Twenty years ago, stakeholders gathered in Geneva at the first World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) and affirmed a “common desire and commitment to build a people-centred, inclusive and development-oriented Information Society.”
In preparation for the WSIS+20 review set to take place in 2025, we partnered with the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) and WACC Global to prepare a special edition of APC’s flagship publication, GISWatch. The edition considers the importance of WSIS as an inclusive policy and governance mechanism, and what, from a civil society perspective, needs to change for it to meet the challenges of today and to meaningfully shape our digital future.
Throughout this special edition, titled ‘WSIS+20: Reimagining horizons of dignity, equity and justice for our digital future,’ expert reports consider issues such as the importance of the historical legacy of WSIS, the failing multistakeholder system and how it can be revived, financing mechanisms for local access, the digital inequality paradox, why a digital justice framing matters in the context of mass digitalization, and feminist priorities in internet governance. While this edition of GISWatch asks: “How can civil society – as well as governments – best respond to the changed context in order to crystallize the WSIS vision?” it carries lessons for other digital governance processes such as the UN’s Global Digital Compact and NETmundial+10.
Know more and access the publication here.