In 2023, under the United States’ Chairship of the Freedom Online Coalition (FOC) and in line with the activities outlined in the 2023 Program of Action, the FOC aims to increase ties between FOC multilateral policy development and country-level development activities. In pursuit of this effort, the United States and Canada have revitalised the FOC Funding Coordination Group (FCG) – a multinational and multistakeholder coordination, strategic planning, and global norms setting mechanism focused on bridging foreign policymaking and international development.
Recognising the need for a clear normative framework to guide donors to help ensure that foreign assistance in the digital space advances, rather than undermines, democratic values and respect for human rights, the ‘Donor Principles for Human Rights in the Digital Age’ will fill this gap by establishing the normative basis for foreign assistance in the digital realm.
The United States and Canada, the FCG co-Chairs and lead drafters of the Donor Principles, invite Member States, national human rights bodies, and other relevant State institutions, international and regional organisations, civil society, scholars, and other interested individuals and organisations to provide written comments and/ or suggested edits to the Donor Principles draft by COB Friday, 28 July.
To provide input, please download the Donor Principles (.docx file) to include comments and/or suggested edits in track changes, and send the document as an attachment via email to Lisa Poggiali (lpoggiali@usaid.gov) and Sidney Leclercq (sleclercq@idrc.ca) with CC to the FOC Support Unit (Zora Gouhary, zora@gp-digital.org; Nusa Tomic nusa@gp-digital.org). For more information, please refer to the accompanying Background Note.
