Thank you to the co-facilitators and your staffs for the hard work on this impressive zero draft.
The proposed Global Digital Compact takes a serious, pragmatic, and ambitious approach to leveraging digital technologies for sustainable development while mitigating risks. We are pleased to see the draft rooted in our shared commitments to the UN Charter and Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We are also pleased that it affirms meaningful connectivity, gender equality, closing digital divides, digital inclusion, tech platform transparency, and multistakeholder Internet governance.
As the negotiations on the GDC progress, the United States will focus attention on several areas:
"We should support and strengthen existing entities and mechanisms while avoiding duplication. There is already significant work being done on digital issues in the UN system, including at the ITU, UNESCO and UNDP. The multilateral development banks are also making significant investments to connect the unconnected."
"We should accelerate progress on gender equality by closing digital divides and removing barriers to the equitable use of ICT and the internet by women and girls."
"We appreciate that the zero draft recognizes that rights-respecting digital transformation is a means to accelerating progress on the SDGs. We support the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights work in this area and are open to exploring the proposed Digital Human Rights Advisory Service. We also encourage the use of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights in the digital space."
"We should ensure appropriate safeguards are a priority for work on digital transformation, including digital public infrastructure (DPI), and we should clarify that DPI and digital public goods are related but separate approaches."
"We should promote innovation by instituting appropriate safeguards to respect intellectual property rights."
With regard to artificial intelligence, "the United States welcomes the recent consensus adoption of a resolution to advance safe, secure, and trustworthy AI." The GDC should work to build on that consensus by emphasizing how AI can be harnessed for the SDGs.
"We believe any recommendations for UN governance of AI should be backed by rigorous analysis, be consistent with mandates of UN entities, and not duplicate existing work. Instead, we should explore how to better support existing UN mechanisms and entities."
"We also strongly support continued work of processes like IGF and WSIS and believe that follow-up and review of GDC should be conducted through existing UN processes."
"The United States looks forward to working constructively with all member states and stakeholders for a successful GDC." Thank you.