This article isn’t about technology. How the UN can help shape the future of digital cooperation
In June 2019, the UN High-level Panel on Digital Cooperation (HLPDC) issued a report on The Age of Digital Interdependence calling for international cooperation to build a safe and inclusive digitalized world for all. That report has turned out to be prescient in all but timeline; unbeknown to its authors at the time, in a span of less than a year, the COVID-19 pandemic would generate a global disruption that would validate many of its warnings and expose the dire impact of the digital divide in all societies. But what of its lofty aspirations for a new era of international relations? Can the UN help to create an “age of digital cooperation” out of the scourge of pandemic crisis?
Digital transformation cuts across every Sustainable Development Goal and the edict to “leave no one behind” in the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. To be unconnected is not only to be deficient; it is also to be excluded from health, education and jobs — particularly since COVID-19. Yet as of July 2020, only 4.57 billion people are active internet users, encompassing 59 percent of the global population but with the 47 least developed countries experiencing the least digital access. The pandemic has not only exposed stark gender, socio-economic and health vulnerabilities resulting from the digital divide but also risks from cyber security threats to essential services and infrastructure that potentially undermine the right to life. The UN showed foresight in 2016 when the UN Human Rights Council passed a statement that declared access to the internet a human right.
One of the UN’s flagship projects in this regard is GIGA. Launched by UNICEF and ITU in September 2019, its aim is to “connect every school to the internet and every young person to information, opportunity and choice”. Giga also serves as a platform to create the infrastructure necessary to provide digital connectivity to an entire country, for every community, and for every citizen. It is about using schools to identify demand for connectivity, as well as using schools as an analogy for learning and connecting where the community can come together and support its next generation in a world where we are all increasingly digital, where the skills that are required are not formal ones, necessarily, and where learning happens continuously. If the UN and our partners can get this right, the rest might follow.
In June 2020, the UN reached a new milestone with the Secretary-General’s digital roadmap which responds to both the recommendations of the High Level Panel on Digital Cooperation and the urgencies of the current COVID-19 context. It proposes 8 key areas for actions, including achieving universal connectivity, digital inclusion for the most vulnerable, protection of human rights, support global cooperation on artificial intelligence and more. The roadmap marshals the UN system towards the goals of inclusive digital societies and builds on the work of UN entities in this area. Specialized UN entities like the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) have always been “committed to connecting all the world’s people — wherever they live and whatever their means” in their core mandate which targets support to countries on everything from legal and regulatory frameworks to digital capacity building and advocacy on digital inclusion. Other entities like the UN Development Programme and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) have developed strategies to support countries in digital transformation in economic and social dimensions. Although digitalization drives higher energy demands it can also be a powerful tool to address the impacts of climate change. For example the UN Environment Programme is looking at improvements to energy efficiency of technology while the World Meteorological Organization employs artificial intelligence to make smarter, faster weather-based decisions that can save lives and livelihoods.
In all of the above the role of the UN is clear: firstly as a trusted advisor in ensuring that governments have the right policy frameworks in place to accelerate digital development while ensuring that technological risks are managed, including threats to privacy, equitable access, labor rights, among others. Secondly as a convener bringing together experts, tech companies to identify good practices, scaling models and solutions (globally, regionally and at the country level). Thirdly to ensure a coherent approach to ensure that digital transformation is not seen as a goal in itself but integrated with a people centered and green approaches. At the country level, these ambitions are very present in the socio-economic response plans of the UN to COVID-19, which represent the collective offer of the UN in a country.
Unlike the other complex and wicked problems Agenda 2030 has taken on, the digital challenge is one where we understand the solution well. The cost to connect all citizens of the world to essential digital opportunities by 2030 is estimated at a minimum of 400 billion USD, yet the opportunity cost might be many times greater the more people are left behind in the digital divide. Despite this many developing countries are still taxing broadband and devices as a luxury. It’s in this respect that the UN has the greatest opportunity to contribute by leading dialogue about governance, regulatory frameworks and rights building on its recent initiatives and the foundational work of UN entities. The Secretary General’s new digital roadmap recognizes that this is not something that can be achieved with some quick fixes or as a niche workstream within the UN. It requires a big bang approach for the UN system as a whole and needs to be integrated into the DNA of our work in the 21st Century.
The above article was inspired by a webinar organized by the UN Development Coordination Office with the participation of Fabrizio Hochschild-Drummond, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General, Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Director of the ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau and Robert Opp, Chief Digital Officer, UN Development Programme.
Written by: Frederik Matthys, Chief Policy and Innovations, UN Development Coordination Office & Katarina Kuai, Innovations Officer, UN Development Coordination Office
