Experts gather to work on civil society digital justice strategy
PICTURE: Jaqueline Pigatto, Izak Minnaar, Juan Carlos Lara and William Bird in a strategy discussion which coincides with a critical juncture for the WSIS+20 review
IT for Change
IT for Change and the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) are convening a strategy meeting in Johannesburg on 10 and 11 February to crystallise issues for concerted civil society action in the coming year.
The meeting is organised in collaboration with the Global Digital Justice Forum (GDJF) and the Emancipatory Futures Studies, School of Social Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand.
At the critical juncture of the 20th-year review of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), this meeting convokes members of the GDJF together with local and regional partners of APC and IT for Change from the African region.
Members and partners include:
- Alison Gillwald of Research ICT Africa
- Ana Maria Suarez Franco of FIAN International
- Anita Gurumurthy of IT for Change
- Anriette Esterhuysen of APC
- Asimwe John Ishabairu, representing the Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA)
- Brid Brennan of the Transnational Institute (TNI)
- Camila Leite Contri of the Instituto Brasileiro de Defesa do Consumidor (IDEC)
- Professor Danny Bradlow from the University of Pretoria’s Centre for the Advancement of Scholarship, and previously the Centre for Human Rights at the same institution
- Gayatri Khandhadai from the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre
- Hlengiwe Dube from the Centre for Human Rights
- Izak Minnaar, an independent, and media and elections consultant and trainer (Minnaar is also a member of the Press Council)
- Jalal Abukhater of the Arab Center for Social Media Advancement (7amleh)
- Jaqueline Pigatto from Data Privacy Brazil
- Juan Carlos Lara of Derechos Digitales
- Maria Paz from Canales Global Partners Digital
- Merrin Muhammed Ashraf of IT for Change
- Onica Makwakwa from the Global Digital Inclusion Partnership
- Prapasiri ‘Nan’ Suttisome from Engage Media
- Sheena G Magenya from APC
- Solana Larsen from the Open Knowledge Foundation
- Valeria Betancourt from APC
- Vishwas Satgar from Emanicipatory Future Studies at Wits
- and William Bird from Media Monitoring Africa
The GDJF, formed in early 2024, is a dynamic coalition driven by a vision of digital justice. It includes a diverse array of civil society stakeholders, including sustainable development organisations, digital rights networks, feminist groups, corporate watchdogs, communication rights campaigners, trade unions and cooperatives.
At the heart of the Forum lies the promise of reinvigorating international co-operation in response to the transformative shifts in digital technology
Its view is that a truly equitable, inclusive, and development-oriented digital society is only possible through active participation and agenda-setting by people from all walks of life.
The voices of marginalised communities should guide the processes leading to digital justice. To this end, it advocates for a democratised and meaningful form of participation that enables agile, accountable, and people- and planet-centric policies.
Members of the Forum have an impact footprint across South Asia, East Asia, the
Pacific, Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America, and collaborate with alliances and civil society groups in North America and the European Union.
Also read: How the Global Digital Compact is implemented will determine our future online, here and The World Summit on the Information Society here
The meeting this week seeks to identify the key building blocks of a progressive civil society advocacy agenda for digital justice in the short and medium term, including the WSIS+20 review.
The WSIS+20 High-Level Event 2025 will be held from 7 to 11 July 2025 in Geneva, Switzerland, hosted by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and co-organised by the ITU, UNESCO, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
The gathering in Johannesburg will also examine contemporary challenges to build an inclusive, people-centric, development-oriented digital paradigm. This will include digital issues at the intersection of other global development justice agendas, such as:
- Financing and policy support for digital infrastructure development and public digital innovation capabilities for the South
- Communication justice and plural knowledge societies
- Ecological transition
- Gender equality
- Corporate accountability and market concentration
The other aim of this week’s meeting is to build a political strategy and advocacy plan on digital justice for upcoming global and regional policy forums on allied areas, including the Financing for Development conference to be held in July 2025 in Seville, Spain, and beyond.
