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The world summit on the Information Society Forum 2022 re-opens in Geneva
Organized annually since 2006, the WSIS Forum is the first and largest digital development conference of the UN system, attracting more than 50,000 online participants last year. The (30 May to 3 June) marks a return to in-person participation after two-years of 100% virtual WSIS Forum.
As WSIS Forum co-conveners, UNESCO this year introduced a Special Track on Indigenous Languages and Cultures, to advocate ICT initiatives in support of the (2022-2032).
In his welcoming remarks, UNESCO's Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information Tawfik Jelassi called upon the WSIS global community to 鈥渁ct now to safeguard local and indigenous languages in the digital space.鈥
Languages are a core component of human rights as well as the repositories of our unique traditions, values and knowledge. UNESCO believes that the ability of Internet users to engage online in their own languages must be a key element of meaningful universal connectivity and must be integrated into the momentum to close the digital divide.
The 2022 WSIS Global Hackathon on Indigenous Languages, co-organized by UNESCO and ITU, attracted 691 coders from 77 countries. Laureates in three categories 鈥 knowledge, empowerment and preservation 鈥 will be announced on 1 June at the . The Internet Society and Nokia, along with experts from the indigenous community, have supported the coding teams across live mentoring sessions.
In his welcoming remarks, ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao noted strong support from ITU Member States for the WSIS Process and urged delegates 鈥渢o not take for granted鈥 that economic and social activities have continued during Covid-19. He urged further commitment through the WSIS Process to get 3 billion connected in order to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) was established in two phases, in Geneva in 2003 and in Tunis in 2005, in order 鈥渢o build a people-centred, inclusive and development-oriented Information Society鈥
UNESCO serves as lead facilitator in the implementation of five of the eleven WSIS Action Lines: on access to information and knowledge (Action Line C3), e-learning (C7) and e-science (C7), cultural diversity and identity, linguistic diversity and local content (C8), media (C9) and the ethical dimensions of the information society (C10), with a cross-cutting focus on gender equality.
During the 2022 high-level week, UNESCO secretariat will be co-organizing numerous live WSIS Action Lines sessions including four high-level sessions on , on , on the and the .