WSA UN Consultative Network

WSA was initiated in 2003 in the framework of the UN World Summit on the Information Society (UN WSIS) held in Geneva. The declared aim of the conference was to make Information and Communication Technology (ICT) accessible to everyone and to bridge the digital divide. WSA was established as a means to achieve this and have been working to put UN-WSIS goals and UN SDG's into action ever since.

 

 

 

Since 2003, WSA is actively contributing towards the UN SDGs and the WSIS goals. For this, the newly installed WSA UN global consultative network, consisting of WSA national Experts from all over the world.

The WSA UN global consultative network will contribute to upcoming issues such as

• UNESCO initiative of “Internet for Trust” (Jan 2023)
• ITU – WSIS Action Plan for Tunis +20 (March 2023)
• UN Secretary General “Global Digital Compact (May 2023)

Following the political declaration adopted at the occasion of the United Nations’ 75th anniversary in September 2020, the Secretary-General in September 2021 released his report Our Common Agenda. The Common Agenda proposes a Global Digital Compact to be agreed at the Summit of the Future in September 2024 involving all stakeholders:

• Governments
• The United Nations system
• The private sector
• Civil society
• Grass-roots organizations
• Academia
• Individuals, including youth

The Global Digital Compact is expected to:

 “outline shared principles for an open, free and secure digital future for all”.

Issues that it might cover:

• including digital connectivity
• avoiding Internet fragmentation
• providing people with options as to how their data is used
• application of human rights online
• promoting a trustworthy Internet by introducing accountability criteria for discrimination and misleading content