United Nations Summit for the Future : a missed opportunity for the right to information
The Pact for the Future and its annex, the Global Digital Compact, were adopted today by the United Nations General Assembly, meeting in New York for the Summit for the Future. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) deplores the absence of any significant commitments from States concerning the governance of the global information and communication space in support to journalism at this event, which was often presented as a “once in a generation opportunity” to reaffirm the determination of States to meet the global challenges of the 21st century.
Despite RSF's efforts, the Pact for the Future and the Global Digital Compact, adopted on September 22 as part of the United Nations Summit for the Future, partly fail to address the issues related to journalism and the global information crisis. Apart from a few references about the need to protect journalists in war zones and to combat misinformation, the UN member states are not sufficiently committed to the essential issue: guaranteeing everyone’s right to access diverse, reliable and independent information.
"We expected the Summit for the Future to underline the United Nations' determination to protect journalism and accordingly everyone's right to access reliable, independent and diverse information. Reading the texts adopted today by the General Assembly, RSF notes the persistent difficulty beyond statements of intent in reaching an ambitious international consensus capable of responding to the current global information chaos. We call on States that share this concern to form innovative coalitions of action which, like the Partnership for Information and Democracy, will enable actual progress to be made in building a democratic governance of the global information and communication space."
Where do we go from here ?
The Pact for the Future - as the main deliverable of the Summit for the Future - was negotiated by States as a roadmap to stimulate the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Its annex, the Global Digital Compact, includes a set of commitments to promote “an inclusive, open, sustainable, safe and secure digital future for all”.
Throughout the negotiations, RSF joined forces with other civil society organizations, under the aegis of the Global Forum for Media Development, to call on governments to make stronger commitments, both in terms of recognizing the essential role played by journalism and journalists, and in terms of guaranteeing everyone access to reliable, independent and diverse information.
Because of these joint efforts, paragraph 33 of the Global Digital Compact recognizes that “access to relevant, reliable and accurate information and knowledge is essential for an inclusive, open, safe and secure digital space”. It however fails to draw resulting consequences for both States and digital platforms in terms of accountability.
One good news: the UN Global Principles for Information Integrity
RSF welcomes the publication by the UN Secretary General, ahead of the Summit, of the Guiding Principles for the Integrity of Information on Platforms. This text, which was prepared by the UN Secretary-General in parallel to the negotiations on the Pact for the Future and Global Digital Compact, sets out a framework to guide the action of all stakeholders in order to guarantee the integrity of information and a healthier information space.
RSF and the Forum on Information and Democracy - of which RSF is founding member and chair, made a major contribution to the drafting of these Principles, whose recommendations are largely inspired by their own.
