How far are we on the path to a people-centric, inclusive, and development-oriented Information Society?

The World Association for Christian Communication (WACC) and its partners evaluate the draft outcomes of the WSIS+20 process. While acknowledging progress in reaffirming multistakeholder engagement and human rights obligations, the text highlights critical gaps regarding AI governance, private sector due diligence, and the need to replace the current profit-driven digital paradigm with one focused on public interest and justice.

• Civil society coalitions, including the Global Digital Rights Coalition (GDRC), have welcomed specific elements of the WSIS+20 draft document that reaffirm multistakeholder engagement, anchor the process in international human rights law, protect media independence, and clarify the human rights responsibilities of both States and the private sector.
• The GDRC identifies several areas requiring strengthening in the final text, including the prohibition of technologies incompatible with human rights, mandatory human rights due diligence for the private sector, addressing violence, and protecting human rights throughout the AI system life cycle.
• The Global Digital Justice Forum argues that the current profit-centric technological revolution has failed to create an inclusive information society and advocates for a transition to an alternative public technological paradigm to distribute the dividends of AI and data innovation.
• Civil society must remain engaged in the implementation of the 2024 Global Digital Compact and WSIS+20 outcomes to ensure accountability and justice, as private technological advances are currently outpacing state control.

APA

Miller, T. R. (2025). How far are we on the path to a people-centric, inclusive, and development-oriented Information Society? World Association for Christian Communication. https://waccglobal.org/how-far-are-we-on-the-path-to-a-people-centric-inclusive-and-development-oriented-information-society/

Chicago

Miller, Terri R. How far are we on the path to a people-centric, inclusive, and development-oriented Information Society? World Association for Christian Communication, 2025. https://waccglobal.org/how-far-are-we-on-the-path-to-a-people-centric-inclusive-and-development-oriented-information-society/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Miller |first1=Terri R. |title=How far are we on the path to a people-centric, inclusive, and development-oriented Information Society? |publisher=World Association for Christian Communication |date=15 December 2025 |url=https://waccglobal.org/how-far-are-we-on-the-path-to-a-people-centric-inclusive-and-development-oriented-information-society/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{miller2025how, author = {Miller, Terri R.}, title = {{How far are we on the path to a people-centric, inclusive, and development-oriented Information Society?}}, publisher = {World Association for Christian Communication}, year = {2025}, month = dec, url = {https://waccglobal.org/how-far-are-we-on-the-path-to-a-people-centric-inclusive-and-development-oriented-information-society/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }