The United Nations Group on the Information Society urges stronger system-wide coordination and alignment with the Global Digital Compact in its WSIS+20 input

The United Nations Group on the Information Society (UNGIS) has issued a response to the WSIS+20 Elements Paper, positioning itself as a central actor in the next phase of WSIS implementation and urging member states to reinforce system-wide digital cooperation. UNGIS, which brings together 31 UN entities and 17 observers, emphasises that its explicit inclusion in the WSIS+20 outcome document is essential to ensuring coherence, avoiding duplication and maintaining continuity across the UN system’s digital-development work. The submission notes that UNGIS was established by the UN Chief Executives Board in 2006 and has since supported joint initiatives ranging from child online protection to digital skills, gender equality and infrastructure development.

The input stresses the need to deepen alignment between the WSIS framework and the Global Digital Compact. UNGIS highlights existing tools such as the WSIS–SDG–GDC Matrix and the GDC Implementation Map, arguing that the UN system is well-placed to integrate two decades of WSIS experience into upcoming GDC commitments. It references recent ECOSOC recommendations calling for a joint implementation roadmap for WSIS and the GDC, noting that this would promote a unified, efficient and resource-conscious approach to global digital cooperation.

Multistakeholder participation is also presented as a core pillar of the WSIS legacy. UNGIS encourages the Elements Paper to explicitly recognise the WSIS Forum as a standing mechanism for inclusive implementation and for monitoring WSIS and GDC progress. The submission underlines the importance of participation rights for civil society, technical communities and regional actors, emphasising that diverse engagement is necessary to contextualise global digital-policy debates and address inequalities.

At the substance level, UNGIS calls for stronger integration of human-rights standards into all digital-governance provisions of the WSIS+20 outcome and encourages embedding agreed language from the GDC, recent HRC resolutions and past WSIS commitments. The response also stresses the need to operationalise gender equality by adopting gender-responsive targets and sex-disaggregated indicators across all WSIS Action Lines.

Further recommendations address monitoring, financing and infrastructure. UNGIS highlights the long-standing contribution of the Partnership on Measuring ICT for Development and calls for continued support to strengthen national data capacities. It encourages renewed attention to the financing gap for digital inclusion – recalling earlier WSIS proposals such as the Digital Solidarity Fund – and asks that future commitments consider lessons from past mechanisms. Finally, UNGIS urges greater investment in digital public goods and digital public infrastructure aligned with UN standards, ensuring interoperability, safety and rights-respecting design.

The submission concludes by reaffirming UNGIS’s readiness to support the WSIS+20 process and to help ensure that digital-policy commitments translate into coordinated, system-wide action that advances the sustainable development goals.