The UN’s Global Digital Compact: Considerations on the ‘Zero Draft

On April 1st, the UN Secretary-General's Envoy on Technology released the ‘Zero Draft’ of the proposed United Nations Global Digital Compact (GDC). The final text will be annexed to the Pact for the Future to be adopted at the Summit of the Future in New York on 22-23 September 2024. The preparatory process involved multiple UN reports, proposals and consultations about global digital governance and cooperation. Some of these proposals got support, while others have proven to be highly controversial forays into sensitive policy spaces in which the international community is often deeply divided. The resulting Zero Draft reflects these dynamics. It includes proposals for new organizational structures and policy processes on such issues as artificial intelligence, digital public infrastructure, digital human rights, connectivity, information integrity, crossborder data flows and the system-wide coordination of UN digital work. On April 5th, the UN commences a series of intergovernmental and stakeholder consultations to help evolve a final text that can serve as a consensus landing zone.

How are the hot button issues reflected in the Zero Draft? Does the document suggest a different interplay between intergovernmental decision-making and multistakeholder participation? How might the proposed enhanced roles of the Secretariat in New York impact existing UN organizations and processes, including the Internet Governance Forum? Are the proposed new mechanisms likely to be fit for purpose and serve as effective responses to the rapidly evolving global environment? Or could these mechanisms be hobbled by the same international political differences and dynamics that have confounded previous global digital governance initiatives?

This webinar assembles a panel of leading experts from the private sector, Internet technical community and civil society stakeholder groups to consider these and other questions. As always, the panelists’ conversation will be followed by an open dialogue among all webinar participants.


Introduction of the topic

Eli Noam is Paul Garrett Professor of Public Policy and Business Responsibility, Emeritus, and Director of the Columbia Institute for Tele-Information at Columbia Business School.

Moderator

William J. Drake is Director of International Studies at the Columbia Institute for Tele-Information and an adjunct professor at Columbia Business School.

Panelists


Chris Buckridge is an independent consultant, an Internet technical community representative on the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) Multistakeholder Advisory Group, Co-Chair of the MAG Working Group on Strategy and Strengthening the IGF, and a member of the Board of Directors of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). Previously he worked for more than two decades with the Regional Internet Registries including the Asia Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC) and the Réseaux IP Européens Network Coordination Centre (RIPE NCC). (Netherlands)

Anriette Esterhuysen is Senior Advisor for Internet Governance at the Association for Progressive Communications (APC). Previously she was the APC’s Executive Director from 2000 until April 2017, and served as Chair of the IGF’s Multistakeholder Advisory Group from 2019 to 2021. Anriette was inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame in 2013. (South Africa)

Timea Suto is Global Digital Policy Lead at the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). She leads ICC’s policy development and advocacy work on digital policy and Internet governance issues and works with global business experts to bring private sector views into international multilateral and multistakeholder processes. Previously she served as policy analyst for projects in the Visegrad countries and has had research and teaching roles in Budapest and Paris. (France)