As former Ambassador and Delegate of the Swiss Federal Council for the hosting of WSIS 2003 in Geneva in cooperation with the ITU I look forward to the WSIS + 20 High-Level Event in Geneva from 7 to 11 July 2025..
Pro memoria kindly see the website of the Swiss Executive Secretariat for WSIS, which I was leading at that time: http://wsis2003geneva.org) and my publication as co-editor on the WSIS Geneva phase (https://lnkd.in/eJ57Y3vd.) together with Prof. Wolfgang Kleinwächter.
I recommend revisiting the Geneva WSIS Declaration of Principles. Especially Para 4 and 5:
“We reaffirm, as an essential foundation of the Information Society, and as outlined in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, that everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; that this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. Communication is a fundamental social process, a basic human need and the foundation of all social organization. It is central to the Information Society. Everyone, everywhere should have the opportunity to participate and no one should be excluded from the benefits the Information Society offers.
We further reaffirm our commitment to the provisions of Article 29 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, that everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of their personality is possible, and that, in the exercise of their rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society. These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations. In this way, we shall promote an Information Society where human dignity is respected.”
Kindly note that the words social media did not appear in the Geneva and Tunis Declarations yet.! The WSIS political Documents need urgent updating to reflect the recent advancements in ICTs such as AI, autonomous systems and address peace time threats to human security and dignity, such as Mis-, Disinformation and Hate Speech.
May I also suggest rereading para 36 of the 2005 WSIS Tunis Commitment (https://lnkd.in/dDAdHsH) on Peace and Security in Cyberspace proposed by my Office on behalf of the Swiss Government: “We value the potential of ICTs to promote peace and to prevent conflict which, inter alia, negatively affects achieving development goals. ICTs can be used for identifying conflict situations through early-warning systems preventing conflicts, promoting their peaceful resolution, supporting humanitarian action, including protection of civilians in armed conflicts, facilitating peacekeeping missions, and assisting post conflict peace-building and reconstruction.”
At the WSIS + 20 High-Level Event, the ICT4peace Foundation will promote its flagship project: Toolkit for Responsible use of ICTs by Companies: https://lnkd.in/dbWs6rSA, prepared by Anne-Marie Buzatu Buzatu, Executive Director of ICT4Peace.
Daniel Stauffacher
