Ten Steps to Strengthen Stakeholder Engagement in the WSIS+20 Intergovernmental Phase

We, the undersigned, recognise the progress made during the preparatory phase to strengthen stakeholder engagement in line with the recommendations in the Five-Point Plan for an Inclusive WSIS+20 Review and its Eight Practical Recommendations. To fully implement these recommendations and advance meaningful stakeholder engagement in the intergovernmental stage, we recommend the following ten actions: 

Recommendations for governments:

1. Meaningful dialogue: Organise regular, structured exchanges and invite written contributions to inform national and/or regional positions in advance of key milestones, publish summaries explaining how stakeholder input informed national and/or regional positions.
2. Leverage existing consultations: Actively participate in UN and stakeholder-led consultations related to WSIS+20, ensuring that government perspectives are informed by open dialogue with non-governmental actors.
3. Inclusive delegations: Invite non-governmental experts to join and advise national delegations before and during the negotiations.
4. Standing advisory mechanisms: Establish permanent multistakeholder bodies at the national level to provide guidance on digital policy related to WSIS+20 implementation and beyond.
5. Advocate for reform: Champion structured channels for independent stakeholder participation in multilateral forums and processes related to WSIS+20, grounded in openness, inclusion, transparency and consensus-building.

Recommendations for the UN, including the co-facilitators and their teams, the Office of the President Assembly, UN DESA and others:

6. Transparent input: Enhance transparency via the dedicated WSIS+20 website by publishing all submissions and iterations of the draft outcome document, including annotated versions to track government proposals and changes across drafts. [1]
7. Iterative feedback: Continue collecting feedback on each iteration of the draft outcome document via written inputs and hybrid or virtual consultations, and publish synthesis reports of inputs received to highlight areas of consensus, divergence, or ongoing discussion.
8. Inclusive engagement: Continue to design inclusive dialogues that balance speaking opportunities between governmental and non-governmental stakeholders and structure discussions around key questions and outstanding issues to facilitate consensus-building.
9. Open proceedings: Allow non-governmental actors to observe all intergovernmental negotiations and provide space for non-governmental stakeholders to intervene after key discussion items, publish transcripts and limit closed-door negotiations to the final stage.
10. Meaningful participation at the High-Level Meeting: Facilitate hybrid modalities, apply broad eligibility criteria, allocate speaking opportunities for non-governmental stakeholders, and provide space for side events and cross-stakeholder engagement.

[1] For example, see recent negotiations on the UN Cybercrime Convention: https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/cybercrime/ad_hoc_committee/home