On 13 December 2023, Merrin Muhammed Ashraf represented IT for Change at a virtual consultation convened by the co-facilitators of the preparatory process for the Summit of the Future. The goal of this consultation was to give MGoS and civil society representatives the opportunity to share their overall views and expectations for the Summit and to offer concrete suggestions for the zero draft of its outcome document, the Pact for the Future, which co-facilitators plan to circulate by early 2024.
In her statement, Merrin emphasized the importance of involving all stakeholders, including governments, civil society, the technical community, and the private sector, in shaping the global digital governance roadmap that the Summit of the Future should adopt. She reiterated the need for for civil society's inclusion in negotiating a new social contract for data and AI, and called for the Summit of the Futureto affirm the vital opportunity presented by the WSIS+20 review in 2025 to address the injustice of the mainstream digital economy and advocate for an inclusive and just global governance regime for data and AI. She highlighted the significance of public financing for data infrastructure development in the Global South and proposed the establishment of a high-level Working Group that reports to the General Assembly to recommend a binding global governance regime for data.
Read Merrin's full statement here.