Agenda

The Working Group on Data Governance at All Levels is a multi-stakeholder body established by the UN Commission on Science and Technology for Development (CSTD) in 2025, following a request from the UN General Assembly (Resolution A/RES/79/1) within the Pact for the Future/Global Digital Compact. It aims to produce a report with recommendations on equitable and interoperable data governance arrangements by the 81st UN General Assembly session. Towards this, the Working Group is currently exploring four key areas: (a) fundamental principles of data governance at all levels, (b) proposals to support interoperability, (c)considerations of sharing the benefits of data; and (d)governance of cross-border data flows as relevant for development. 

This session is intended to enable a dialogue between members of the Working Group and civil society observers on what it means to enshrine data justice at the heart of AI governance. Building on the debates and discussions in the Working Group, it will also explore how this issue can be centred in the design of an effective data governance regime that delivers on equitable development for the global South. 

It will delve into the following questions in a panel discussion format:  

(1) What is data justice? How is it related to the vision of a people-centred development paradigm as envisioned in the WSIS?

(2) What are the impediments to data justice in the current international politico-economic order? 

(3) How can the work of the UN CSTD Working Group on Data Governance intersect meaningfully with the Global Dialogue on AI governance? What would it take to place data justice at the heart of the AI governance agenda?