IGF 2021 WS #164
Governing cross-border data flows for development

Organizer 1: Torbjörn Fredriksson, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
Organizer 2: Pilar Fajarnes, UNCTAD
Organizer 3: Laura Cyron, UNCTAD

Speaker 1: Alison Gillwald, Civil Society, African Group
Speaker 2: Bob Fay, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 3: Lorrayne Porciuncula, Intergovernmental Organization, Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC)
Speaker 4: Neha Mishra, Civil Society, Asia-Pacific Group

Moderator

Torbjörn Fredriksson, Intergovernmental Organization, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)

Online Moderator

Laura Cyron, Intergovernmental Organization, Intergovernmental Organization

Rapporteur

Laura Cyron, Intergovernmental Organization, Intergovernmental Organization

Format

Round Table - U-shape - 90 Min

Policy Question(s)

Data governance and trust, globally and locally: What is needed to ensure that existing and future national and international data governance frameworks are effective in mandating the responsible and trustworthy use of data, with respect for privacy and other human rights?
Data transfers, trade, cooperation and trust: What is the role of local and international norms and principles in facilitating trustworthy international data transfers for trade and cooperation?

The session aims to address current weaknesses and strengths in the current landscape of data governance from the perspective of facilitating trustworthy international data transfers while addressing distributional effects and various potential risks and harms. It will highlight various proposals at the national, regional and international level that could offer potential solutions to current issues faced. Moreover, it will emphasize the need for multi-stakeholder and multilateral processes with the full involvement of developing countries to develop a data governance system that can support sustainable development.

SDGs

9. Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
10. Reduced Inequalities
17. Partnerships for the Goals


Targets: The pandemic has illustrated that an equitable distribution of the benefits from cross-border data flows is not yet assured. To reduce inequalities (Goal 10) there is a need for a global collaboration effort of multiple stakeholders (Goal 17) to build the required data governance structure, but also the underlying infrastructure and innovation potential (Goal 9) to achieve this.

Description:

The COVID-19 pandemic has further underscored the importance of data flows. While global trade flows temporarily halted, data flowed across borders at an increasing rate. However, it also showed that disparities remain between countries in terms of their readiness to harness data.

This session will address gaps in national and international data governance to make data flows work better in support of the sustainable development goals. Data have become an important economic resource, but are more than just trade-related factors. The session will put forward policy suggestions that can strengthen regional and international cooperation to facilitate cross-border data flows while ensuring inclusiveness, trust and sufficient flexibility for national development priorities. It will focus on ways to ensure that data can flow as freely as possible while ensuring an equitable distribution of benefits within and between countries, and addressing risks related to human rights and national security.

The session will build on findings and proposals from UNCTAD’s Digital Economy Report 2021 “Cross-border data flows and development: for whom the data flow?”.

The workshop will be a roundtable discussion with speakers from different international organisations and regions. Each panellist will initially speak for 5 mins to present their perspective. This will be followed by questions from the moderator, and complemented with questions from the audience.

Relevance to Internet Governance:
The objective of this workshop is to inform policymakers and other stakeholders about important issues to consider in shaping national and international data governance for cross-border flows. It will highlight international proposals and cooperation initiatives to make gains from cross-border data flows more inclusive. The session aims to encourage policymakers to lean into the international data governance discussions to set up their countries in such a way that they can harness technological advances in line with their development priorities.

Expected Outcomes

The session is targeted at the entire Internet Governance Community, to discuss gaps in the treatment of cross-border data flows in the context of development and showcase potential initiatives to remedy gaps and highlight areas for stakeholder engagement to contribute to closing the gaps.

The session will be led by a main moderator as well as additional (technical) moderators who will monitor the chat and the room to ensure that questions from the audience can be integrated into the discussion, responding to topics particular relevance to the audience. Furthermore, we will aim to provide concrete suggestions in terms of institutions/associations to reach out to for specific support arising from the questions in the audience.

Online Participation



Usage of IGF Official Tool.