WSIS Youth Caucus urges stronger recognition of young people in WSIS+20 zero draft
The WSIS Youth Caucus has welcomed the WSIS+20 Zero Draft but warned that youth voices risk being sidelined unless they are consistently recognised as a distinct stakeholder group throughout the text.

The WSIS Youth Caucus has called on UN negotiators to strengthen references to youth in the WSIS+20 Zero Draft, arguing that inconsistent language undermines their role in global digital development. While the draft’s preamble acknowledges youth, later sections refer more vaguely to ‘young people,’ which the group says blurs the distinction between youth and children.
The Caucus urged that the final document use ‘youth’ throughout, stressing that clear recognition affects participation, funding, and access to leadership opportunities. It also proposed stronger language on digital public goods and infrastructure, calling for the term interoperability to be included to ensure equitable and youth-driven innovation.
On gender issues, the group asked that girls be explicitly mentioned in gender gap data and proposed Youth Councils to support young women in leadership. It also warned that job losses from AI and automation would disproportionately affect youth and should be recognised as such in the final text.
The Caucus criticised the omission of Youth Internet Governance Forums (Youth IGFs) from the list of national and regional IGF initiatives, describing the oversight as ‘disheartening’ for the many volunteers leading them. It urged the WSIS+20 outcome to align with the global IGF’s definition, which includes Youth IGFs as part of the internet governance ecosystem.
Finally, the group recommended that future WSIS reviews and Global Digital Compact follow-ups include a youth participation mechanism, possibly linked to the annual Internet Governance Forum. ‘Youth must not only be recognised in name,’ the statement concluded, ‘but empowered in structure.’