High-Level Panel on Digital Cooperation established by the UN Secretary-General

The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres establishes a High-Level Panel on Digital Cooperation to enhance cooperation between relevant stakeholders working in the digital field, including governments, the private sector, the technical community, academia, and civil society. The panel’s objectives also include addressing the opportunities and challenges of digital technologies, and engaging in discussions on how to secure an inclusive and humanistic digital future for all. The final outcome of the panel’s work, the report The Age of Digital Interdependence, was launched in June 2019. The report outlines five key recommendations related to advancing an inclusive digital economy and society; developing human and institutional capacity; promoting human rights and human agency; advancing trust, security, and stability; and strengthening global digital cooperation. On the matter of digital cooperation, the Panel recommends that the UN Secretary-General facilitates an agile and open consultation process to develop updated mechanisms for global digital cooperation, using as a starting point three architecture models outlined in the report: an IGF Plus, a Distributed Co-Governance Architecture, and a Digital Commons framework.