On 20 and 21 September 2024, political leaders and the multistakeholder community will convene at the United Nations Headquarters in New York during the Summit of the Future to formally approve the Global Digital Compact (GDC). The GDC will become a global roadmap guiding the international community towards a digital future that advances an open, free, secure, and human-centered approach to digital transformation. Since December 2023, the Global Initiative on the Future of the Internet (GIFI) has delivered research and policy events to support this process.
The team at the Robert Schuman Centre has implemented activities to promote the Open Internet, online human rights and fundamental freedoms, a global Internet, inclusive and affordable access to the Internet and trust in the digital ecosystem. Rooted in the principles of the Declaration for the Future of the Internet (DFI), the GIFI project has been contributing to the goals of the Global Digital Compact stressing the need for multistakeholder Internet governance processes at the international, regional, and country levels.
The GIFI project hosted the open consultation ‘At the crossroads of digital futures’ in April 2024, aimed to support the definition of the EU’s priorities for the Global Digital Compact negotiations. The EUI, the European External Action Service, and the European Commission invited civil society organisations, the technical community, the private sector, and academia to share insights on the Zero Draft and to present their views on the EU priorities during the Global Digital Compact negotiations. The summary of the submissions and of the discussion can be found on the project website.
The Initiative also engaged with a broader stakeholder community. During the UN Civil Society Conference on the Summit of the Future in May 2024 in Nairobi, the team hosted a workshop to identify lessons and gather good practices relevant for the GDC. It also considered how the UN system can more effectively embrace the multistakeholder model essential for digital and Internet governance.
These themes were explored further during the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS+20) Forum High-Level Event. In May 2024, GIFI hosted the workshop ‘Unlocking multistakeholder cooperation within the UN system: global partnerships for Open Internet’. The workshop focused on identifying policy recommendations on how to integrate Open Internet principles into ongoing processes such as WSIS+20, the Global Digital Compact, and other UN-related multistakeholder initiatives. It also sought to explore how to expand the scope, approach, and instruments dedicated to realising these principles within the UN system through multistakeholder partnerships.
”Our work highlights the central role of different stakeholders, including civil society, academia, industry, and the technical community, in fostering open and sustainable digital development, and the importance of strengthening multistakeholder governance approaches to internet policy and regulation”, said Raquel Jorge Ricart, GIFI project lead. “However, they also reaffirmed the existence of numerous barriers for a meaningful engagement between governments and other stakeholder communities”. In the coming months, the GIFI team will release analytical reports that explore these themes and will make specific recommendations to strengthen accountability of different stakeholder groups.
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Global Initiative on the Future of the Internet (GIFI) is a two-year project implemented by the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies Global Governance Programme and funded by the European Union. The project aims to promote principles supporting the Open Internet, online human rights and fundamental freedoms, a global Internet, inclusive and affordable access to the Internet and trust in the digital ecosystem. It also supports the implementation of international mechanisms such as the Declaration for the Future of the Internet and the European Declaration of Digital Rights and Principles.