The Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data has published a briefing paper highlighting the Global Digital Compact (GDC) as an opportunity to set a baseline for data governance. Currently under negotiation, the Global Digital Compact is expected to be adopted at the Summit of the Future (SoF) in September, along with the Pact for the Future and a Declaration on Future Generations.

Penned by Jenna Slotin and Janet Mclaren in March 2024, the briefing paper highlights that in the absence if a globally recognized framework, data governance is “patchwork,” marked by inconsistencies and gaps that can be exploited, opportunities for innovation that can be missed, and increasing inequalities. Noting that developing the Global Digital Compact can “set[] the world on a more equitable path,” the paper describes the importance of data governance, briefs on the gaps that currently exist in the multilateral system, and proposes steps that Member States could take through the GDC.

The paper calls for framing the GDC around three outcomes:

• Protecting human rights in digital spaces and preventing the worst harms;
• Setting norms and structures to incentivize and enable uses of data that promote sustainable development; and
• Preparing for the future by setting guardrails to drive artificial intelligence (AI) innovation for good.

According to the authors, commitments and actions on data governance could include an intergovernmental multistakeholder process that would “promote a global data governance framework that is agile and responsive to the changing nature of digital technologies.” Such a process could include:

• Establishing a multi-stakeholder mechanism for sharing experiences and best practices;
• Establishing an intergovernmental mechanism for knowledge exchange and sharing best practices;
• Promoting international collaboration and investment in infrastructure and systems; and
• Establishing a mechanism for combining international guidance and norms, national regulatory frameworks, and technical standards into a framework for agile governance of datasets used to power AI.

To inform the GDC negotiations, the briefing paper provides examples of multilateral frameworks, principles, and agreements regarding data governance, including the Guidelines on the Protection of Privacy and Transborder Flows of Personal Data by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics (FPOS) by the UN Statistics Division, and the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). [Publication: The Global Digital Compact is an Opportunity to Set a Baseline for Data Governance] [Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data] [SDG Knowledge Hub Story on Revised Draft of Pace for the Future] [SDG Knowledge Hub Story on Zero Draft of Declaration on Future Generations]