A regular meeting of the Internet Governance Committee of the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ took place on July 13. The topic of the last meeting was “On the Progress of Work on the Global Digital Compact and the Preparation of IGF 2023”.
The second consultations and the MAG (Multistakeholder Advisory Group - a group under the UN Secretary-General dealing with the preparation of Internet Governance Forum) meeting took place immediately prior to the meeting, on July 10-12. MAG was attended by Director of the Center for Global IT-Cooperation, MAG member Vadim Glushchenko. At the committee meeting, Vadim Glushchenko shared the results of the discussion of the program of the upcoming UN Internet Governance Forum (IGF 2023), which is going to be held in autumn in Kyoto, and spoke about the contribution of the Russian expert community to the formation of the Global Digital Compact, which should be adopted at the Future Summit in 2024.
Further, the meeting participants moved on to discussing the Russian contribution to the preparation of the Global Digital Compact. They noted that the lack of understanding of why the work on the treaty is being carried out is very common, and this is largely due to the difference in the positions of governments, business and civil society in different countries. Thus, Ilona Stadnik, lecturer-practitioner from St Petersburg University, spoke about the discussion of the Global Digital Compact within the framework of EuroDIG, noting that the participants of EuroDIG treated the Compact with a fair amount of skepticism.
The moderator of the meeting, Andrey Romanov, Deputy Director of the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ, noted that the process of developing the Global Digital Compact resembles work “in the name of everything good, against everything bad,” but this is not bad either. The Compact can become a document of the future, which will take into account the points of view and positions of representatives of the most diverse strata of the world community. Nevertheless, the participants noted that today the process of preparing the Global Digital Compact is largely hampered by the bureaucratic procedures of the UN, and a good undertaking can turn into a purely formal product that has no practical significance.
Vladimir Gorzhaltsan, Advisor to the Director of the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ, drew attention to the fact that the essence, tasks and purpose of the Global Digital Compact are still not entirely clear. According to the speaker, the main purpose of such agreements is to revise the existing international relations and existing international legal norms. Mikhail Yakushev also pointed out the uncertainty at the moment of the place that the Global Digital Compact can take in the UN document system.
At the end of the meeting, Vadim Glushchenko called on everyone to continue to participate in the process of preparing the Global Digital Compact. “Better to do and regret than not to do and regret. Everything is not in vain, constant dropping will wear away a stone,” the speaker stated.
As a reminder, the Secretary-General of the United Nations established an Advisory Group (now called the Multi-Stakeholder Advisory Group - MAG) to advise the Secretary-General on the program and schedule of meetings of the Internet Governance Forum. The MAG is made up of 55 members from governments, the private sector and civil society, including representatives from academia and technology. In addition, representatives of former IGF host countries, as well as representatives of intergovernmental organizations, are invited to participate in the meetings and work of the MAG. MAG holds face-to-face meetings preceded by open consultations up to three times a year.
The Global Digital Compact is an initiative proposed in the General Agenda of the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres. The purpose of this treaty is to ensure that digital technologies are used responsibly and for the benefit of all, while bridging the digital divide and promoting a safe and inclusive digital environment.
