Q2/2019 - UN Commission on Science and Technology (UNCSTD)

The Tunis Agenda of the 2005 WSIS Summit had given the UNCSTD the role of monitoring the implementation of the WSIS decisions. Only a few years ago, the UNCSTD was still considered an important body, especially with regard to the two controversial Internet governance issues: The development of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) and the structure and organisation of the so-called "Enhanced Cooperation". The Working Group on Improvements to the IGF set up by the UNCSTD had made a number of constructive proposals in 2012 and thus contributed significantly to the decision of the 70th UN General Assembly in 2015 to extend the mandate of the IGF until 2025. The two UNCSTD working groups on "Enhanced Cooperation" (WGEC I & WGEC II), however, failed. On the one hand, the IANA transition in 2016 largely resolved the issue of the Group. On the other hand, there was a lack of political will to engage in new mechanisms for dealing with "Internet-related public policy issues" within the framework of the UN.

Thus, the UNCSTD meeting in May 2019 was more of a routine event at which the long list of WSIS issues was worked through. The results were summarised in a 90-paragraph resolution, which is largely a continuation of the resolutions of recent years. The UNCSTD resolution will be forwarded to the 74th Session of the UN General Assembly via the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). Here, the Second Committee of the UN General Assembly will deal with the topic in October and November 2019.

The 2019 UNCSTD resolution contains no new elements. It reaffirms the need for a close link between WSIS and SDGs, deplores the lack of progress in overcoming the digital divide and points to the need to improve infrastructure, especially in mobile communications and broadband in developing countries. The multistakeholder principle is confirmed as the optimal policy approach to address all issues in the information society. The UNCSTD welcomes the multitude of activities of numerous UN bodies (ITU, UNESCO, UNCTAD, UNDP, ILO, FAO, WHO, WIPO etc.) to implement the WSIS action lines and strengthens the role of the UNGIS (UN Group on the Information Society), which includes more than 30 UN bodies. The various activities to improve the data basis for a "Measurement of the Information Society" are also acknowledged.

Concerning Internet governance, the resolution repeats a wording that has been used for more than ten years, i.e. that IGF and "Enhanced Cooperation" are "two separate but interconnected processes", without any concrete proposal being derived from that finding. In case of the IGF particular emphasis is placed on "intersessional work". With regard to "Enhanced Cooperation", the resolution regrets that the efforts of the two WGEC working groups failed^[1]. Nevertheless, the UN member states are requested to continue their dialog about "Enhanced Cooperation". As to the future, the resolution only announces the IGF 2019 in Berlin and the WSIS Forum of the ITU at the end of March 2020 in Geneva, and informs that a high-level WSIS Review Conference is already scheduled for 2025. When and how preparations for this conference – which some observers already see as a "World Internet Conference" or a third WSIS summit – will start, has not yet been determined.