the digital economy for all
- Objective 3: Foster an inclusive, open, safe and secure digital space that respects, protects and promotes human rights
- Objective 4: Advance responsible, equitable and interoperable data governance approaches
- Objective 5: Enhance international governance of artificial intelligence for the benefit of humanity
Link to our campaign page: https://gdjf.globaldigitaljusticeforum.net/campaign/digital-justice-now/
Link to GDJF's "No Digital Justice Without Fiscal Justice Campaign": https://gdjf.globaldigitaljusticeforum.net/submission/no-digital-justice-without-fiscal-justice/