Global South Alliance calls for rights-based and inclusive UN AI governance process
A submission by the Global South Alliance urges the UN Global Dialogue on AI Governance to prioritise human rights, interoperability, and meaningful participation from Global South communities in emerging AI governance frameworks.
The Global South Alliance has submitted recommendations to the UN Global Dialogue on AI Governance, arguing that international AI governance discussions must address structural inequalities shaping the global AI ecosystem.
The submission calls for agreed definitions of AI red lines identifying applications considered incompatible with human rights, democracy, and societal well-being. It also urges governments to advance discussions on moratoria for AI systems posing unacceptable risks, drawing on existing UN human rights guidance.
The coalition argues that AI governance debates remain heavily influenced by a small number of countries and corporations from the Global North, while countries in the Global South are often positioned primarily as sources of data, labour, energy, and raw materials rather than participants in agenda-setting and standard-setting processes.
The document highlights concerns including ‘ethics dumping,’ where experimental AI systems are deployed in countries lacking regulatory safeguards, as well as labour exploitation in AI supply chains, linguistic marginalisation, and vendor lock-in dynamics that limit technological sovereignty.
The submission also calls for stronger transparency around stakeholder selection within the UN dialogue process, multilingual participation mechanisms, financial support for underrepresented groups, and greater coordination between AI governance discussions and existing processes such as WSIS, the IGF, and the Global Digital Compact.
