Agenda

In December 2025, in their statement on the WSIS+20 Outcome Declaration, the G77 expressed regret that the principle of Common But Differentiated Responsibilities (CBDR) had not been explicitly invoked in the document. In the bloc’s view, this omission weakened the development aspect of WSIS implementation, ignoring the “structural disparities in capacities and resources among countries.” The origin of the principle of CBDR lies in the 1992 Rio Declaration on Environment and Development. Climate responsibilities are “common” because climate change is a global issue that affects the earth's ecosystem in entirety. All states, therefore, share a collective obligation to protect the planet. However, these responsibilities are “differentiated” based on historical emissions and economic capabilities. Developing countries have also argued for the CBDR principle outside the climate change agenda – including in the Convention on Biological Diversity and in discussions on Financing for Development.

It is this precedent and the sentiment expressed by the G77 in December 2025 that this session hopes to build on, in order to enrich the global digital governance debate. The focus of this session is on what it means to meaningfully translate the principle of Common But Differentiated Responsibilities in the current conjuncture for a reinvigorated global digital governance paradigm. As the UN Secretary General has noted on several occasions, AI is truly a global technology – its value chains are interdependent and its development and deployment has the potential to impact, for better or worse, the common future of the people and the planet. Yet, this common concern notwithstanding, historical evolution of digital technologies also reflects structural exclusions that impede digital equity and prevent developing countries from participating in, and benefitting from, the digital revolution on equal terms. Today, CBDR in international digital cooperation may just be an analogy but today’s analogy is tomorrow’s constitutionalism.

From this starting point, the session will take up the following questions:

a. What does it mean to apply the CBDR principle to international digital cooperation? What could be some illustrative, core dimensions?
b. Since the application of the CBDR principle in the digital arena may face difficulties in a fragmented geopolitical context, is it possible to take up a few specific issues as starting points for agreement internationally?
c. How can existing forums (multilateral, plurilateral, regional etc.) be used to mobilize consensus for this new discourse?