Author Archives: digital
15 Sep 2025
Blog post
The WSIS+20 Zero Draft: A Test for Accountability and Inclusion
The publication of the Zero Draft at the end of August is a key step toward the eventual outcome document of the WSIS+20 review. Its purpose is to assess progress towards the WSIS goals and propose reforms to the UN system that could shape their future achievement. The stakes…
15 Sep 2025
Blog post
Opening Multilateralism: Two Pathways to Digital Legitimacy
As digital technologies reshape global power, the rules that govern them are increasingly negotiated in multilateral fora. But if these bodies are to deliver legitimate and future-proof governance frameworks for the Internet, AI, cybersecurity, and data, their processes must adapt – expanding participation to include the wider set of actors…
24 Jul 2025
Blog post
The OEWG ends and a new UN cybersecurity permanent mechanism is born
Consensus at what cost? The eleventh and final session of the UN Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG) on the security of and in the use of information and communications technologies concluded in July 2025 with consensus on the final draft of an annual progress report (APR). This report is important because…
17 Jun 2025
Blog post
Final Stretch, High Stakes: Getting UN AI Governance Back on Track
Negotiations are advancing rapidly on the terms of reference (ToR) and modalities for two key initiatives established under the Global Digital Compact—the Independent International Scientific Panel on Artificial Intelligence and the Global Dialogue on Artificial Intelligence Governance. However, serious concerns have emerged about whether these mechanisms will live up to…
16 Jun 2025
Blog post
WSIS+20 Will Decide the IGF’s Fate—Are We Ready?
As the global Internet governance community prepares to meet in Lillestrøm, Norway, next week, the setting has a certain symmetry. Nearly two decades after the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) gave rise to the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), the UN-mandated platform for multistakeholder dialogue is again under review—its…
16 Jun 2025
Blog post
Open letter on the draft Rules of Procedure of the Conference of States Parties to the UN Cybercrime Convention
GPD, alongside Access Now, Fundacion Karisma, and Tanja Fachathaler (an independent expert), published an open letter expressing our shared concerns regarding the state of the draft Rules of Procedure of the Conference of State Parties which is intended to be the mechanism for oversight and monitoring of the UN Cybercrime…
29 May 2025
Blog post
WSIS+20 Five-Point Plan Follow-up: Eight Practical Recommendations
Add your signature to the letter here. Accepting endorsements until 31 July 2025. This document builds on the Five-Point Plan for an Inclusive WSIS+20 Review –endorsed by 114 organisations and 57 individual experts– to offer practical recommendations to ensure transparency, inclusivity, and meaningful stakeholder engagement in the…
01 Apr 2025
Blog post
A call to action for an inclusive WSIS+20 Review
Last week, GPD, together with 111 organisations and 54 individual experts from civil society, the technical community, industry and academia, presented a set of cross-stakeholder community recommendations aimed at operationalising the modalities for the twenty-year review of the WSIS (WSIS+20). The…
26 Mar 2025
Blog post
Five-Point Plan for an Inclusive WSIS+20 Review
Please refer to the Eight Practical Recommendations building on the below Five-Point Plan for an Inclusive WSIS+20 Review. ___ As engaged stakeholders in the WSIS+20 Review process, we, the undersigned, submit the following recommendations* to help operationalise the WSIS+20 review modalities to ensure transparency, inclusivity,…
18 Feb 2025
Blog post
Everything you need to know about the WSIS+20 Review (updated)
This explainer was updated on 20 February 2025 following the publication of the intergovernmental consultation process to finalise the modalities of the WSIS+20 review and to address community feedback. * This year will bring the twenty year review of…