Secretary-General’s High-level Panel on Digital Cooperation

Source: United Nations Published: March 17,2020

The Secretary-General’s High-level Panel on Digital Cooperation – Follow-up Process

The scale, spread and speed of change brought about by digital technology is unprecedented, and the current means and levels of international cooperation are unequal to the challenge. Digital technologies make a significant contribution to the realisation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and cut uniquely across international boundaries, policy silos and professional domains. Cooperation across domains and across borders is therefore critical to realising the full social and economic potential of digital technologies, mitigating the risks they pose, and curtailing any unintended consequences.

The High-level Panel on Digital Cooperation was convened by the UN Secretary-General to provide recommendations on how the international community could work together to optimise the use of digital technologies and mitigate the risks. In June 2019, the Panel published their report “The Age of Digital Interdependence” and with it a series of recommendations to improve digital cooperation.

In response to the report more than 100 Member States, entities and organisations sent feedback and volunteered to lead or participate in discussions on one or more of the Panel’s recommendations. The Office of the Special Adviser, UN Under-Secretary-General Fabrizio Hochschild, has been tasked with coordinating the follow-up.

Eight virtual Roundtable groups have been convened to discuss if and how the recommendations can be advanced. A list of participants, identified as “Champions” and “Key Constituents,” is available on the right-hand panel of this page. Stakeholders bring subject-matter expertise, and work to coordinate activities so that duplication of efforts can be reduced, and progress can be amplified. From the volunteering organisations, Champions were selected based on experience, engagement with the High-level Panel in 2019, and geographic and stakeholder diversity.

Read more here.

Chelsea McCullough