High-Level Dialogue Parliamentarian: Parliamentary Dialogue on Digital Governance
Inter-Parliamentary Union, International Telecommunication Union, United Nations Development Programme, Commonwealth Parliamentary Association
Session 429
The Parliamentary Dialogue on Digital Governance is a high-level panel convened at the WSIS Forum 2026 by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and hosted by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). It brings together the Secretaries-General of the IPU and ITU with a small group of senior parliamentarians for a substantive exchange on how parliaments are translating international digital commitments into national law and practice, and on how parliamentary contributions can be reflected in the WSIS Action Line implementation roadmaps.
The General Assembly Resolution A/RES/80/173, renewing the WSIS mandate to 2035 reaffirms the role of national legal and regulatory frameworks in delivering the WSIS vision - a function that depends directly on parliaments. In July 2025, the ITU and the IPU jointly brought parliamentary perspectives into the Forum for the first time; the 2026 dialogue builds on that foundation and responds to the renewed mandate.
The session draws on a body of established work by the co-organisers. In November 2025, the IPU-UNDP-CPA Global Conference on AI and Parliaments adopted the Kuala Lumpur Declaration on Parliaments and Responsible AI, endorsed by more than 200 parliamentarians from 65 countries; its 13 recommendations align with several Action Lines, including C1, C4, C6, C10 and C11. This followed the IPU resolution on AI adopted in October 2024, which set out how parliaments can legislate for and oversee AI. The IPU maintains a regular tracker of parliamentary actions on AI policy worldwide, organised by region and by parliamentary function, providing an evidence base for the dialogue. Complementary work through the IPU Centre for Innovation in Parliament supports parliaments in adopting these technologies responsibly, while UNDP's parliamentary development programming strengthens legislative scrutiny, research and oversight capacity across regions. Together these initiatives connect parliamentary action to the WSIS Action Lines and to the international processes shaping the digital governance agenda.
Anda Filip is the first woman and first Eastern European to serve as Secretary General of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in its 13 decades of history. Elected by a large majority of IPU Member Parliaments at the 153rd IPU Assembly in April 2026, she took office on 1 July 2026 for a four-year mandate. Since 2003, she has held senior roles at the IPU facilitating parliamentary diplomacy and strengthening engagement with parliamentarians worldwide. Previously, she served as a diplomat with Romania’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including as Ambassador to the UN and international organizations in Geneva.
H.E. Ms. Sahiba Gafarova is a Professor and Doctor of Philology, as well as a prominent Azerbaijani state and political figure. She has been a member of the Milli Majlis since 2010 and has played an active role in both national and international parliamentary affairs. Since 2020, she has been serving as Speaker of the Milli Majlis of the Republic of Azerbaijan. She has extensive experience in parliamentary diplomacy and has been actively engaged in promoting dialogue, multilateralism and inter-parliamentary cooperation. Her contribution to international parliamentary cooperation is reflected, among other roles, in her nomination by the Eurasia Geopolitical Group for the Presidency of the Inter-Parliamentary Union for the 2026–2029 term.
Brando Benifei is an Italian MEP serving his third term in the European parliament. During the previous mandate he was co-Rapporteur for the Artificial Intelligence Act and thanks to this work in March 2024 he won the prize for the Best MEP of the Mandate assigned by The Parliament Magazine.
Now he is Coordinator in the Committee on International Trade for the Socialists and Democrats Group and Chair of the European Parliament's D-US delegation. He is member of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs and he works also as substitute member on the EU internal market and consumer protection and on legal affairs, always following closely digital issues.
Prof. Dr. Sophie Kiladze is a Chair of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. Prior to joining the UN CRC in 2021, she was elected Member of Parliament of Georgia, a Chair of Human Rights Committee as well as the Chair of the Child Rights Council. She initiated the Joint Statement on AI and the Rights of the Child, as a first joint soft-law instrument co-led by ITU, CRC and UNICEF, co-signed by 13 UN-entities and co-branded by over 60 organizations across the world.
Lord Uday Nagaraju of Bloomsbury is a Life Peer in the UK House of Lords. He is the Founder of AI Policy Labs, a London-based think tank focused on the governance and public policy dimensions of artificial intelligence. Lord Nagaraju's work centres on how governments and institutions can build effective, inclusive, and forward-looking frameworks for AI — with a particular emphasis on ensuring that developing nations have a meaningful voice in shaping global digital governance. His grounding in both computer science and development policy makes him a distinctive voice in international discussions on AI governance, digital cooperation, and the governance of emerging technologies.
Hon. Neema Lugangira is a Tanzanian former MP and global governance leader, now Secretary General of Women Political Leaders, with a portfolio in digital governance, nutrition and development finance.
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C1. The role of governments and all stakeholders in the promotion of ICTs for development
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C4. Capacity building
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C6. Enabling environment
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C10. Ethical dimensions of the Information Society
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C11. International and regional cooperation
The session relates to five Action Lines where parliamentary action is most consequential.
C1: The dialogue examines how legislatures exercise their legislative and oversight functions on digital and AI policy, and how that contribution can be formally recognised in the Action Line implementation roadmaps due in 2027.
C4 Effective legislation and oversight depend on parliamentary expertise. The session addresses how parliaments are building internal capacity on AI and digital policy — through committees, research services and inter-parliamentary exchange — drawing on the IPU-UNDP-CPA network established through the Kuala Lumpur conference.
C6 The dialogue focuses on how parliaments are translating international digital commitments, including those in the Kuala Lumpur Declaration, into national law and policy
C10 This Action Line addresses the rights-based and ethical questions that digital technologies raise — privacy, non-discrimination, accountability and protection from harm — and parliaments are where those questions are debated and determined in national legislation.
C11 Parliaments contribute to international digital governance through inter-parliamentary diplomacy and by scrutinising their governments' international commitments. The dialogue encourages stronger parliamentary engagement in the processes shaping the WSIS and broader digital governance agenda.
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Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
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Goal 16: Promote just, peaceful and inclusive societies
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Goal 17: Revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development
Parliaments are the institutions that domesticate international commitments — translating them into national law, budget allocations and oversight mechanisms — and SDG 16 identifies effective, accountable and inclusive institutions as a precondition for delivering the wider 2030 Agenda. By examining how parliaments are legislating on and overseeing digital technologies, the session addresses a governance dimension that cuts across multiple SDGs, from strengthening institutions (Goal 16) to reducing inequality in access to digital technologies (Goal 9, Goal 10), while reinforcing the accountability function that the SDG framework itself calls on parliaments to exercise.
- 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 5: Enhance international governance of artificial intelligence for the benefit of humanity
IPU and Artificial Intelligence: https://www.ipu.org/impact/democracy-and-strong-parliaments/artificial-intelligence
IPU Resolution on 'The impact of artificial intelligence on democracy, human rights and the rule of law' (October 2024) https://www.ipu.org/file/20061/download
The Kuala Lumpur Declaration on Parliaments and Responsible AI (November 2025): https://www.ipu.org/file/22888/download
IPU Motion on 'Advancing parliamentary action on Artificial Intelligence': https://www.ipu.org/sites/default/files/CMT3-152-Motion-AI-e.pdf
IPU LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/inter-parliamentary-union/posts/