Digital and advanced data-driven technologies, such as AI, are reshaping our reality at an unprecedented pace. Almost without exception, multilateral development banks and global industry forums laud their immense potential for solving planetary problems and resolving developmental challenges. However, there is far more evidence of their amplification of existing inequalities resulting from centuries of colonial and neo-colonial underdevelopment.
It is imperative that we use the strategic opportunity arising from the significant call for universal solidarity to gear towards meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Underpinning this is the development of a Global Digital Compact (GDC) that will enable more inclusive, equitable, and rights-based governance of the global digital economy.
At the upcoming Action Days of the Summit of the Future (SOTF), starting 20 September, and the 2024 United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) which follows, Research ICT Africa (RIA) will join several global south coalitions to push for outcomes that are not only inclusive, responsible, ethical and transparent, but which also redress historical inequities and injustices. Emerging technologies are one of the three central issues identified in the Our Common Agenda—alongside inequality and climate change—and are pivotal to shaping equitable development pathways.
While UNGA represents an important opportunity for international decision-making, the SOTF will provide a foundation to action multistakeholder decisions and bolster global cooperation on achieving SDGs. As a culminating event developed to encourage leaders to discuss recommendations laid out in Our Common Agenda, the summit will feature sessions and plenaries organised around five main tracks, namely: sustainable development and financing; peace and security; a digital future for all; youth and future generations; and global governance.
The main aim of the Summit is the adoption of the Pact of the Future, along with the annexes of the GDC and the Declaration on Future Generations. As a think tank dedicated to advancing digital equality and data justice in Africa, RIA has been actively involved in shaping the GDC, which focuses on the global governance of digital technologies.
Partnering with Pan-African organisations such as the United Nations Economic Commission of Africa (UNECA), RIA has integrated African perspectives into the GDC, leveraging decades of research to address structural inequalities that inhibit meaningful digital participation. Our primary critique of the GDC is its negligible focus on the need for the equitable realisation of critical digital public goods in the majority world. These gaps are evident in the third, fourth, and fifth versions of the compact, which are still under negotiation but soon to be signed.
In a recent discussion with members of the Global Digital Justice Forum (GDJF), RIA Executive Director Alison Gillwald said, “Indeed, the Global Digital Compact perpetuates some of the mythologies of tech solutionism to deep-rooted human problems. It fails to give adequate attention to foundational inequalities… But it provides us, at least, with the only multiple interest forum to engage and overcome some of the wickedest policy problems of our time —digital inequality— that, unaddressed, will profoundly exacerbate existing inequalities.”
Similar sentiments are echoed in the Global Policy Watch Forum’s latest report, which notes that, “The messy digital terrain and its political undercurrents bring two key concerns for the Global South—institutional arrangements for digital governance and governance of data resources in the global economy.”
Alliances with Global South Partners and Global Forums
Our engagement extends beyond the GDC as we collaborate with two major alliances, the GDJF and the Global South Alliance. These partnerships strengthen RIA’s advocacy efforts by bringing together evidence and experiences from around the world. This collective approach seeks to amplify the needs and lived realities of Africa and unrepresented regions. We are also associated with a number of global forums at the intersections of advanced digital technology and governance, including the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI) and the Freedom Online Coalition (FOC).
Leveraging Progressive Global Agendas
In addition to participating in high-level discussions at UNGA, we will leverage side events and multilateral platforms to share an African lens on global digital developments. Our continued engagement through these discussions, submissions and capacity building effort hope to redistribute power in global digital policymaking. These engagements provide critical opportunities to frame digital governance issues in regional contexts, such as the African Union processes, and align with broader UN initiatives such as the G20, which will soon have its presidency handed over to South Africa in 2025.
Through the integration of progressive strategic agendas, such as those that have emerged under the troika leadership of the G20 by India and Brazil, we have been able to assert our recommendations into the UN’s Ministerial Declarations and Agenda. This is demonstrable in the recently published Information Integrity position paper commissioned by UNESCO, as well as the numerous policy briefs prepared under the Brazilian T20. These briefs demonstrate the significance of data as a public good, calling for the collection of public digital statistics, a commons-based approach to governing digital public infrastructure and more.
Data and AI Governance
Sound data governance that employs new and innovative forms of multilateralism and multistakeholderism is required for the equitable deployment of emerging technologies. After Access research reveals that Africans experience intersecting barriers that hinder their entry to the digital economy. Data sets and user inputs are often not representative of marginalised communities in Africa and the wider Global South, resulting in the entrenchment of biases and discriminationin these systems. To address this, both supply and demand-side statistics and measurements are required. Our contributions to the GDC on Data and AI governance build on the technical support offered to the African Union when developing the African Union Data Policy Framework (AUDPF). This research also demonstrates that data can also be leveraged as information for the public good.
Lineup of RIA Events at the Summit of the Future and UNGA
In 2023, several policy briefs were put forward to prime member states ahead of the Summit. The briefs provided practical recommendations to fill the gaps in global governance and broader SDGs. See, for example, the quick summary. RIA has primarily focused on analysing policy relating to Data Justice, Information Integrity and Global Digital Governance. Our comments and submissions on the GDC summarise our overall stance. Key thematics driving our position include:
- Connecting all people to the Internet, including all schools;
- Protecting data;
- Applying human rights online;
- Introducing accountability criteria for discrimination and misleading content;
- Regulating Artificial Intelligence
- Safeguarding the digital commons as a global public good; and
- Recording public data as statistics to measure connectivity and access.
Item 7 is especially relevant, given the importance of creating clear benchmarks and monitoring mechanisms to evaluate progress towards global connectivity and digital inclusion. ‘Data as a public good’ has also been identified as a key thematic that crosscuts areas of research such as Artificial Intelligence, Information Integrity and Global digital governance and Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI).
Events
- Governing Data as a Public Good: The Key to Africa’s realisation of the Global Digital Compact?
20 September 2024
14:00-16:00 EDT
South African Permanent Mission to the UN, 845 3rd Ave, 9th Floor, New York
RIA partners with the UN Economic Commission of Africa (UNECA) and the Global South Alliance to discuss the implementation of the GDC in Africa through the development of the African Digital Compact. This is a continuation of our consultations on the GDC and explores the role of data as a public good in Africa’s digital transformation. On the agenda is digital inequality, data governance, and the development of public data for evidence-based policy-making to promote equitable access.
Register here to attend in person: Link.
- The Global Data Compact We Need: A Forward-looking Agenda
21 September
11:00-12:30 EDT
Violeta Parra Stage, The People’s Forum, New York
RIA will discuss the Global Data Compact (the data-focused component of the GDC) in an event hosted by IT for Change, alongside members of the GDJF, with member states Colombia and Portugal, UN Trade and Development, The Office of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Derechos Digitales and FIAN International. The side event will examine key elements and institutional architecture of a global data governance framework for an equitable and accountable digital innovation order.
Learn more here.
- Global South Alliance G20 Meeting with Civil Societies
21 September
The New School, New York
RIA joins the Global South Alliance to discuss the G20 and the T20 leadership transition from Brazil to South Africa. This is an important engagement in light of the recent commitment by the G20’s Forum Minister to include the agenda of tackling disinformation and promoting information integrity in its declarations. This commitment was spurred by RIA’s work with the Digital Economy Working Group, which accepted RIA’s submission, commissioned by UNESCO, as the official position paper on the G20’s approach to Information Integrity.
- UNGA Ministerial Roundtable on Governing AI for Humanity
23 September
11:00 EDT
The Westin New York Grand Central, New York
Executive Director Dr Alison Gillwald moderates a high-level panel at a UNGA side event hosted by the Kingdom of the Netherlands as the chair of the FOC. The event focuses on aligning AI governance with international human rights standards, emphasizing AI’s potential to advance individual well-being, human rights, and SDGs. It will also touch on economic and social rights as enablers of the first generation of human rights. The discussion will be informed by the recently published UN report on Global Governance on AI, to which RIA made initial submissions.
About the United Nations General Assembly
United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) is an annual event held at the UN Headquarters in New York, where global leaders, state representatives, diplomats and stakeholders assess global progress toward 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), set to be realised by 2030. As the primary legislative policymaking body of the UN, UNGA provides a platform for discussion on international issues outlined by the UN Charter. During the assembly, 193 member states will vote on priorities, budget allocations and policy commitments to address global challenges and commit to future action.
About the Summit of the Future
The Summit is a high-level event, bringing world leaders together to forge a new international consensus on how we deliver a better present and safeguard the future. Effective global cooperation is increasingly critical to our survival but difficult to achieve in an atmosphere of mistrust, using outdated structures that no longer reflect today’s political and economic realities. During the Summit world leaders will convene at the United Nations to adopt the Pact for the Future, which will include a Global Digital Compact and a Declaration on Future Generations as annexes.
