In response to the informal stakeholder consultation on the Global Dialogue on AI Governance convened by the Co-Chairs of the first Global Dialogue on 18 March 2025, the Global Digital Justice Forum makes the following submissions:

• The Global Dialogue on AI governance should serve as an agenda-setting platform for deepening a common understanding of and commitment towards just and sustainable AI futures that contribute to human flourishing. It should promote informed, critical discussions on AIʼs societal, economic, and environmental implications, looking not only at product safety issues in the context of deployment but a whole-of-lifecycle approach to examining harms and structural injustice in the production process. Through this, the Dialogue could contribute to articulating the non-negotiable normative, institutional, and material conditions that must be in place for AI systems to be compatible with human rights, social justice, ecological sustainability, and inter-generational wellbeing.
• The Global Dialogue on AI Governance should bring together the fragmented spheres of data governance and AI governance so that the intertwined normative and policy dimensions of data and AI may be addressed holistically at the international level.
• An evidence-based and committed stocktaking of the dominant trajectories of AI, taking into account its entire supply/value chain, is needed for outcomes of the Global Dialogue to serve the public interest, global equity, and human rights.  The immediate priorities in this regard would be to reaffirm the role of AI in enabling the SDGs (Resolution 70/1) and the spirit of the 2030 agenda.
• The Global Dialogue should focus on both a) overarching, transversal discussions that address cross-cutting AI governance issues, including normative frameworks, human rights standards, ethical principles, and global regulatory coherence, and b) sector-specific dialogues that examine AIʼs impact, risks, and opportunities in key areas such as healthcare, education, food and nutrition, labor, finance, climate action and biodiversity protection, gender based violence, corporate accountability, and security.
• For meaningful exchange and practical cooperation, the Global Dialogue should ensure that the meetings in Geneva (2026) and New York (2027) are preceded by a series of multi-constituency consultations to capture diverse perspectives from different regions on key topics. It may be useful to tap into gatherings widely attended by the digital rights community, such as RightsCon, the upcoming meeting of the UN Committee on World Food Security, and other UN processes such as the IGF, and regional conferences. Virtual consultations are also important, and the discussions therein should be documented and duly considered in deliberations and documents released by the Dialogue.
• Just like in the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), it would be important for the Global Dialogue to institute a Multistakeholder Advisory Group (MAG) process for all stakeholder constituencies to weigh in on appropriate decisions.  Interactions among the different stakeholders should facilitate engagement among them, rather than lead to isolated or siloed contributions.

You can read the full submission here.