Statement by AHM Bazlur Rahman, on behalf of Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication, Bangladesh Internet Governance Forum, and additional capacity as the Executive Coordinator of Bangladesh Initiative for Connecting, Empowering & Amplifying Unified Voices on UN Summit for the Future at the led by the Co-facilitators Permanent Representative of Sweden and Zambia, New York, 21 June 2024, UNHQs. NY, USA
Your Excellency! We are privileged to present this statement on behalf of the Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication, Bangladesh Internet Governance Forum, and Bangladesh Initiative for Connecting, Empowering & Amplifying Unified Voices on Global Digital Compact and UN Summit for the Future!
We welcome the May 15 revision- one of the GDC zero drafts. We particularly applaud the new paragraph 33, which links information integrity to democratic processes and human rights, and the inclusion of independent public interest media in paragraph 34(b).
We therefore call on you to incorporate the following language into the Global Digital Compact:
Establish a country-level network of the Global Digital Compact to help multi-stakeholder mobilization achieve the GDC mandate, emphasizing collaboration, building capacity, knowledge sharing, and innovation as a country network. Like the UN Global Compact Country-level Network.
The UN should continue the IGF and WSIS Forum accordingly!
We want to endorse fully the Statement on the Global Digital Compact, June 2024, initiated by DW Academy and the Global Forum for Media Development (GFMD).
Inclusion of the media community as a relevant stakeholder in Internet Governance discussions:
Under 6 add: “and media” after “the technical and academic”.
- Under 8(k) add: “the media community” after “academia”.
- Under Objective 3, 23 add: “Protect journalists, media workers and human rights defenders online and guarantee access to information in line with international human rights law and international humanitarian law.”
- Under Objective 3, 30(d) add: “with state obligations” after “in compliance with” and “and with international human rights including freedom of expression and the principles of legality, legitimacy, necessity, and proportionality, and with effective remedies in place. This includes ceasing mass surveillance, refraining from restricting encryption, and establishing clear distinctions between illegal and harmful forms of content” after “in compliance with international law”.
Under Objective 3, 35(b) change: “researcher access to data” into “research access to data, including for journalists”.
We join other organisations in calling for consistent reference to international human rights law and standards, rather than a more general reference to human rights. In particular:
- Under Objective 3, 33, change: “in a manner consistent with human rights” into “through holistic and positive measures grounded in international human rights norms”.
- Under Objective 4, 45, add “with respect to international human rights law, and relevant data protection and privacy norms” after “enable data to flow with trust within and between countries”.
- Under Objective 4, 46(b), add “and in line with international human rights law” after “sharing of cross-border data where relevant”
To conclude, Your Excellency!
We strongly support the value of a multistakeholder approach to the Global Digital Compact.
Thank you for your attention.
