Global Digital Compact

Table of Contents

This page is intended to serve as an access point to contextual knowledge on the GDC, including analyses, updates from related events, and information about related processes. As the consultations and discussions on the GDC evolve, we will also follow them.

In 2020, on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the United Nations (UN), member states pledged to improve digital cooperation and shape ‘a digital future that show[s] the full potential for beneficial technology usage’. Building on this, the UN Secretary-General, in its 2021 report Our Common Agenda, proposed that a Global Digital Compact (GDC) be developed to ‘outline shared principles for an open, free and secure digital future for all’.

The GDC is the latest step in a lengthy policy journey to have, at least, a shared understanding of key digital principles globally and, at most, common rules that will guide the development of our digital future.

The idea of a GDC has additional roots in the 2019 report The age of digital interdependence, published by the UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on Digital Cooperation, and the 2020 Roadmap for digital cooperation issued by the UN Secretary-General.

Development of the GDC

Our Common Agenda envisions that the GDC is to be agreed on during a Summit of the Future: ‘Building on the recommendations of the road map for digital cooperation (see A/74/821), the United Nations, Governments, the private sector and civil society could come together as a multi-stakeholder digital technology track in preparation for a Summit of the Future to agree on a Global Digital Compact.’ According to a decision of the UN General Assembly, the summit is to be held on 22 and 23 September 2024, in New York, and preceded by a preparatory ministerial meeting on 18 September 2023.

In the lead-up to the Summit, a public consultation launched by the Office of the UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Technology – and open until 30 April 2023 – is intended to collect input from interested stakeholders for consideration for the GDC.

In October 2022, the permanent representatives of Rwanda and Sweden to the UN were appointed as co-facilitators to lead the intergovernmental process on the GDC. In January 2023, the co-facilitators announced the roadmap for the GDC process; the components of this roadmap – thematic deep-dives, the publication of a policy brief and an issues paper, and negotiations – can be seen via the timeline below.

GDC process roadmap

GDC topics

The vision for the Global Digital Compact was outlined in the UN Secretary-General’s Our Common Agenda report. According to the report, the GDC could address the following issues:

Reaffirming the fundamental commitment to connecting the unconnected
Avoiding fragmentation of the internet
Providing people with options as to how their data is used
Application of human rights online
Promoting a trustworthy internet by introducing accountability criteria for discrimination and misleading content
Regulation of artificial intelligence (AI)

Building on this issue framing, the GDC co-facilitators are organising thematic deep-dives – between March and June 2023 – on eight topics: digital inclusion and connectivity, internet governance, data protection, human rights online, digital trust and security, AI and other emerging technologies, global digital commons, and accelerating progress on the sustainable development goals (SDGs).

As these deep-dives unfold, we will update this page to provide more background information about the topics in focus. We start with digital inclusion and connectivity.

1. Digital inclusion and connectivity

The concept of digital inclusion goes far beyond just deploying infrastructures to connect people and institutions to the internet. It encompasses a variety of essential factors, from affordability and skills development to multilingualism and access to local content. Additionally, there is a pressing need to address the digital inclusion gap faced by women and girls, migrants and refugees, and other marginalised communities. Moreover, digital inclusion involves promoting access to job opportunities in the digital economy and actively participating in relevant digital policy-making processes. In other words, digital inclusion is not just about connectivity, but about creating an equitable and inclusive digital society.

Dive deeper

Explore key digital policy issues related to digital inclusion and connectivity via the following Digital Watch dedicated pages:

See how the topic of digital inclusion and connectivity has been covered in a few key policy documents, from the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society to the most recent UNGA resolution on ICT for sustainable development.

Digital inclusion and connectivity in several key policy documents (2003–2022)

2. Internet governance

Internet governance is ‘the development and application by governments, the private sector, and civil society, in their respective roles, of shared principles, norms, rules, decision-making procedures, and programs that shape the evolution and use of the Internet’. This definition was adopted back in 2005, during the World Summit on the Information Society. It has remained unchanged ever since. The internet governance regime has continuously evolved since then. It is now a complex system involving a multitude of issues, actors, mechanisms, procedures, and instruments.

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