A Twenty-Year Review Implementing World Summit on the Information Society OutcomesA Twenty-Year Review © 2025, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development The findings, interpretations and conclusions expressed herein are those of the authors anddo not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its officials or Member States. The designations employed and the presentation of material on any map in this work do not implythe expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the United Nations concerning the legalstatus of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation ofits frontiers or boundaries. This publication has not been formally edited. Acknowledgements Implementing WSIS Outcomes: A Twenty-Year Reviewwas prepared by the United NationsConference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), under the supervision of Liping Zhang andthe overall direction of Angel Gonzalez Sanz. The report benefited from the comments of AngelGonzalez Sanz and Liping Zhang, as well as Torbjorn Fredriksson, Dmitry Plekhanov, RuslanRakhmatullin, and Zenathan Hasannudin. Administrative assistance was provided by MalouPasinos and Xiahui Xin. UNCTAD gratefully acknowledges the substantive contributions of David Souter, consultantto UNCTAD, in its role as secretariat CSTD. The secretariat gratefully acknowledges thecontributions of national Governments, United Nations and other international entities, civil societyorganizations, academia, the technical community, the private sector and other stakeholdersthat contributed inputs to the review, through participation in an online questionnaire survey thesecretariat released in September 2023, in partnership with ITU, UNESCO and UNDP, as wellas in the global and regional consultations the secretariat organized in collaboration with theseUnited Nations agencies or United Nations regional commissions within the following contexts: • 18th Annual Meeting of the Internet Governance Forum (Kyoto, October 2023), hybrid;• UNCTAD eWeek 2023 (Geneva, December 2023), hybrid;•Arab consultations on WSIS+20 review and Global Digital Compact Processes (Dubai, May2024), hybrid;• European Dialogue on Internet Governance - EuroDIG Forum (Vilnius, June 2024), hybrid;•Asia–Pacific Conference on Digital Inclusion and Transformation (Astana, September 2024),in presence;• Africa WSIS Annual Review (Dar es Salaam, October 2024), hybrid;•CSTD Consultation on WSIS+20 in the Latin America and the Caribbean region (Chile,December 2024), hybrid. The secretariat is grateful to the United Nations regional commissions and all other entitieswhich collaborated in organizing these consultations. It is equally grateful to the United Nationsentities and other organizations with responsibilities for WSIS implementation for their detailedwritten contributions. The report benefited from comments and suggestions provided at annual meetings andintersessional panels of the Commission, and from focus group discussions with experts onthe themes of digital economy, the environment, e-government, women’s and children’s rights. Preparation of the report would not have been possible without generous financial support fromthe Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Table of contents Preface.................................................................................................vAbbreviations....................................................................................viIntroduction...................................................................................... ix Chapter 1 The development of information technologyand services since WSIS.................................................................. 1 Chapter 2 The implementation of WSIS outcomes........................................ 23 Chapter 2ADigital Inclusion (including Action Lines C2, C3 and C4)............... 30Chapter 2BThe Digital Ecosystem................................................................. 44Chapter 2CThe Digital Economy (Action Line C7b)........................................ 55Chapter 2DSustainable development............................................................. 63Chapter 2EHuman Rights and Ethical Dimensions......................................... 84Chapter 2FDigital Governance.................................................................... 102 Chapter 3 The continuing development of the information society........... 119 Conclusion The evolution of the WSIS framework......................................... 141 ANNEX Contributions to the open consultation for theCSTD twenty-year review of the implementationof WSIS outcomes........................................................................ 145 Implementing World Summit on the Information Society OutcomesA Twenty-Year Review Preface The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) was held in two phases, in 2003 and2005. ItsGeneva Declaration of Prin