From WSIS to Now: What Next for Digital Justice

The Global Digital Justice Forum, IT for Change, Third Wold Network and the Association for Progressive Communications come together to hold a two-day strategy meeting for non-profit organisations around the world, working on the intersection of the society and digital. This strategy meeting will determine a combine vision for our digital justice future and the way for civil society to engage with the powers that be.

The meeting is scheduled from March 3, 2024 to March 5, 2024 in Penang, Malaysia.

Concept Note - From WSIS to Now: What Next for Digital Justice?

A poignant hope articulated in the 2005 Tunis Agenda for the Information Society (part of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) process) goes thus, “We are greatly encouraged by the fact that advances in communication technology, and high-speed data networks are continuously increasing the possibilities for developing countries, and countries with economies in transition, to participate in the global market for ICT-enabled services on the basis of their comparative advantage.”

Cut to the present, with two decades gone by, the UN Secretary General’s policy brief on the Global Digital Compact strikes a more somber note, “Our digital world is one of stark divides: A persistent digital access divide across regions, gender, income, language, and age groups; growing data divides that disadvantage developing countries; and an innovation divide resulting in highly unequal wealth generation, dominated by a handful of big platforms and states.” Read more.

Agenda for the meeting

The meeting will take place over three days, and will follow the below structure:

Date and time	Activity	Resource Persons	Relevant material (if any)
Day 1 03/03/2024
17.00-18.00	Registration and per diem	Kamini (TWN) and Malavika (IT for Change)
18.00-18.45	Welcome and Introductions	Anita + ITfC team
18.45-20.00	- Context setting for the meeting and explaining agenda - Reflections and expectations	Anita, Valeria, Yoke Ling
20.00-21.00	Dinner
Day 2 04/03/2024
9.00-10.50	From WSIS to now - 3 things that have changed - promise, pitfalls - 7 minutes per person	Anriette (IG processes) Emilia (ffd) Chenai (open source) Jamila (feminist analysis) Kate (PSI) or Ana Tuvera (ITUC) - worker perspective Neth (food. envt) Burcu (trade and IP) Moderator - Valeria
10.50-11.20	Break
11.20-12.30	The digital geoeconomic status quo and multilateral rules (data, AI, platformisation as crosscutting) - 8 min per person	Vahini (trade) Cedric (EU) Barbara (the UN) Ana Maria Suarez (food sovereignty, land) Camila (health, consumer rights) Moderator - TBC -
12.30-13.30	Lunch
13.30-15.00	Recovering the South - what do sovereignty, decoloniality and selfdetermination really mean - 8 min each	Alison Paulo Anita Roberto Rishab (AI) Moderator -TBC - 5 min sum up of key messages
15.00-15.30	Break
15.30-17.00	Towards a CS action agenda a) What are the priority areas for a common digital justice agenda? b) What do we need to prioritise for civil society action? c) What are our responses/ what needs to be done? and When? d) intersection of processes in the multilateral regime? Groups to refer to political calendar for advocacy national level engagements regional civil society events
Day 3 05/03/2024
9.30-10.30	- Plenary - Review of Day 1 - Towards a CS agenda - inputs from groups - Cluster formation
10.30-10.50	Break
10.50-12.30	Championing a way forward towards actionable work (done through group work in clusters)
12.30-13.30	Lunch
13.30-15.00	Closing plenary

Resources for the event

Schedule of civil society events

Draft political calendar to be shared in advance for further inputs