Merrin Muhammed Ashraf

In August 2024, IT for Change responded to the Office of the Secretary-General's Envoy on Technology's AI Opportunity Scan. The scan was meant to gather respondents' expectations for AI’s positive impact in terms of scientific breakthroughs, economic activities and the SDGs. The survey asked only about possible positive implications of AI.…

On behalf of IT for Change, Merrin Muhammed Ashraf submitted comments on the recently released UNESCO Consultation Paper on Regulatory Approaches for Artificial Intelligence (AI). The Consultation Paper is part of a broader effort by UNESCO, the Inter-Parliamentary Union, and the Internet Governance Forum’s Parliamentary Track to engage…

IT for Change's Merrin Muhammed Ashraf participated in the virtual consultation convened by the co-facilitators of the Global Digital Compact on 22 August 2024 and delivered a statement on Rev 3.0 GDC on behalf of IT for Change and the Global Digital Justice Forum. The statement flagged some critical gaps in the text of the GDC which must be…

As the UN Secretary-General observed in 2023, the crisis of information integrity on digital platforms cannot be addressed without effectively tackling the role of platforms in spreading “gender-based hate speech and disinformation that seek to systematically subjugate women by silencing them and pushing them out of the public sphere.” The…

IT for Change's Executive Director Anita Gurumurthy and Research Associate Merrin Muhammad Ashraf submitted a response to the Office of the Secretary-General's Envoy on Technology's (OSET) AI Risk Pulse Check survey as part of a horizon-scanning exercise on AI. The purpose of the Pulse check is to understand AI risks globally, as well as fine…

The UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Advisory Body on Artificial Intelligence (AIAB) published an interim report on Governing AI for Humanity in December 2023. The initial proposal aimed to strengthen the international governance of AI by carrying out seven critical functions, which would contribute to reaching the Sustainable Development…

The Global Digital Compact (GDC) is a framework for international digital cooperation that is currently being negotiated as an annex to the Pact for the Future, an intergovernmental agreement that seeks to “build a multilateral system that delivers for everyone, everywhere” with concrete actions towards…

The Global Digital Justice Forum responded to the Joint Questionnaire for CSTD's 20-year review of the World Summit on Information Society implementation. The submission focused on the fact that instead of the vision of "people-centered, inclusive and development oriented" future, the digital era has been driven by increasing exclusions,…

IT for Change responded to the Open Consultation Process on the WSIS Forum organized by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). Our inputs focused on how the WSIS+20 Forum High-Level Event should address questions of the digital and data divide, in particular the critical role of democratic governance of the digital as vital to the…

IT for Change submitted a response to the Zero draft of the Pact for the Future, which was launched on 26 January 2024, as a first step towards the negotiations of the agreement in September 2024 within the Summit of the Future. Engaging with each chapter of the draft of the Pact, our submission emphasized the role of a just and fair digital…