Following the consultations held as part of the commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the United Nations, the UN adopted a declaration that pledged the participation of all stakeholders in deliberations on digital cooperation. In response to the Declaration, Secretary-General Guterres’ report, Our Common Agenda, proposes a Summit of the Future with a technology track leading to a Global Digital Compact. Digital Empowerment Foundation hosted an event ‘Leave No Voice Behind’ as a submission for the Global Digital Compact, where we got voices from various stakeholders under one roof. As one of our chief guests, Abhishek Singh, who heads the NeGD and the Digital India Corporation, reminded us in the beginning of the consultation, India has both the largest number of people who are connected as well as unconnected to the Internet. Summarising the rest of the keynote address, by Amandeep Singh Gill, the UN Secretary General’s Envoy on Technology, this precisely is the challenge and motto of our contribution to the UN’s Global Digital Compact – we must address how we imagine the future of the Internet to be, set out a roadmap for digital collaboration and make sure this transformation is inclusive and human-centred. We need to look at who benefits from the way we see the digital future now, who gets left out, and how can we ensure no one gets left out. Keynote speaker and representative of the EU, Laurent Danois assured us that Europe, as well as the rest of the world is very interested and listening to what the stakeholders from India have to say.
DEF’s Submission for UN Global Digital Compact
