The recent Summit of the Future saw the United Nations General Assembly adopt the Pact for the Future, which aims to guide UN member states towards decisions that will benefit future generations.
Although the Pact was opposed by 7 of the 193 UN member states, it is a result of years of negotiation and compromise. Despite some criticisms of the final language of the Pact, it marked a significant achievement as countries came together to pledge their commitment to a better future for all.
We, as AUDRi, have been part of this story, working alongside civil society partners to make sure that the Global Digital Compact, which forms part of the Pact, includes considerations around gender equality and human rights, explicitly references tech-facilitated gender-based violence and other potential harms, and is inclusive of diverse experiences of women, girls and people from other discriminated-against groups.
In the run-up to the main event, together with CSO partners, UN Women and UNFPA, we brought together over 70 representatives from gender and digital rights civil organizations and individual activists to discuss how we will respond as the Global Digital Compact moves from the negotiation stage to adoption and implementation.
This meeting was a follow-up to last year’s civil society meeting in Kyoto at IGF and this year’s event at CSW, co-hosted with digital and gender rights champions in a loose network dubbed the Gender in the GDC Coalition, where we worked collaboratively to influence the language of the GDC and mainstream gender in its principles and calls for action.
The GDC in action
Through facilitated group discussions, we highlighted opportunities for collaboration and input into ongoing monitoring of the GDC in action, and formulated a set of benchmarks against which the implementation of the GDC can be measured.
Many present in the room raised concerns about accountability mechanisms, and discussed how states might be encouraged to move principles to action meaningfully. As AUDRi, we have started to explore the development of a scorecard to measure the objectives of the Global Digital Compact in terms of real-world impact. It is clear from our discussions with CSOs that there is a need to continue collaborating across regions and across issues (including climate change and labor rights) to make sure we are considering diverse expertise and insights, with the understanding that digital rights cannot and should not be separated from other development goals and concerns.
Through this process, we also will continue to strengthen our networks and relationships with organizations who share our vision, and governments who will continue to champion our cause in decision-making spaces. During the negotiation process we received confirmation that some language in the GDC relating to gender equality and TFGBV had been included as a result of our influence, and as this agreement moves to the implementation phase, we will continue to advocate for member states to keep their promises.
The main event
The Summit kicked off with two Action Days, which saw CSOs flood the UN Headquarters with energy and the sharing of ideas around the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, both in organized events and around canteen tables and nearby coffee shops. Unfortunately, there was a sense that, in the formal UN spaces, discussion was at an end, and some expressed frustration that there was no further mechanism to enable input and feedback as the adoption of the Pact loomed nearer.
AUDRi took the opportunity to attend a youth-focused event offsite, hosted by Restless Development and the Botnar Foundation. This “alternative” summit was a stark reminder of one of the main criticisms gaining volume in sideline conversations around the UN – that young people, who will be most impacted by the future decisions made by states in response to the Pact, have been and continue to be excluded from the most important conversations in spaces of power. AUDRi will be addressing this directly in upcoming work, focusing on regional and global youth initiatives and concerns, so watch this space.
The main Summit was a closed-door meeting between member states, with a small number of CSO representatives invited to join. AUDRi’s Tsitsi Matekaire and Equality Now’s Mona Sinha were in attendance to witness the adoption of the Pact – and the culmination of years of hard work at all levels. We also attended an interactive dialogue where member states and CSOs spoke about the issues they saw as most pressing, and the implementation of the GDC. We were pleased to hear a number of governments and CSO agencies speaking about the issues we have raised. As we move towards implementation we are confident that we will be able to find more allies.
Where are we now?
Now that the Pact, the Declaration for Future Generations and the GDC have been adopted, our work is far from over. The final text of these important documents is not without flaws which will necessitate careful monitoring, multilateral negotiations and debate around implementation, and ongoing consultation with diverse communities to ensure that moving from words to deeds benefits everyone. The Summit itself also raised some concerns about inclusion of multiple points of view in a process which was lauded as a triumph of multilateralism.
During the main event – both during the Action Days and the interactive dialogue – we noted that women’s rights organizations were not given a platform (Equality Now, a founding partner of AUDRi, had applied to speak but were not selected), nor were grassroots or community-based organizations. One cannot consider digital rights without reference to the digital divide, and those affected by this exclusion were a missing voice in the conversation.
And while many governments are focused on the way digital development advances their development and economic agenda, we are concerned that, on the whole, they are not referencing the implications for human rights.
While that focus is understandable in developing economies, we strongly believe that these benefits cannot be harnessed in a potentially harmful digital environment.
The overarching language of the Pact is, in some instances, weaker than the language of existing human rights mechanisms, and we anticipate that this will affect its uptake and how we position our ongoing work on the GDC and collaborations with other CSOs that have raised this concern. And, like so many guiding documents and agreements, the Pact is a non-binding document. We need to ensure that its positive potential is fully embraced, and that this moment does not fade in importance over time.
We look forward to our next chapter of work on this issue – strengthening partnerships, and encouraging allies to keep up momentum as we encourage world leaders to move from talk to action, and from principle to impact. We hope to learn from others and keep the conversation open, reflective and representative.
The work is only just beginning.
