Skip to main content

CSW67 Pitch: Strengthening civil society participation in internet governance spaces


During the NGO briefing on January 26, 2023, members of civil society pitched their recommendations to the Dutch CSW67 delegation. Together they had one clear message: Involve us and take human rights in digital spaces seriously.

Marwa Azelmat, Digital Rights Expert at RNW Media, explains how governments can and should ensure the inclusion and participation of civil society in the design and implementation of digital technologies in an inclusive and transparent way. "Strengthening civil society participation today cannot happen without a conducive environment where digital technologies are designed, implemented and consumed in an open, transparent, diverse, inclusive and rights-respecting manner.  

 

To achieve the latter, governments must focus on:  

  1. Strengthening the capacities of and integrating civil society’s diverse voices in internet-related policy and decision-making spaces (I.e delegations to high level spaces include and consult civil society representatives)
  2.  Discussions related to digital technologies should be seen in context of a larger, ongoing conversation given that the scope of corporate actions in upholding human rights will continue to change and be shaped by technological advances (e.g. in access, connectivity, design and infrastructure) as well as emerging laws and standards regulating ICT companies internationally and locally. Thus, governments must ensure that the digital ecosystem serve progress on human rights through monitoring practices.  
  3. Ensuring that the Internet intermediaries work is in line with the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and reflecting the lived realities of communities that are structurally subjugated by digital technologies.  
  4. Responses to and prevention of online harms should strive to create an enabling environment for women's access to and enjoyment of ICT in terms of quality infrastructure, training in highly technical skills, and meaningful participation in internet governance for civil society groups particularly from the women’s rights and feminist movements. 
  5. Law creation or reform regarding the regulation of the internet must involve extensive consultation with women’s rights and sexual rights civil society organisations to ensure synergy with other legislative developments responding to online harms and to integrate a gendered awareness into potential measures to avoid any discriminatory effect." 

  1.  

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Women’s Rights Caucus Statement – Protect Women and Girls by upholding the Beijing Declaration

  The Women’s Rights Caucus, representing over 900 feminist advocates from around the world, urges you to oppose the proposed US draft resolution entitled  “Protection of women and girls through appropriate terminology.” Despite the title, we do not feel protected nor represented by this initiative. Download this statement as pdf.   Download this statement in Spanish.   On the heels of the first-ever recorded vote on the agreed conclusions of the annual meetings of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, and in complete disregard of the significant opposition their proposal got in the negotiation room, the United States has circulated a new resolution proposal which attempts to falsely state that the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action agreed that  “gender” was defined as “men and women”. It attributes to annex IV of the Report of the Fourth World Conference of Women a meaning that was never agreed by Member States, effectively rewriting th...
Post a Comment
Read more

ARTivism for Change: Creativity as Resistance at CSW69

Artwork "Who can I trust with my story?" from ArtVism in Uganda During the 69th CSW, the Our Voices Our Futures (OVOF) consortium organised a creative ARTivism for Change space where bold protest sign-making, intimate film screenings, and thought-provoking feminist dialogues blended together. Over two days, March 12 and 13, 2025, artists, activists, and allies transformed the space into dynamic real-life canvases of empowerment, solidarity, and cultural and political resistance.   In the main space of the Blue Gallery participants engaged with various stations, including Button Making , Journaling with Art , Drawing , and Protest Sign Making . Participants moved between activities, creating powerful messages of resistance and hope. The creativity extended beyond the activities themselves. Access Denied The ACCESS DENIED campaign , initiated by WO=MEN, was set up to be a photo installation. It highlights the deep gap between the inclusive vision set forth at the 1995 Beijing ...
Post a Comment
Read more

"Beat back the radicals!"

“We will beat back the radicals and we will fight all their falsehoods and we will help as best we can all the faithful UN delegations trying to help the unborn child. But, the Friday Fax and our presence at UN headquarters is not free. In fact, it is terribly expensive. Would you be able to make a sacrificial donation to our work of $500? $100? $50?” This quote is from a newsletter of an American based organization working to stop any agreement at the UN that might possibly be understood to mean that women can have a choice in their  reproduction. It is quite ironic to see the violence in the language, beat back the radicals, from a group who are working at the UN meeting devoted to ending Violence Against Women. Being here at the UN makes you feel in your body and soul that maintaining and advancing freedom of choice for women (and men) is a battle and not everyone fights fair. Some of our Dutch civil society friends attended a panel in which the two main speakers where ...
4 comments
Read more