KICTANet calls for binding global rules on participation, funding, and rights ahead of WSIS+20
KICTANet has urged the UN to make participation, financing, and human rights legally binding in the WSIS+20 outcome, warning that earlier digital governance efforts failed to deliver inclusion or accountability for the Global South. The organisation calls for guaranteed funding for participation, predictable financing mechanisms for connectivity and digital literacy, and stronger protections for freedom of expression and data privacy.
Kenya’s ICT Action Network (KICTANet) has called on UN member states to adopt binding commitments on participation, financing, and human rights in the upcoming WSIS+20 review, arguing that two decades of digital policy have failed to deliver meaningful inclusion or accountability for the Global South.
In its submission, KICTANet points to three major shortcomings in earlier UN digital processes, the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) and the Global Digital Compact (GDC): exclusion from decision-making, weak financing mechanisms, and inadequate rights protections. The group says these flaws left developing countries reacting to policies rather than shaping them.
To address this, KICTANet calls for legally guaranteed multistakeholder participation, with secure funding for Global South delegates, mandatory translation into regional languages, and transparent accreditation procedures. It also proposes that all inputs to the WSIS+20 negotiations be published and acknowledged in the final text.
The submission further urges the creation of a binding global financing framework for digital development. Suggested options include a tax on large technology companies’ revenues in developing markets, state contributions based on capacity, and targeted funds for rural connectivity and women’s access programmes. These measures, KICTANet argues, would replace the current ad hoc system with predictable funding subject to independent audit and parliamentary oversight.
On human rights, the organisation recommends explicit guarantees for freedom of expression, limits on surveillance, and clear prohibitions on censorship justified under vague terms such as “abuse of ICTs.” It also calls for strong data-protection standards and oversight mechanisms to ensure digital systems respect user privacy.
For Kenya, KICTANet outlines six legal priorities for WSIS+20: full participation for Global South stakeholders, binding financing rules, protection of digital sovereignty, integration of African regional frameworks, defence of human rights, and reform of intellectual property laws to safeguard traditional knowledge.
The organisation concludes that WSIS+20 offers a rare opportunity to correct the structural weaknesses of past digital governance efforts, by grounding inclusion, financing, and rights in enforceable global standards rather than voluntary commitments.
