Background Information

A. Looking back

The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) served as a pivotal platform for fostering cooperation among governments, civil society, private sector, and technical communities to collectively address the opportunities and challenges brought about by the digital age.

Civil society organizations from all over the world helped shape the WSIS outcomes. APC and its members played a leading role in facilitating civil society input, at regional and global levels including through the Communications Rights in the Information Society (CRIS) campaign which included the voices of community media and communications rights activists.

Seán Ó Siochrú of CRIS Campaign made the following statement, to the WSIS plenary the day before civil society presented its declaration — “Shaping information societies for human needs” — at the conclusion of the Geneva phase of the WSIS in 2003:

“In some respects, civil society has been the main beneficiary of this event. It is the first time that civil society has come together in such diversity and is such numbers from all over, to work together on information and communication issues. We have learned enormously from each other, and from our interactions with others, and have built what we believe to be enduring links and bridges between us. Most significantly, we managed to construct and negotiate a process that resulted in broad consensus on a coherent, comprehensive, and convincing Civil Society Declaration on our vision of the information society.”

Other milestones of CRIS and APC’s participation in the WSIS include Involving Civil Society in ICT Policy: The World Summit on the Information Society, published by APC and CRIS, October 2003 and “Much more could have been achieved”, the civil society statement at the conclusion of the WSIS in Tunis in 2005.

For the 10-year review in 2015 APC and WACC published: Communication rights ten years after the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS): Civil society perceptions as well as a collection of essays to commemorate that 10th anniversary of the report of the influential Working Group on Internet Governance. This multistakeholder group was appointed by the Secretary General as an outcome of the Geneva phase. The IGF, which was originally tabled as a civil society proposal, is one of the WGIG recommendations that found its way into the Tunis Agenda.

B. The present context: persistent and growing digital inequality

In many respects, the potential of the WSIS process has not been fulfilled. Digital inequality and exclusion are persistent and exacerbated by the assumption that digital technologies on their own can enable economic growth, and that economic growth equals development. The WSIS+20 review process needs to call for greater recognition of the internet and digital technologies as global public resources. It must affirm that their governance should be grounded in international human rights standards and public interest principles. This recognition needs to be backed by mechanisms that enforce corporate accountability, effective governance of global data public goods and innovative and diversified financing for public digital infrastructure and community-based connectivity solutions.

The Global Digital Justice Forum (GDJF) was born in the run-up to the Global Digital Compact process with the intention to forge a transversal alliance of networks and organizations to connecting the dots between development justice and digital justice. GDJFand APC presented their concerns at the May 2024 WSIS+20 High Level Event in Geneva: Key messages from the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) to the Chair Person and Organisers of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)+20 Forum High-Level Event 2024 and Civil Society Statement from the Global Digital Justice Forum to the Chair Person and Organisers of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)+20 Forum High-Level Event 2024.

“We are at an inflection point – one that presents a now or never ultimatum. The global digital order, characterized by extreme inequality, human rights violations, and a snowballing environmental crisis, is untenable. It reflects a wild departure from the WSIS vision of a people-centered, inclusive and development-oriented information society. It demands a step change.”

Civil Society Statement from the Global Digital Justice Forum to the Chair and Organisers of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)+20 High-Level Event 2024, May 31 2024

The 20-year review is a critical milestone for civil society working for human rights, gender equality, digital inclusion, social and environmental justice, and inclusive and accountable internet and digital governance. It is an opportunity to reflect on the outcomes and implementation of both phases of the WSIS, the Sustainable Development Goals, and recent processes such as the Summit of the Future to develop an integrated and holistic vision and agenda for digital justice.

C. The WSIS Action Lines

It is necessary to review and adjust the WSIS Action Lines to respond to persistent and growing digital inequality. Also needed going forward is for the Action Line process and its facilitators to address climate change and the harmful impacts of digitalization on the natural environment. Topics identified in the GDJF and APC submissions mentioned above that need attention in the Action Line review – for you to consider as you respond to the survey – include:

• Common standards for digital public goods that are safe, inclusive, and respectful of human rights
• Universal, affordable, and unrestricted access to the Internet, with explicit consideration to community-driven connectivity and dismantling of walled gardens
• Democratic integrity and communication justice in the algorithmified digital public sphere
• Data and AI governance frameworks that further an open science and innovation culture that benefits all of humanity and addresses global digital inequality in a manner that furthers the SDGs
• Renewed commitment to the WSIS principles of participation towards truly transparent, inclusive, accountable, and democratic governance of digital technologies at all levels, drawing on the NETmundial+10 São Paulo Guidelines
• Synergies between WSIS action lines and GDC implementation
• Guidelines and benchmarks for digital human rights
• Targeted action on gender equality and the promotion of equitable access and participation of women and gender minorities in the information society

D. Internet and digital governance

Global digital cooperation can only respond to the current challenges through effective complementarity of the multiple existing efforts, forums, and processes. The WSIS+20 should be seen as a way to implement the proposed Pact for the Future and the Global Digital Compact (GDC) toward an agenda of equity in the digital realm. The WSIS+20 review can fill one of the missing pieces in the GDC in regards to the inclusion of civil society voices, perspectives and realities, particularly the communities and people who are most affected and vulnerable on account of gender, race, sexuality, caste, their location in cities or rural and remote areas, and Indigenous groups, among others.

Robust multistakeholder engagement has to be a priority for the WSIS review process, including ensuring meaningful participation of the technical community, to match the energy and hope generated 20 years ago in Geneva and Tunis. This has to include a clear affirmation of the role of government, both as institutions responsible for creating an enabling environment for a people-centered information society and as duty bearers for protecting, promoting and respecting human rights.

Meaningful engagement from civil society can only happen if backed up by political will and financial resources. Civil society has a key role to play not only in community-based initiatives to empower people to acquire the necessary skills to use, understand, and contribute to the development of technological advances; but also in creating awareness, building capacity, and most importantly, asserting and upholding the rights of the marginalized.