Internet Governance Forum address barriers to trusted digital ID systems

Experts and other resource persons at the 2024 Internet Governance Forum (IGF) have been sharing views and perspectives on a wide range of digital transformation subjects including how countries can tailor their efforts towards building trusted digital ID systems which they say are indispensable in driving their growth and development ambitions.

The IGF is taking place in-person and online from December 15 – 19 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, under the theme “Building our multistakeholder digital future” with hundreds of delegates from governments, international development organizations, industry and civil society taking part.

The discussions have been broad and varied but with one objective – to chart ways through the estimated 2.5 billion people who are said to be currently offline in the world due to different forms of divide can be digital included.

One session on trusted digital IDs featured experiences from the host country and Namibia, with speakers including Bandar Al-Mashari, Saudi Arabia’s assistant minister of interior for Technology Affairs; Emma Theofelus, Namibia’s information minister, and Siim Sikkut, managing partner of Digital Nation, a digital change advisory network.

The speakers noted factors that must be considered in building digital ID systems that can be trusted, mentioning country experiences in terms of innovation, inclusion and finding solutions to local needs, according to internet platform Digwatch.

Such systems, they held, require putting in place the right legal and policy frameworks and the right technology such as biometrics, blockchain and other AI-based solutions that can guarantee high-level security, privacy and data protection.

Other aspects raised by the speakers include the need to dismantle factors that stifle collaboration and partnerships and for countries to recognize their peculiarities and implement their projects in a phased manner, reflecting customized realities.

A campaign like the 50-in-5 initiative is one global movement that aims to encourage a spirit of collaboration among countries of the Global South to support each other in building safe, inclusive and interoperable digital public infrastructure (DPI), including trusted digital ID systems.

Implementing the Global Digital Compact

Another session during the Forum focused on the Global Digital Compact and the challenges and opportunities for implementing it.

The Global digital Compact is a framework proposed by the UN to guide the inclusive and responsible use of technologies through measures such as closing the digital divide, protecting digital rights, ensuring data privacy, and promoting ethical development and deployment of artificial intelligence.

DPI has a central place in the Global Digital Compact, adopted as part of the Pact for the Future during the UN General Assembly in September.

Various speakers, drawn from UN agencies, governments and civil society organizations shared thoughts on how countries can disband barriers to their digital transformation efforts by closing infrastructural gaps and integrating technology into every-day life in line with the principle of the Compact.

It was observed during the IGF session that while some level of progress has been recorded in achieving these goals, there are issues that still need to be addressed.

In the course of the session, speakers noted that there are divides at different levels of society which must be addressed, and action aimed at addressing these challenges must reflect local realities.

Public-private partnerships were mentioned as one of the ways of closing the digital divide and translating initiatives enshrined in global frameworks into concrete local action to improve people’s lives.

Some speakers also suggested accelerating local efforts on existing frameworks, while also paying attention to capacity building and choosing the right approaches to govern new technologies like generative AI, measuring progress and maintaining the steam.

Uniting global frameworks for greater impact

Meanwhile, in another session, ideas were also shared about aligning the Global Digital Compact framework and that of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in order to ensure unity of purpose in meeting global digital transformation objectives.

During the session, the IGF was identified as a key player in uniting these efforts through the development of performance targets for the Global Digital Compact implementation, although concerns were raised about the Forum’s declining mandate and funding challenges, which beg for fresh solidarity and innovative solutions.

Apart from discussing the Global Digital Compact and its relation with WSIS, discussants also touched on coordination and harmonization of digital cooperation processes, challenges and opportunities in digital cooperation, progress sand gaps in digital inclusion, and they role civil society organizations can play.

Article Topics

digital ID  |  digital identity  |  digital inclusion  |  digital public infrastructure  |  Global Digital Compact  |  Internet Governance Forum