WSIS+20 High-Level Event | Global Digital Governance & Multistakeholder Cooperation for WSIS+20

Location: Plenary Room C, Palexpo, and online

As the global community approaches the 20-year review of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS+20), inclusive and ethical digital governance remains critical to upholding human rights and advancing sustainable development. This roundtable will examine how to strengthen multistakeholder engagement—across civil society, the academic and technical communities, the private sector, and end users—to advance WSIS Action Lines C10 (Ethical Dimensions of the Information Society) and C11 (International and Regional Cooperation).

Recognizing the inextricable link between human rights and equitable global progress, the session will focus on best practices, challenges, and strategies for rights-based digital governance and enhanced international collaboration. A central theme will be the role of artificial intelligence (AI)—particularly generative and decision-making systems—in shaping the integrity of online information and public discourse. Participants will explore how AI influences trust, democratic participation, and human rights, and how governance frameworks can promote transparency, accountability, and equity while safeguarding freedom of expression, privacy, and non-discrimination. As AI technologies increasingly amplify existing trends, such as the spread of disinformation and the erosion of trust, the session will also consider to what extent current international agreements, human rights frameworks, and platform regulations remain adequate to address these compounded challenges.

The session will also highlight practical, collaborative approaches to bridging the digital divides through inclusive and rights-respecting strategies. Emphasis will be placed on how responsible AI governance and the promotion of healthy, trustworthy information ecosystems contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) while preventing emerging technologies from deepening existing inequalities.

By fostering meaningful engagement and generating concrete policy recommendations, particularly around the WSIS+20, this session aims to help shape a more inclusive, sustainable, and human rights-based digital future.

Moderator: Ernst Noorman, Cyber Ambassador, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands

Speakers:

• Rasmus Lumi, Director General, Department of International Organisations and Human Rights, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Estonia
• Dan York, Chief of Staff, ISOC
• Gitanjali Sah, Strategy and Policy Coordinator, ITU
• Isabel Ebert, Strategic Adviser, B-Tech Project, OHCHR
• Jan Gerlach, Public Policy Director, Wikimedia Foundation