ANNEXES
ANNEXES AnonymousI. TERMS OF REFERENCE OF THE PANEL
I. TERMS OF REFERENCE OF THE PANEL Anonymous- The High-Level Panel on Digital Cooperation convened by the UN Secretary-General will advance proposals to strengthen cooperation in the digital space among Governments, the private sector, civil society, international organisations, the technical and academic communities and all other relevant stakeholders. The Panel’s report and its recommendations will provide a high-level independent contribution to the broader public debate on digital cooperation frameworks and support Member States in their consultations on these issues.
- The Panel will consist of 20 eminent leaders from Governments, private sector, academia, the technical community, and civil society led by two co-chairs. Its composition will be balanced in terms of gender, age, geographic representation, and area of expertise. The Panel members will serve in their personal capacity.
- The Panel shall meet in person at least once. Additional interactions shall be organised for the Panel as a whole by electronic means or through ad hoc group consultations. The Panel will engage and consult widely with governments, private sector, academia, technical community, civil society, and inter-governmental organisations across the world. It shall be agile and innovative in interacting with existing processes and platforms as well as in harnessing inputs from diverse stakeholders.
- In its report to the Secretary-General, the Panel shall identify good practices and opportunities, gaps and challenges in digital cooperation. It shall also outline major trends in the development and deployment of emerging digital technologies, business models, and policies and the possibilities and challenges they generate for digital cooperation.
- In particular, the report shall:
- Raise awareness among policy makers and the general public about the transformative impact of digital technologies across society and the economy;
- Suggest ways to bridge disciplines on digital cooperation by identifying policy, research and information gaps as well as ways to improve interdisciplinary thinking and cross-domain action on digital technologies;
- Present recommendations for effective, inclusive, accountable systems of digital cooperation among all relevant actors in the digital space. - The recommendations in the report shall seek to maximise the potential of digital technologies to contribute inter alia to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and to support progress across a range of themes, including digital empowerment, inclusive finance, employment, entrepreneurship, trade and cross border data flows.
- They shall also contribute to raising individual and systemic capacities to maximise the benefits of emerging digital technologies; to facilitating the participation of all stakeholder groups, especially youth and women, in the digital sphere and; to enhancing implementation of existing digital policies as well as norms.
- The Panel shall avoid duplication with existing forums for digital cooperation. It shall fully respect current UN structures as well as national, technical community and industry prerogatives in the development and governance of digital technologies.
- The Panel will complete its deliberations and submit its final report, including actionable recommendations, within a nine-month period.
- The deliberations of the Panel will be supported by a small secretariat and funded by donor resources. The Secretariat shall seek to leverage existing platforms and partners, including UN agencies, working in the related domains.
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II. PANEL MEMBERS
II. PANEL MEMBERS Co-Chairs
• Melinda Gates (USA), Co-Chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
• Jack Ma (China), Executive Chairman, Alibaba Group
Members
• Mohammed Abdullah Al Gergawi (UAE), Minister of Cabinet Affairs and the
Future, UAE
• Yuichiro Anzai (Japan), Senior Advisor and Director of Center for Science
Information Analysis, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
• Nikolai Astrup (Norway), Former Minister of International Development,
now Minister of Digitalisation, Norway
• Vinton Cerf (USA), Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist, Google
• Fadi Chehadé (USA), Chairman, Chehadé & Company
• Sophie Soowon Eom (Republic of Korea), Founder of Adriel AI and
Solidware
• Isabel Guerrero Pulgar (Chile), Executive Director, IMAGO Global
Grassroots and Lecturer, Harvard Kennedy School
• Marina Kaljurand (Estonia), Chair of the Global Commission on the
Stability of Cyberspace
• Bogolo Kenewendo (Botswana), Minister of Investment, Trade and
Industry, Botswana
• Marina Kolesnik (Russian Federation), senior executive, entrepreneur
and WEF Young Global Leader
• Doris Leuthard (Switzerland), former President and Federal Councillor of
the Swiss Confederation, Switzerland
• Cathy Mulligan (United Kingdom), Visiting Researcher, Imperial College
London and Chief Technology Officer of GovTech Labs at University
College London
• Akaliza Keza Ntwari (Rwanda), ICT advocate and entrepreneur
• Edson Prestes (Brazil), Professor, Institute of Informatics, Federal
University of Rio Grande do Sul
• Kira Radinsky (Israel), Director of Data Science, eBay
• Nanjira Sambuli (Kenya), Senior Policy Manager, World Wide Web
Foundation
• Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah (Australia), Chief Executive, Oxfam GB
• Jean Tirole (France), Chairman of the Toulouse School of Economics and
the Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse
Ex officio
• Amandeep Singh Gill (India), Executive Director, Secretariat of the High-
level Panel on Digital Cooperation
• Jovan Kurbalija (Serbia), Executive Director, Secretariat of the High-level
Panel on Digital Cooperation
III. PANEL SECRETARIAT AND SUPPORT TEAMS
III. PANEL SECRETARIAT AND SUPPORT TEAMS Panel Secretariat
• Isabel de Sola, Senior Adviser, Engagement
• Amandeep Singh Gill, Executive Director
• Jovan Kurbalija, Executive Director
• Ananita Maitra, Project Officer, Policy and Engagement
• Chengetai Masango, Senior Adviser (on loan from the IGF Secretariat,
July-October 2018)
• Lisa McMonagle, Intern
• Madeline McSherry, Project Officer, Engagement
• Claire Messina, Deputy Executive Director
• AJung Moon, Senior Adviser, Research & Industry
• Athira Murali, Intern
• Anoush Rima Tatevossian, Senior Communications Officer
• Talea von Lupin, Intern
• Andrew Wright, Writer
Sherpas and Support Teams
• Co-Chair Melinda Gates: Gargee Ghosh, John Norris
• Co-Chair Jack Ma: James Song, Jason Pau, Sami Farhad, Yuan Ren
IV. DONORS
IV. DONORS The Panel gratefully acknowledges the financial and in-kind contributions of the following governments and partners, without whom it would not have been able to carry out its responsibilities:
Robert Bosch Stiftung
Government of the People’s Republic of China
Government of Denmark
Government of Finland
Ford Foundation
Global Challenges Foundation
IGF Secretariat
Government of Israel
Government of Norway
Government of Qatar
Government of Switzerland
Government of the United Arab Emirates
UN Foundation
V. THE PANEL’S ENGAGEMENT
V. THE PANEL’S ENGAGEMENT As per its terms of reference, the Panel engaged widely with governments, private sector, academia, the technical community, civil society, and inter-governmental organisations across the world. The aims of its engagement strategy were to provide stakeholders with an opportunity to contribute meaningfully to the reflection process of the Panel; catalyse multi-stakeholder and interdisciplinary cooperation on digital issues; and co-create the report’s recommendations with stakeholders, with a view to building buy-in for their implementation.
The engagement strategy was guided by three main tenets:
• Breadth and inclusivity: The Panel aimed to consult as broadly as
possible across regions, demographics, topics, sectors and disciplines.
The process strove to be as inclusive as possible of diverse groupings.
• Depth: The Panel worked with experts and conducted ‘deep dives’ on
specific focus areas through virtual or in-person consultations as well as
bilateral interviews.
• Interdisciplinarity: Many digital challenges are currently addressed in
policy or agency silos; to promote more holistic approaches, the Panel’s
activities invited interdisciplinary and multisectoral perspectives to the
table.
The Panel was conscious of the importance of avoiding duplication of efforts and ‘consultation fatigue’ amongst digital stakeholders. Building on existing networks and policy forums, engagement activities took place as close as possible to stakeholders on the ground. The Panel also consciously assumed the learnings of previous commissions and existing working groups while also harnessing opportunities to connect the issues in new ways.
ACTIVITIES
Conducting a global consultation in the span of few months would not have been possible without the immense support of dozens of organisations and governments worldwide who lent their resources and networks to the Panel.
Engagement proceeded in two phases: in the ‘listening’ phase, in the autumn of 2018, the Panel actively collected stakeholders’ concerns and ideas on digital cooperation. Feedback from stakeholders was fed into the Panel’s scoping of its work and formed the basis of the nine “enablers of digital cooperation” articulated mid-way through the Panel process. In the spring of 2019, the focus shifted to ‘road-testing’ the Panel’s emerging recommendations. Stakeholders from across sectors were invited to comment on and critique the draft recommendations with a view to improving them.
Overall, the Panel and its Secretariat carried out 125 engagement activities; these included participating in 44 digital policy events and organising 10 thematic workshops (on subjects such as values and principles, digital trust and security, data, digital health), 28 briefings to various stakeholder communities, 11 visits to digital hubs and capitals, 22 virtual meetings with subject-matter experts, and 10 townhall meetings open to the public. In addition, the Panel held a large number of bilateral meetings with a variety of stakeholders.
A virtual window for consultation was opened via the Panel’s website. In October 2018, an open Call for Contributions was launched; by January 2019, when the call closed, 167 stakeholders had sent written submissions. Additionally, an informal public opinion survey was set up to capture the views of stakeholders on the digital issues of greatest concern.
In total, the Panel and its Secretariat engaged with over 4,000 individuals representing 104 states, 80 international organisations, 203 private sector companies, 125 civil society organisations, 33 technical organisations, and 188 think tanks and academic institutions.
Our analysis of approximately 1200 core participants in our engagement process finds that 40% were women; 3% were aged under 30; and the regional breakdown was 20% North America, 19% Europe, 13% Sub-Saharan Africa, 8% Latin America and the Caribbean, 7% South and Central Asia, 7% Southeast and East Asia, and 4% Middle East (the rest had a global remit).
These results show that we did not wholly avoid a skew towards male and Western voices, though they compare favourably with many such exercises in the technology sector. They indicate the continuing need for digital cooperation mechanisms to make specific efforts to ensure inclusivity, and highlight in particular the challenge of bringing the “digital native” youth generation into digital policymaking.
PARTNERS
The Panel would like to thank the following partners for their generous assistance and support to its engagement process:
Access Now
African Union Commission
Alibaba Group
APEC China Business Council (ACBC)
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship of Argentina
Asia Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC)
Association for Progressive Communication (APC)
Government of Benin
Botnar Foundation
Business Council for the United Nations
Consulate General of Canada in San Francisco
CERN
China Chamber of International Commerce (CCOIC)
Data2x
Digital Empowerment Foundation
Digital Impact Alliance (DIAL)
Diplo Foundation
Delegation of the European Union to the United Nations and Other International Organisations in Geneva
Direction interministérielle du numérique et du système d’information et de communication de l’Etat, France
Freedom Online Coalition
Gateway House
Geneva Internet Platform
Global Commission on Stability of Cyberspace
Global Partners Digital
Global Partnership on Sustainable Development Data
Global Tech Panel
GSM Association (GSMA)
Hangzhou Normal University
Impact Hub Basel
Infosys
International Chamber of Commerce (ICC)
International Telecommunications Union (ITU)
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)
iSPIRT
JD.com
JSC National ICT Holding Zerde
Government of Kazakhstan
King’s College London
Lee Kwan Yew School of Public Policy
New America Foundation
Nokia
Observer Research Foundation
Office of Denmark’s Technology Ambassador
Omidyar Foundation
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)
Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF)
Schwarzman Scholars, Tsinghua University
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Singapore
Stanford University
Tata Consultancy Services, Mumbai
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC)
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
United Nations Global Pulse
United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR)
United Nations Office at Geneva
United Nations University
University of California, Berkeley
University of Geneva
Verizon Wireless
Web Summit
Western Balkans Digital Summit
Wonder Ventures
World Bank
World Economic Forum
World Economic Forum Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, San Francisco
World Government Summit, Dubai
World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
World Internet Conference
World Summit AI
VI. PRINCIPLES AND FUNCTIONS OF DIGITAL COOPERATION
VI. PRINCIPLES AND FUNCTIONS OF DIGITAL COOPERATION In the course of our outreach, many stakeholders suggested principles to which digital cooperation mechanisms should adhere and functions they should seek to serve. Drawing also on work of previous initiatives in these areas, this annex summarises the principles and functions we suggest are most important to guide the future evolution of digital cooperation.
KEY PRINCIPLES OF DIGITAL COOPERATION
• Consensus-oriented: Decisions should be made in ways that seek consensus among public, private and civic stakeholders.
• Polycentric: Decision-making should be highly distributed and loosely yet efficiently coordinated across specialised centres.
• Customised: There is generally no “one size fits all” solution; different communities can implement norms in their own way, according to circumstances.
• Subsidiarity: Decisions should be made as locally as possible, closest to where the issues and problems are.
• Accessible: It should be as easy as possible to engage in digital cooperation mechanisms and policy discussions.
• Inclusive: Decisions should be inclusive and democratic, representing diverse interests and accountable to all stakeholders.
• Agile: Digital cooperation should be dynamic, iterative and responsive to fast-emerging policy issues.
• Clarity in roles and responsibility: Clear roles and shared language should reduce confusion and support common understanding about the responsibilities of actors involved in digital cooperation (governments, private sector, civil society, international organisations and academia).
• Accountable: There should be measurable outcomes, accountability and means of redress.
• Resilient: Power distribution should be balanced across sectors, without centralised top-down control.
• Open: Processes should be transparent, with minimum barriers to entry.
• Innovative: It should always be possible to innovate new ways of cooperating, in a bottom-up way, which is also the best way to include diverse perspectives.
• Tech-neutral: Decisions should not lock in specific technologies but allow for innovation of better and context-appropriate alternatives.
• Equitable outcomes: Digital cooperation should maximise the global public interest (internationally) and be anchored in broad public benefit (nationally).
KEY FUNCTIONS OF DIGITAL COOPERATION
• Leadership – generating political will among leaders from government, business, and society, and providing an authoritative response to digital policy challenges.
• Deliberation – providing a platform for regular, comprehensive and impactful deliberations on digital issues with the active and effective participation of all affected stakeholders.
• Ensuring inclusivity – ensuring active and meaningful participation of all stakeholders, for example by linking with existing and future bottom-up networks and initiatives.214
• Evidence and data – monitoring developments and identifying trends to inform decisions, including by analysing existing data sources.
• Norms and policy making – building consensus among diverse stakeholders, respecting the roles of states and international organisations in enacting and enforcing laws.
• Implementation – following up on policy discussions and agreements.
• Coordination – creating shared understanding and purpose across bodies in different policy areas and at different levels (local, national, regional, global), ensuring synchronisation of efforts, interoperability and policy coherence, and the possibility of voluntary coordination between interested stakeholder groups.
• Partnerships – catalysing partnerships around specific issues by providing opportunities to network and collaborate.
• Support and capacity development – strengthening capacity development, monitoring digital developments, identifying trends, informing policy actors and the public of emerging risks and opportunities, and providing data for evidence-based decision making – allowing traditionally marginalised persons or other less-resourced stakeholders to actively participate in the system.
• Conflict resolution and crisis management – developing the skills, knowledge and tools to prevent and resolve disputes and connect stakeholders with assistance in a crisis.